Zeal and Pacifism Syndrome: Trump "Dialogue" with Hamas, and "Persuaded" the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
On May 13, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the royal palace in Riyadh. Photo.
On October 17 (the day before), U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News that Saudi Arabia had expressed willingness to join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel. The White House leader said that officials from the largest Arab monarchy had "yesterday" indicated their intention to take this step.
Trump further stated that he was convinced that more Arab countries could normalize relations with Israel if there was a ceasefire in Gaza and the "Iran nuclear threat" was eliminated.
"I hope Saudi Arabia will join (the Abraham Accords - Editor's note), and I also hope other countries will join."
The American leader said so.
When asked whether the Saudis had clearly conveyed this intention to him, Trump responded:
"Yes, yesterday. I had several very pleasant conversations with them."
It remains unclear whether Trump directly communicated with Saudi officials, and whether his statement "yesterday" refers to a specific time of communication or is merely symbolic.
Earlier this week, Trump made a shocking statement to reporters:
"I spoke with Hamas, and I said: 'You are going to disarm, right?' They answered: 'Yes, sir, we are going to disarm.'"
Because the U.S. president had conducted "direct negotiations" with Hamas, a reporter tried to ask for more details, and Trump subsequently admitted that the response from the Palestinian militant group Hamas was relayed through "his team".
It is well known that the current White House occupant has a casual style when recounting events and always emphasizes his "decisive role." Therefore, recent statements by the American leader are increasingly being questioned, and the media is skeptical about it.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly stated that it will not normalize relations with Israel until Israel agrees to develop a reliable, time-bound and irreversible roadmap for establishing a Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously approved Donald Trump's Gaza ceasefire peace plan, which includes 20 provisions. It states: "As the reconstruction of Gaza progresses and the Palestinian Authority effectively implements its reform program, it may eventually create conditions for the Palestinian people to achieve self-determination and statehood. We recognize the aspirations of the Palestinian people."
The last point of the plan states: "The United States will promote dialogue between Israel and Palestine to reach consensus on the political prospects of coexistence and common prosperity." However, the ceasefire agreement reached last week between Israel and Hamas in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, did not include the latter part of Trump's plan regarding the "two-state solution." Israel still strongly opposes this prospect.
In a recent speech introducing the Gaza peace plan, Trump said that Netanyahu's stance against establishing a Palestinian state was "understandable." Subsequently, this president stated that he had not yet decided whether to support the "two-state solution" (simultaneous establishment of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine).
If this core condition is not met, Saudi Arabia will not join the Abraham Accords, and there is currently no indication that Riyadh will significantly change its previous principle stance.
Nevertheless, given that a ceasefire has been implemented in Gaza, Trump remains optimistic about the prospects of expanding the Abraham Accords.
"I don't want to use the word 'immediately,' but it will happen soon."
This Fox News channel interviewee said, implying the possible timing for Riyadh's potential participation in the agreement.
Trump admitted that during his May visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this year, the Saudis were resistant to normalizing relations with Israel. At that time, he told the country's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: "If you are willing, you can do it."
"They couldn't do it during the Gaza war; considering their confrontation with Iran, they also couldn't do it," said the U.S. president as an explanation.
It should be noted that the Abraham Accords are an initiative promoted by the United States to normalize relations between Arab countries and Israel. The name of the agreement comes from Abraham, who is a common religious symbol among the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). On September 15, 2020, during Trump's first term, Bahrain and the UAE were the first to sign the agreement; on December 22, 2020, Morocco also joined. In early July 2025, Trump signed an executive order to lift economic sanctions on Syria. The background for this move is that Syria and Israel are currently negotiating normalization of relations, and the subsequent prospects of this process are related to whether Syria will join the Abraham Accords.
Before the October 2023 Gaza conflict, Arab media had enthusiastically discussed the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords. Later, due to objective circumstances, such discussions were temporarily suspended; now, with the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the topic is regaining "new life."
The Israeli English newspaper "Haaretz" pointed out on Friday (October 17) that earlier this week, "it was once believed that Indonesia would be the first country to join the Abraham Accords after the Gaza ceasefire, because the Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, was considering a historic visit to Israel after the World Leaders Summit on the Gaza issue in Sharm El-Sheikh." However, after some media disclosed this potential plan for Indonesia last week, the Subianto office immediately denied it — the world's most populous Islamic country has no plans to send its president on a visit to the Jewish state of Israel.
Nevertheless, this Indonesian leader became the focus of the media last month. He stated in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly that the international community should respect Israel's right to survive in a secure environment.
On October 16, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Winickoff expressed optimism about the "significant expansion" of the Abraham Accords. He said that since the war had ended, the U.S. planned to allow the people of Gaza to live a better life. However, obviously, the Trump administration was not willing to commit that this "new life" would include the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"The Israeli people should no longer live under the shadow of rocket attacks or terror threats. But the people of Gaza should also live with dignity, otherwise long-term peace is impossible," said Winickoff at an event at the Washington Holocaust Memorial Museum. The event aimed to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the Hamas militants' attack on Israel.
This U.S. Middle East "official" further emphasized, "Hamas must unconditionally disarm, and they should have no future in Gaza anymore — no future in any form similar to the past."
Israeli commentators interpreted this statement as indicating that the Trump team has not ruled out the possibility that if Hamas can achieve ideological transformation, the U.S. might allow the organization to remain in Gaza.
After the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect on October 10, pro-Saudi media quickly emphasized Riyadh's humanitarian actions and its pragmatic policies in regional affairs. For example, on October 13, the pan-Arab newspaper "Middle East" published in London pointed out, "Despite Israel's repeated obstruction of aid and the malicious use of hunger as a weapon, Saudi Arabia has been carrying out humanitarian actions for two years: it has sent 58 flights and 8 ships to Gaza, delivering 7,188 tons of humanitarian aid supplies."
The report also pointed out that Saudi Arabia had repeatedly warned against Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and against "extremist religious groups' repeated incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque area in Jerusalem."
"Riyadh firmly condemned Israel's attacks on Iran and Qatar and reiterated its opposition to Israel's continued airstrikes on Syria and Lebanon. In other words, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasizes in its policy that Middle Eastern peace cannot be achieved regionally. Sustained unrest in one region will inevitably lead to violence in another region," the report stated.
Based on the official statements of Saudi Arabia and the signals transmitted by Arab media, it is clear that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia currently has no intention of rushing to advance the process of joining the Abraham Accords. Trump's public claim that Saudi Arabia "has expressed willingness" seems to again greatly exaggerate the reality. In the foreseeable future, reaching a peace agreement with Israel remains a questionable choice for Saudi Arabia — especially in the context where the Netanyahu government is showing increasingly obvious expansionist tendencies in Syria, Lebanon, and the West Bank.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7562866818466038306/
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