In Saudi-Israel Deal, Palestinians Pose Serious Challenge
TEL AVIV—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s big bet on sealing a landmark rapprochement with Saudi Arabia is running into a familiar problem: The Palestinians want land for giving their blessing to a deal, but Netanyahu’s coalition partners are adamantly against the idea. Talks have been in flux over economic incentives for the Palestinians to get on board with what would be a historic realignment in the Middle East.
With the U.S. helping broker the deal, those incentives have broadly included upgrading infrastructure in the West Bank, such as roads and telecommunications, while providing more work permits for Palestinians to work in Israel and freeing up hundreds of millions of dollars in Saudi aid.
“The main idea is how to ease the lives of the Palestinian people," said an Israeli official with knowledge of Netanyahu’s thinking. Money alone might not satisfy Palestinian leaders who are trying to influence the shape of the deal.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that some in the Palestinian leadership want Israel to relinquish control over small parts of the occupied West Bank and tear down some Israeli settlements there. But while that’s a more modest demand than creating a separate Palestinian state, which had been the default position of both the Palestinians and the Saudis in the past, Netanyahu’s partners in his ruling coalitions are already pushing back.
Netanyahu came back to power late last year in a coalition with far-right parties that were once on the fringe of Israeli politics, and support the complete takeover of the West Bank by Jewish authorities. They are especially opposed to anything that would resemble the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority and laid out a path
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