Abbas Is Summoned to Riyadh

Make of this what you will. You might consider this story a footnote to the diplomatic wrangling taking place in the Middle East over Jerusalem, but especially over the efforts of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to consolidate is power and to drive events in the region. Surely, it shows that the Crown Prince is serious about reform and even more serious about allying himself with Israel.

The story is from an Israeli intelligence blog, Debkafile:

With Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on his way to Riyadh from Qatar and Turkey,  the Palestinian-Jordanian billionaire Sabih al-Masri was released from custody to house arrest Sunday night and prohibited from flying home to Amman. As DEBKAfile reported exclusively, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman, after ordering al-Masri’s detention, sent Abbas a demand that he present himself in Riyadh to hear an ultimatum: Line up with the Saudis against the Qatari and Turkish line on a solution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, or forfeit Saudi and UAE assistance.

Let’s see, a Palestinian-Jordanian billionaire has been held in custody in Riyadh. Now, the Crown Prince has summoned Mahmoud Abbas to hear an ultimatum: you are either with us against Turkey and Qatar or you will lose your funding.

At the least, this is consistent with the New York Times story of two weeks ago, where we read that the Crown Prince offered Abbas a new peace plan that gave the Palestinians nearly nothing of what they had been fighting for. It could not have happened to a nicer group of terrorists.