Bibi and his new Middle East Map: No Place for a Palestinian State

There is a lot happening in Egypt and the world right now.

On Wednesday, two respectable veteran politicians declared their intention to run for the Egyptian presidency, surprising everyone considering that we all know the results in advance.

On Friday, Egypt was back in the US media for all the wrong reasons, with the story of Bob Menendez's "Hala Gate."

The day wasn't over before we found out that millions of iPhone users must update their iOS due to a security breach discovered by Citizen Lab, which found out that someone hacked presidential hopeful Ahmed Tantawy's iPhone!

There is too much to discuss and think about, but then I found Benjamin Netanyahu giving another speech at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and I couldn't let it go.

I am already so tired and exhausted from covering the boring UNGA, the biggest annual international talking marathon, but...

Carrying a map to a semi-empty UNGA hall, Bibi presented the new Middle East he wishes to see, in which Israel and Saudi Arabia have official relations. As you can see, there is no mention of the Palestinian territories on the map.

Bibi's New Middle East map at the UNGA 78 in New York 
Reuters 

There is no place in the new Middle East for a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders. Bibi is sending a direct message that he rejects the two-state solution.

In case you don't know, the Biden administration is working hard to establish official relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The Israelis said it first, then the Americans, and now the infamous prince who has become the darling of the West, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), admitted it in his interview on Fox News this week.

Now, Bibi and others think that the Arab-Israeli conflict will end if Israel and Saudi Arabia have official relations. Even if Israel has an embassy in Riyadh and a consulate in Medina, this will not end the Arab-Israeli conflict. It will complicate it even more.

I don't know if Bibi is dumb, playing dumb, or thinks the Israeli people are dumb. Again, the Saudi regime does not represent the Arab people or the Muslim people.

We do not have a Pope position in Islam, and the Saudi government does not have any power over Muslim people around the globe and has never claimed so in the first place.

That's why the Saudi regime, or rather MBS, wants some kind of concessions from Israel concerning the Palestinian territories. Saudi Arabia has made it clear that it supports the two-state solution, which the Arab Peace Initiative is based on.

Even if tomorrow the Saudis and Israelis have official relations, this will not solve the Palestinian issue, nor will it end the suffering of the Palestinian refugees.

It will not make 5.3 million Palestinians disappear, as Bibi and his cronies think. It will not make 1.8 billion Muslims around the globe forget about the Al-Aqsa Mosque or give it up to alt-right Zionists.

Anyhow, what Bibi proved on Friday is that he and his government do not want real peace or a two-state solution. Any attempt to revive the peace process now for real to support the Palestinians is a lost cause.