In the days before his trip to overseas, US President Donald Trump quickly moved to a long list of potential distractions that could overshadow his extremely significant visit to the Middle East.
Help convey a shaky ceasefire between the nuclear powers India and Pakistan. Check.
To implement a plan to feed hungry gaza, although international humanitarian groups have considered it relentless and insufficient. Check.
And received a promise from Houthi militants to no longer attack the attacks on western shipping in the Red Sea, although the rockets against Israel continue to start. Check.
In view of the chaotic nature of its presidency and the surreal speed, with which global events with Trump seem to move in the White House, the fast victories he is looking for can be fleeting.
Nevertheless, Trump is ready to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday on the first big international trip of his second term in a precarious and favorable time in Saudi Arabia.
Around two million people in Gaza Strip are exposed to the territory area due to the three -month blockade of Israel. Sectarian violence in Syria has left this country; And the ghost of a great war between Israel and Iran threatens over the region.
And yet Trump seems to be on parking and prefer to concentrate some of these topics – at least for this trip – instead, rather focus on the region’s meeting rooms and investment forums than on their battlefields.
Together with the stop in Riad, Trump will also visit two more stable, wealthy golf people: Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He will take part in business assemblies, presumably ink contracts and try to accept a lot of money in a region in which money is to be spent.
“They are offers, offers, offers,” said Neil Quilliam from Chatham House, a thought factory based in London.
The United States and Great Britain announced plans for a trade agreement on Thursday, which will probably reduce the financial burden of the United Kingdom of US President Donald Trump. The deal, which has not yet been completed, will touch everything from British cars and steel to American beef.
“He seems to recognize the three golf countries … as a key partner for the USA and he has made very strong personal connections, especially with (Saudi crown prince and de facto leader) Mohammed bin Salman.”
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman or MBS, as he is also known, said his kingdom was ready to invest more than 600 billion US dollars in the United States in the United States as President.
The other Gollanders have also taken care of and gave the deal of obsessed president of the irresistible way to boast, land over a trillion dollar in new business.
No Israel
In particular, Trump decided to avoid Israel on his journey.
In view of the status of the Jewish state as one of the most important strategic allies in the United States, it is significant omission – and possibly also on a visible animus between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Thursday, the UN Human Rights Commission’s office published a scorching explanation in which he intervenes the most powerful countries in the world in Gaza strips, and accused that they “have to end or observe the development of genocide, as life in Gaza ends”.
In the past, Israel has refuted the accusations of genocide, which UN struck as an anti -Semtic institution and claims that his military does not intentionally aim to do civilians.
Due to the suggestions of a solution -the establishment of food centers in Gaza operated by US contractors, Trump may, if only temporarily, diffuse a significant problem with his Golf hosts.
His earlier considerations of transforming Gaza into a dream “Riviera” of real estate developers – which some human rights representatives compared to ethnic cleaning – met with disgust in the entire Arab world.
And when Trump continued that Saudi Arabia could give up part of his desert to create a new Palestinian home country, Prince Mohammed’s officials spent any statements that never said.
“My understanding is that there will be no conversation in public space,” said Quilliam about Israel’s war in the Gaza or the future of the Palestinians.
“In the entire Arab world it is the No. 1 edition. But I don’t see it (Trump and Prince Mohammed) who determine the heads or come to a clear or common understanding. I think the focus of this visit will be economical.”
Powerful motivations
Both the USA and Saudi Arabia have strong motivations to keep the focus on money.
Under Prince Mohammed, the country carries out an extreme revision.
Saudi Arabia has a terrible reputation in relation to human rights in the West.
Public circumstances – there were 128 in 2024 – and the murder and the dismemberment of the crown prince Jamal Khashoggi from 2018 by Saudi security forces are only two of many examples that fire human rights fighters.
However, others emphasize the social transformations in the kingdom in recent years, which they see as positive.
Women are no longer excluded from jobs and public life. Mixing between men and women in public is now common. And wearing head or face cover for women is optional and not mandatory.
Prince Mohammed has also tried to position his country as a force for stability in the region and the world by repairing fences with long -time arch -rival Iran and trying to convey a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
But with the efforts of the crown prince to transfer its land of oil to a more diversified economy that the Saudis may have to help us the most.
Many of Prince Mohammed’s incredibly expensive futuristic projects such as the NEOM City in the desert press Saudi revenue.
NiM was initially classified as 500 million US dollars in US dollars, but last year the first phase alone was expected to cost more than 1.2 trillion dollars, with the final invoice for the immense linear glass City possibly occupying 8 trillion dollars.
Therefore, safer bets such as joint ventures with the USA about critical minerals are on the Saudi shopping list for Trump’s visit.
No to normalize
Just as the two managers will probably not solve much in Gaza, they will probably not talk about normalization with Israel.
Even after the Hamas attack stimulated Israel on October 7, 2023, US officials under the then President Joe Biden further put the Saudis to accept a large deal with Israel, diplomatic recognition as an exchange for economic opportunities.
But not more.
“In the foreseeable future, an Israeli-Saudi peace agreement is almost certainly beyond the reach,” Ha Hellyer Ha Hellyer, the Royal United Services Institute, recently wrote.
“Riyadh knows that Israel’s reputation under Saudis, Arabs and Muslims has released the hull worldwide. Then Israel would now be an act of political self -burning,” he said.
It also seems that the United States are ready to hand over their objections to a Saudi civil nuclear program and to remove one of the largest negotiation chips in the United States to get Prince Mohammed to complete a deal with Israel.
The Middle East played an unusually large role in the early weeks and months of Presidency, given the intensive focus on Gaza, Iran and Arabic deal.
In a new report, the Middle East Institute, based in Washington, said Trump’s “zigzag style”, combined mixed messages and the use of tariffs as a forced instrument in order to create immense confusion about US goals in the region.
For example, the institute said that Trump initially spent both Hamas and Israel in the acceptance of a ceasefire – but that Trump did not manage to suppress Israel to stop his war since Netanyahu broke the ceasefire three months ago.
The group gave Trump’s Israel policy a “F.”
It is said that Trump did better to start nuclear talks with Iran (a “B” note again, but by promoting non -processing plans such as the “Gaza Riviera”, the US risk of weakening its influence in the region at a critical period.
However, Trump can have a few surprises in his sleeve.
The new President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is also in the region and there are hints that the two men may hit in a historical encounter.
For Trump, who appreciates the showmanship over almost anything, it may be too good to spend the opportunity.
