And now Bahrain

Clearly the Americans knew what they were talking about. Even after equating any progress on recognising Israel with getting the Palestinians their rights first, particularly a free state of their own, the Bahraini royalty has simply gone back on its word and become the latest Arab country to initiate formal relations with the Jewish state. The reaction from the rest of the Muslim world was pretty much expected. The Palestinians feel betrayed, of course, with yet another knife in their back while UAE, Jordan and Egypt have only good things to say about the deal. And the usual spoilers for the west, Turkey and Iran, have condemned this in no uncertain terms even though Turkey is also one of the very few Muslim countries to recognise Israel.

This development shows that Washington might really have more tricks up his sleeve than he has let on so far. The breakthrough between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi has even got President Trump in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize, something he’s been desperate to get ever since President Obama got his prize. Now his administration has gone a step ahead and got yet another country in the fold. Surely, considering the confidence in the Trump camp, there are others that are going to make similar announcements all the way to the US presidential elections in just a couple of months. If somebody had made such predictions about the Middle East four years ago, when Trump came to the White House, nobody would have believed it.

It seems there is going to be just no respite for the poor Palestinians. A two-state solution, which they were counting on since forever, was already an impossibility. And the way things are progressing, it is fast becoming clear that perhaps the status quo was the best of their options. Who knows what is going to happen now, especially if Trump gets another turn. Everybody shaking hands with Israel right now can hope to sleep well because they think they will get the settlements to stop expanding, but the whole world knows the reality about that particular deal. *