As'ad AbuKhalil is a professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. He is the author of Historical Dictionary of Lebanon (1998), Bin Laden, Islam, and America's New "War on Terrorism" (2002) and The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power (2003).

The Israel lobby and U.S. mainstream media both hail the recent "normalization" between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan as major accomplishments. Not so, says Professor AbuKhalil. Sudan, "long a battleground for Cold War intrigues," agreed to recognize Israel in return for Washington lifting debilitating sanctions. Key regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia with its 2002 peace plan, long demanded that Israel withdraw from Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in return for full normalization. Now that the Kushner "deal of the century" has failed, the "alternative was a quick scheme to bolster the sagging fortunes of the Trump" administration with "normalization." The real architect of normalization, AbulKhalil argues, was none other than Binyamin Netanyahu. 

But what about public opinion in Arab countries? Does it favor normalization before justice for Palestinians? Will a Biden administration continue the policy of coerced normalization? Would the promised "economic relief" to Arab countries signing recognition deals with Israel ever arrive? Will burgeoning U.S. arms shipments pave the way for a new arms race in the region?