Afrasianet - Hassan Nafaa - When Trump was parading the honor guard in the courtyards of the vast Gulf palaces, Israel had already opened the gates of hell that Trump had promised the Palestinian people!
A few days ago, social media activists circulated a short video cut out from a lengthy conversation that Trump had conducted many years ago, in which he expressed his strong opposition to the United States providing "free protection services" to super-wealthy countries whose citizens enjoy living standards that sometimes exceed those in the United States itself.
After referring by name to an Arab country of this kind, for example, he stressed that if he were president of the United States, he would have been able to receive large sums of money for the security services it provides to these countries, which confirms that Gulf money has been drooling since his childhood.
One might argue that Trump is dealing with all allies, including European NATO partners. But this statement lacks accuracy because Trump's view of Arabs and Muslims is inferior and reeks of crude racism, which was evident during his election campaigns. He believes that the oil states have an abundance of money but a shortage of human resources and scientific and technological capabilities, which makes them unable to provide self-protection.
Because its leaders are not elected, and conflicts revolve between them of a tribal nature, and they are only interested in preserving their personal interests, it is natural that they have an instinctive tendency to rely on the outside to protect their thrones and wealth, hence his conviction that the opportunity has become an opportunity to drain the wealth and capabilities of these countries for a low price, which explains his decision that Saudi Arabia is his destination in his first foreign visit at the beginning of his first term, and that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are his destination on the first visit. external to be carried out at the beginning of his second term. What was the outcome?
In his first Gulf visit (May 2017), Trump was able to strike trade deals with Saudi Arabia worth more than $400 billion. It is true that Saudi Arabia sought to benefit from this visit to support its influence and position at the Arab and Islamic levels, which explains its organization of an Arab-Islamic-American conference in which more than 50 countries participated, but this visit did not contribute to improving the American position on common Arab and Islamic issues, quite the contrary.
A few weeks after its completion, the crisis erupted in the blockade of Qatar, which Trump exploited to blackmail everyone. During his first term, Trump offered Israel far more than she dreamed of. He recognized Jerusalem as the eternal and unified capital of Israel, moved the US embassy to it, pressured the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan to normalize relations with Israel (the Abraham Accords, which violated the Arab initiative approved by the Beirut summit), and put forward an official initiative aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause (the deal of the century). He cut off US financial contributions to both the Palestinian Authority and the International Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
On his second Gulf visit (May 2025), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE raced to capture Trump's heart and win his approval. On his visit to Saudi Arabia, Trump secured contracts for U.S. companies and promises of direct investment in the United States totaling one trillion dollars. During his visit to Qatar, the total value of contracts he received for American companies and promises to inject Qatari direct investments into the United States amounted to one trillion and 200 billion dollars. In his visit to the UAE, the total value of For what he obtained from UAE contracts for American companies and promises to inject direct UAE investments into the United States one trillion and 400 billion dollars.
This means that Trump could have exploited the competitive environment of relations between Gulf states to receive an additional $200 billion every time he moved from one capital to another, and the total toll of his three-day trip would be nearly $4 trillion, apart from expensive personal gifts, foremost of which is a presidential plane worth about half a billion dollars.
What is reflective and saddening at the same time is that the hospitality with which Trump was received in the three Gulf Arab capitals, which undoubtedly exceeded his wildest dreams, seemed in complete contradiction to everything the man offered to Israel during his first term, and to the tragic Palestinian and Arab conditions that began to worsen during that visit.
On the Palestinian level, Israel has been continuing its war of genocide against the defenseless Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip for nearly 20 months, its military machine has been continuing its daily incursions into most refugee cities and camps in the West Bank, and Jewish settlers have continued their almost daily provocations in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and insist on holding their rituals and performing their Talmudic rituals there under the guard of the security forces.
The Arab world was also going through one of the worst periods in its modern history. In Syria, Israel had announced its dissolution from the 1974 disengagement agreement and occupied the demilitarized zone, then expanded and occupied new territories that reached an area of more than 400 km2, and insisted on continuing military attacks to destroy the remaining capabilities of the Syrian army, and even arrogantly declared its readiness to protect the Druze, in an open attempt on its part to fuel sectarian conflict in this area. The afflicted Arab country.
In Lebanon, Israel has not only continued its occupation of a number of border points and refused to abide by the letter and spirit of resolution 1701, but has also continued its armed attacks on selected targets in southern Lebanon or even in Dahieh.
Because the Arab peoples in most of the countries that were not touched by the Israeli war machine during the current round of fighting were also suffering from very harsh situations, such as civil wars, regional and tribal conflicts, poverty, debt, inflation, high prices, and deteriorating living standards, the manifestations of Trump's hospitality seemed not only extremely provocative, but also incomprehensible, and even unjustified at the same time. Especially since these countries did not get anything essential from Trump, despite everything they offered him and his country, in return.
These countries may have already obtained, or will receive in the near or distant future, huge quantities of weapons and a large number of civilian aircraft, and may have been able to contract with American companies to build factories, schools, universities, hospitals, laboratories and research centers or to establish infrastructure in various fields, but do they have the right to feel that they have become stronger and more reassured, and can they rely on American promises or pledges alone to protect their security and wealth?
I highly doubt that it does not have the luxury of collective thinking, neither at the level of the Arab regional system as a whole, nor at the narrower Gulf level, and it is noticeable that it has not even been able to coordinate among themselves to establish joint integration projects, but instead competed with each other to prove to President Trump that it is the most important country for the United States, the most attached to it, the most keen on its interests, and therefore the most willing to meet his desires and demands.
It is true that Trump announced in Saudi Arabia his decision to lift US sanctions on Syria, but this decision was not made in the context of a unified Arab vision, or even in the context of a unified Gulf vision of how to help the Syrian people recover from their plight or how to enable the Syrian state to recover and gradually return to play the role of "beating heart of Arabism" again.
If we add to the above that Trump was able in his recent Gulf trip to obtain from the host Arab countries nearly four trillion dollars, without the latter being able to obtain from him a mere promise to commit to stopping the war, or to bring sufficient humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, or not to forcibly displace its residents or the residents of the West Bank, or to stop settlements... etc., not to mention the commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state in the foreseeable future, to show us quite clearly that the rich Arab countries practice a policy based on the complete separation between their bilateral relations with the United States and the position of the United States on the Palestinian issue, an equation that is absolutely in Israel's interest.
When Trump parade the honor guard in the courtyards of the vast Gulf palaces, and express his amazement at the legendary luxury, Israel had already opened the gates of hell that Trump had promised the Palestinian people, whose land it had occupied for exactly 77 years.
Only Ansar Allah was firing winged missiles in support of this oppressed people, in a strong indication that the feelings of pride, dignity and keenness to support the oppressed did not disappear completely from the hearts of Arabs, even if they were limited to the poorest in resources and whose hearts are full of faith and piety.