On the day after - Friedman in NYT:

‘In short, more key players in the Middle East need movement toward a demilitarized Palestinian state today than at any time that I can remember — most of all the Palestinians, for whom this moment offers a unique opportunity to realize their dream of independence in their homeland in a state next to Israel. To say that it will be incredibly hard to achieve doesn’t begin to address the complexities, but Palestinians too need to be defining it and building better institutions to achieve it through an upgraded Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, in the West Bank — now, today, urgently.’

(…)

‘On March 27 and 28 [2002] virtually all the Arab leaders gathered in the Lebanese capital. Working off Abdullah’s basic proposal, they added several other conditions on the right of return of refugees and on March 28 approved what became known as the Arab Peace Initiative, offering “normal relations” between the Arab states and Israel in return for Israeli withdrawal from all the territories back to the lines of June 4, 1967.
It was the first and remains the only comprehensive Arab peace overture to Israel approved by the Arab League, including even Syria.
I honestly thought that this could be the beginning of the end of the conflict. But it never went anywhere. Neither the Israelis nor the Bush administration really seized the moment. How could Israel not have jumped right on it?’

(…)

‘One reason Hamas is so strong today is that Netanyahu has doneeverything he could for the last decade and a half to undermine the Palestinian Authority, which was created as part of the Oslo agreements, governs the Palestinian-populated areas in the West Bank and cooperates with Israeli security services. At the same time, in recent years, Netanyahu deliberately strengthened Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since ousting the Palestinian Authority in 2007. That is because he and Hamas share the same objective: weakening the Palestinian Authority and preventing a two-state solution.’

(…)

‘M.B.S., if you want to defeat both Netanyahu and Hamas, you have to pick up where your uncle Abdullah left off. You need to declare that you are ready to go to Jerusalem, to first pray in Al Aqsa Mosque and then speak to the Israeli people from the podium of the Knesset in order to tell them directly: If you embark on a pathway of two states for two people, Saudi Arabia will normalize relations with Israel and recognize West Jerusalem as its capital — as long as Israel recognizes Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. You can also pledge that Saudi Arabia will support the rebuilding of Gaza.’

(…)

‘And Joe Biden needs to pick up where Bill Clinton left off.
On Dec. 23, 2000, President Clinton presented a basket of ideas called the “Clinton parameters,” detailing how to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They are based on the principle of two nation-states for two peoples. Sadly, Clinton did not get to see the job finished and added at the time, “I have taken this as far as I can.” Your job now, Joe, is to carry those ideas forward to forge two states for two peoples in one land. This is your time to make bold moves that will signal to Israelis and Palestinians, to the Middle East and the world: America is serious about seeing through the two-state solution. Since Netanyahu won’t negotiate a Palestinian state, you can recognize the Palestinian Authority as a state unilaterally.’

(…)

‘ Once the guns fall silent in Gaza, we may be looking at the best opportunity for a two-state solution since the collapse of Oslo.’

Read the article here.

The attack of October 7 was a boost to the Palestinian cause, there is no doubt about it. But of course, Netanyahu and quite a few others were all too eager to strengthen Hamas. The mistaken belief, as we know now, that peace between Israel and Saudi Arabi and other Arab countries was possible without the Palestinians has been exposed, in a very cruel way indeed.

Friedman is a master of the cliché, the world master, but he has a point. For several reasons (atomic bomb, money, the desire of MBS to rebuild his country) Saudi Arabia is the key player in this conflict.

And Khashoggi? A dead pawn. Like most of the other victims in this conflict, in most if not all conflicts.