After Hamas's attack on Israel, a focus on the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia has been replaced by renewed Arab support for Palestinians and growing calls for a two-state solution.
The terrorist attacks by Islamist militant Hamas on Israel have already caused ripple effects that reach far beyond the borders of Israel and Gaza. They have also put many hopes on hold.
It's two weeks since Saudi de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that their countries got "closer every day" and that they were "at the cusp of a deal, which would be a quantum leap for the region." But that seems like a long time ago.
Similarly distant is bin Salman's lack of interest in a Palestinian two-state solution that would give Palestinians an independent country with East Jerusalem as a capital.
In late September, he didn't even mention the two-state solution in a major TV interview with the US channel Fox News. He only said that the new deal with Israel would "give the Palestinian their needs and ensure a good life for them."
Renewed support for a two-state solution
Following the outbreak of war on Saturday, however, Saudi Arabia has publicly returned to advocating a two-state solution and is again presenting itself as a firm supporter of the Palestinian population.
Meanwhile, most other countries have expressed support for Israel and its right for defense.
It is not far-fetched to say that this revival of the Palestinian question is a major victory for the Iran-backed Hamas group, which is a terrorist organization and is identified as such by the European Union, the United States, Germany and others.
"Hamas's actions send a clear reminder to the Saudis that the Palestinian issue should not be treated as just another subtopic in normalization negotiations," wrote Richard LeBaron, a nonresident senior fellow with the US-based Atlantic Council, wrote on the think tank's website.
"The attacks will shift the narrative away from normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel," he concluded.
Israeli-Saudi ties at stake
Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, told DW that it was "unlikely to expect that there is going to be progress on Saudi-Israeli normalization in the near future."
In his view, "the politics and trades that would be required are unlikely to allow for it if the Israel operation results in significant deaths and destruction in Gaza."
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