Relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia remained suspiciously silent until the recent visit conducted by Saudi King Salman Bin Abdel Aziz to Cairo last month. This visit had been delayed for many times, while the authorities of the two countries did not reveal the reasons of such delay. This visit was seriously important for many reasons; the most important is to end the stalemate that dominated the relations for months and threatened the historic ties between the two countries. For me, I was allowed to attend a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir to listen the Saudi vision regarding the previous developments and what is expected in the future. As I attempt to document the phases of relation in different way, I will explain the points of different in the beginning. Israel attempted to seize the opportunity, since the launch of the Arab Spring revolutions, to take the regional leadership especially that a large number of the leading regimes in the Middle East have been destroyed without any efforts from the Hebrew state. Tel Aviv turned to use the Iranian threats against the Gulf States to convince their leaders that if they want to save themselves from the Iranian danger, they should cooperate with Israel. Saudi government was one of the major countries that was convinced of the Israeli vision. According to political reports, both Israel and Saudi Arabia agreed to work together to undermine the Russian role in the Middle East, especially in the Syrian arena. The Saudi officials expressed their keenness, during their meeting with their Israeli counterparts, not to allow the Russians gain more influence in the region. They also agreed to exert efforts to prevent the Iranian quest to turn into a nuclear country. Saudi circles turned to achieve rapprochement with the Jewish community loyal to Israel in the United States to gain their support against the common threat coming from Iran which raised the concern of both Israel and Saudi Arabia. The common interests pushed forward such rapprochement between the Saudis and Israel so the American efforts to bridge the gap of difference between Iran and Saudi Arabia failed to achieve their objectives. U.S President Barack Obama attempted to convince Saudi King Salman, during his visit to express condolences for the death of late King Abdullah, to take serious steps to achieve rapprochement with Tehran, while the Saudi king strongly refused this American demand. The American call for Saudi-Iranian rapprochement was not strange while it was strongly expected, as it came in coincidence with the American-Iranian rapprochement, while the kingdom realizes the Iranian aspirations well. Saudi authorities decided to turn to Israel, as it has the same concerns and fears/ The Gulf States realized also the critical conditions witnessed in Egypt would prevent it from providing the necessary support against any potential hostile action from Iran. They turned to seek an alternative and found Tel Aviv. A number of circles inside the Gulf States viewed Egypt as a weak country due to the critical conditions witnessed in the country during the recent years. They took into account that the Egyptian government gives the priority to the internal developments to pave the way for the Israeli aspirations to appear, while the Iranians turned to execute its plans to achieve its objectives in the region. These aspirations raised the concerns and fears of the Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia. The Gulf States thought that their aids to Egypt will turn the country into a prepared thorn to be used against their foes. They thought that their aids will turn Egypt into just a subordinator. They thought that they would plan and lead, while the Egyptian authorities will execute their plans. Yemen's experience Yemen's experience came to prove the failure of this vision. Egypt warned of the Saudi involvement in the Yemeni quagmire. It told the Saudi officials that if you want to take information about the situation in Yemen, you should ask Egypt. Only Egypt and England realize the fact in Yemen, as they enjoy enough military experience in the Yemeni territories in the Middle East, while they did not hear. Then, the Egyptian officials were told that the Arab coalition will start a war in Yemen. It was not logic for Egypt to participate in such a war without any preparations. Egypt refused to participate in the war, expressing its support for its Gulf allies. It turned to protect Strait of Bab el Mandeb using a number of gunboats. This Egyptian approach pushed the Saudi government to strengthen its relations with Israel. During a meeting with Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir, I said that Egypt is a major power and our relations with Saudi Arabia are strong. It is not logic to talk about the Egyptian participation in the war in Yemen immediately before its beginning. He answered that we have not asked Egypt to participate militarily in Yemen. We asked the country to express its political support for the coalition. He acknowledged that the Egyptian authorities warned us of the involvement in Yemen, while we were confident that we can achieve our objectives there. A number of ruling circles claimed that Egypt turns towards Iran, while this matter was not true. There were no official comments or statements from the Egyptian officials to express their desire to achieve rapprochement with Tehran. There were also no communications between Egypt and Iran but the Egyptian authorities have serious position against Tehran like their position from Israel. Egypt cut its diplomatic relations with the Persian State since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, while a large number of people were surprised that Saudi has a large embassy in Tehran when the Iranian protester burned it against the backdrop of the death sentence implemented against Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr. Egypt lives in critical conditions during the current period , the matter that could push its government to turn to any other powers in the Middle East to protect the national security and to support its interests. This was my question to the Saudi foreign minister. He stressed that the political calculations adopted by Saudi Arabia are based on our visions based on our interests not only the national ties. If Saudi turned to achieve rapprochement with Israel, Turkey or even Iran at the expense of Egypt, This subjects to the Saudi national interests. Regarding to the Syrian issue, I asked the Saudi minister about the reasons of differences between both Egypt and Saudi. Al Jubeir said that both countries have the same position from the Syrian conflict, while the major difference is whether Syrian President Bashar Al Assad would lead the transitional period or not. The Saudi position is clear. We do not accept to allow the Syrian president who turned to Iran at the expense of the Arab world. We do not express our refusal to any replacement from Alawite family.
