Saudi Arabia denies access to its Al Arabiya news site
Saudi Arabia's state-owned international news channel Al Arabiya has denied me access to its website
Saudi Arabia's state-owned international news channel Al Arabiya has denied me access to its website - apparently for the sin of writing extensively and positively about the Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) - published in Al Arabiya on 8 June 2022.
My first article endorsing HKOPS was published on 29 June 2022 – subsequently followed by another 77 articles calling for negotiations to implement HKOPS to end the 100-years old unresolved conflict between Arabs and Jews over former Palestine.
My enthusiasm for HKOPS has not been shared by the international media, the international think tanks, the United Nations or European Union – which have not said one word about HKOPS since its first publication.
Algeria suspended Al Arabiya’s operating license in October 2024 allegedly after accusations of bias in reporting the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Algeria's move against Al Arabiya came just one day after Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission revoked the license and closed the office of Saudi media conglomerate MBC Group - the parent company of Al Arabiya. That decision came after MBC aired a report calling out as terrorists: recently slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani. The report has since been removed from all MBC platforms.
Denying me access to Al Arabiya came without any warning other than this notification when I recently attempted to access the site:
HKOPS author - Ali Shihabi – is an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).
HKOPS calls for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into one new territorial entity to be governed by the existing Hashemite ruling regime in Jordan – not the PLO or Hamas.
I contacted Shihabi who confirmed to me the features of his proposed solution in my article published on 22 August 2022:
It would supersede two previous Saudi peace proposals in 1981 and 2002 calling for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank
The two-state solution - the creation of a separate Palestinian Arab State between Jordan and Israel promoted unsuccessfully by the United Nations for the last 29 years - was consigned to the diplomatic graveyard
Amman, not Jerusalem, would be the capital of The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
The right of return to Israel was abandoned.
Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and stateless refugees would get full citizenship in the merged Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with all the elements of sovereignty applicable to those Territories that belonging to a fully recognized state in the UN entail.
Shihabi’s revolutionary solution in abandoning Saudi foreign policy going back 40 years - could not possibly have been published in Al Arabiya without permission first having been received from MBS.
The other outcomes promised by HKOPS needed an influencer like MBS to underwrite their implementation.
Shihabi broke off contact with me after my article was published and has refused me access to his X page.
The lynch pin of Shihabi’s solution – the division of Gaza and Judea and Samaria (West Bank) between Israel and Jordan - the two successor states to the League of Nations 1922 Mandate for Palestine – was eerily similar to the solution I had first proposed in 1980 beginning with this small advertisement:
The Jordan is Palestine Committee grew into an international movement holding conferences in London, New York and Israel – coming to an end only when Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Jews and Arabs continue to pay a heavy price as the international community ignores a solution which basically boils down to redrawing the international border between Israel and Jordan.
Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”
Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively by the author — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades
Interestingly I have come across this report from Reporters Without Borders:
"Independent media are non-existent in Saudi Arabia, and Saudi journalists live under heavy surveillance, even when abroad. The number of imprisoned journalists and bloggers has tripled since 2017"
Prior to publishing this article I sent HKOPS author Ali Shihabi an email stating: "I have now been denied access to Al Arabiya. Coupled with your denying me access to your X site is there any comment you or Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman would like to make in explanation of these extraordinary actions?"
No acknowledgement or response was received.