Some are preempting US President Donald Trump’s expected visit to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf next month by discussing the promised three trillion dollars, suggesting it should be conditional upon achieving political deals – ranging from Gaza to a Palestinian state, to Yemen and Iran.
First, these are business deals, including civil, military, and investment projects – not political trade-offs. If the Palestinian cause could be measured in dollars and what’s been spent on it, it would be the most expensive cause in history. And if the two-state solution could be bought for a billion – or even a trillion – dollars, it would have happened long ago. We’d paid the price already. Political demands and commercial deals don’t always align.
In terms of expenses and losses, sadly, the billions spent directly on the Palestinian cause since the 1960s until now are beyond imagination. They’ve yielded no tangible political or practical benefit for its people. The spending has continued since the 1967 and 1973 wars, through the ongoing financial support of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, and Hamas – alongside arms purchases by Arab states confronting Israel. Add to that the losses suffered by Lebanon and Syria, their infrastructure, and the damage to investment, tourism, agriculture, and industry during Hezbollah and Hamas’s confrontations with Israel over the past thirty years... Those costs are in the trillions – far exceeding what Trump is expected to receive in Gulf deals in exchange for economic initiatives to be implemented in the coming years.
The promised three trillion dollars are intended to serve Gulf states, whose priority – like every other country in the world – is their own citizens, not the Palestinian cause or others. Their goal is to advance their economic infrastructure and complete their development programs.
Look at Iran – since 1980 until today, it has spent its citizens’ money on battles and wars in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and Yemen, and it funds networks spread across the globe. Yet after all these years, it hasn’t liberated a single inch of Palestine, nor has it been able to hold on to what it built or invested in Lebanon and elsewhere. Just imagine how much Iran has spent on these foreign operations over 40 years. The amounts must be astronomical. And if we add to that the toll of sanctions and missed economic opportunities, the figure would easily surpass a trillion dollars – all wasted, only bringing misery to the Iranian people.
Meanwhile, if you look at the promised trillion-dollar deals between the Gulf states and Trump, they are indeed massive. But the bulk of this spending – or most of it – is in return for large-scale projects that offer significant and meaningful returns for the future of these countries. Part of it also includes profitable investments in US markets.
Trump isn’t unique in pushing for deals that benefit his country – everyone does it. But he does it with more noise and showmanship. Like Washington, world governments – China, Japan, the European Union, and other major industrialized nations – strengthen commercial relations with friendly countries. What’s different about the Trump administration is its directness and transparency, even with partners like the Europeans, Japanese, and South Koreans. He constantly criticizes them, arguing that their trade exchanges are unfair in terms of trade balance and their commitments to joint alliances such as NATO, or their shares in defense agreements.
Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the United States is strategic and reciprocal – it’s over 80 years old. It has always benefited the region in general, especially when its people are willing to listen and cooperate. And the promised trillion is not a handout – it will be spent over the coming years on major projects currently under negotiation, including nuclear energy use, liquefied gas exports, and domestic military manufacturing in the Kingdom.
