The man on the street in the Middle East does not like the Israelis, particularly after their current pogrom which has liquidated 75,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
People in non-democratic Egypt and Jordan do not like the Israelis, but the mukhabarat keep a tight lid on them and dissent in general.
This is the price those regimes pay for annual American taxpayer largesse of billions of dollars.
Recognize Israel and keep the peace, to heck with your angry population.
This is called "baksheesh."
The non-democratic Saudi regime faces a similar dilemma. While some of their wealthy oligarchs want to make money with Israeli hi-tech and security firms, the man on the Jeddah street does not like the Israelis.
And Saudi Arabia has a Shia minority of two to two and half million supplicants (10-15% of their population) who are at the bottom of their caste system. They are called "fishermen" or something perjorative like that because they live mainly by the coast.
A surefire way to increase instability in Saudi Arabia would be for Muhammad Bone Saws to recognize Israel.
A Palestinian I know has no problem with Jews but despises the murderous Israelis. "OB" saves his most vocal vituperation for the hypocritical Saudis, a regime that plays lip service to peace and last year executed 356 poor Ethiopians or Somalis caught for drug smuggling -- something the Saudi population wants under the table.
