By Dr Waiel Awwad,
There is a saying in Arabic:” The a single who inserts himself in between the onion and its peels will get the scent in return only”, this is accurate in case of the rift in between the Gulf States. It was evident in the 41st summit of the Gulf Cooperation Councils (GCC) which was held in Riyadh- Saudi Arabia on Tuesday 5th of January 2021 and attended by Qatar just after the rift with Doha because 2017.
The rift began in 2014 when the 4 nations recalled their ambassadors from Qatar and in 2017 they accused Qatar of sabotage, treasons, violating the GCC charter by supporting Muslims Brotherhood and Hamas.
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, recognized as GCC is a regional intergovernmental political and financial union established in 25/5/1981 with six members Monarch of the Persian Gulf, except Iraq, which includes Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain with Egypt joined hands in boycotting Qatar and threatened military intervention to force Qatar to come to terms with the laid down demands and abide by the 13 circumstances place by Saudi Arabia to bring it back into the GCC fold. These demands incorporated ending help to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, reduced diplomatic tie with Iran, closing Turkey military base and lots of other demands.
The very good news is Qatar is back in GCC and the terrible news is none of the demand is fulfilled by Doha!
On the contrary, Qatar has come to be more adamant against conspirator`s neighbours who have been arranging a military invasion and replacing the existing Emir with the dissent of Qatar`s ruling family members in Saudi Arabia. During the US President Donald Trump’s tenure, Doha became closer to Turkey and Iran and there is nevertheless no sign of parting with these two nations to meet some of the GCC demands, particularly when President-elect Joe Biden is taking more than the White House. What we can draw focus to, right here is that it was President Trump and his son in law Jared Kushner behind the rift with Qatar. And, now he has pressured Riyadh to reconcile with Doha prior to leaving workplace and drawn the new project for GCC and Persian Gulf as a complete with the presence of new “Lawrence of Arabia” Kushner at the 41st GCC Summit!
However, some credit goes to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) for reconciling, simply because of the efforts of Kuwait and Oman, in bringing the rivals collectively, at least for the individuals of the area who have been complete of jubilation, particularly for the separated households impacted by the boycott, expulsion and closure of the border with Qatar.
The intention of Saudi Arabia`s crown prince MBS, toward Qatar ruling family members will not transform and the doubt will generally be floating more than the Gulf. What tends to make this reconciliation move a mysterious a single is not the enjoy for Emir of Qatar but it has come to light just after the secret take a look at of the Israeli Prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu and meeting with MBS and Mike Pompeo the outgoing foreign Secretary of the USA. It is a clear indication that the new improvement in the Arab Peninsula was topping the agenda which contains future of MBS himself beneath the new the USA administration, the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate and the alleged direct involvement of the Saudi crown prince in eliminating him. Also, human rights violations, Yemen war and above all the JAASTA law will be applied against Saudi Arabia simply because of the September 11th attack on the Trade Centre. Some reports indicate that Netanyahu has promised MBS a way out if he normalizes relation with Tel Aviv and join hands in the anti-Iran Bloc.
In this 41st Summit, they signed on a” solidarity and stability “agreement to finish the rift against Qatar. For these who stick to the political developments in the Persian Gulf would have witnessed the most important characteristic characteristics of this main occasion which was evident from the way it was covered by most important rival channels in the Gulf. The leaders have been hugging and embracing each and every other, even so, there have been issues in reading the body languages and facial expressions simply because of the masks and conventional attire. There was an absence of King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and Egypt sent its foreign minister and anti-Iran statements in the final communiqué.
The Saudi border with Qatar reopened and also the airspace with all GCC members, which will ease the increasing tension but it would be premature to count on the lifting of all boycott measures will lead to locating a permanent political answer to the variations amongst most important rivals. Hoping that the fallout of this reconciliation moves will have its influence on ending the war on Yemen and Syria and help to Muslim Brotherhood organization and other terrorist groups playing havoc and the killing spree of the stick to Arab individuals of Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya.
(The author is a Senior Journalist from the area, living in India. Views expressed are private.)