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Why has the Saudi-Qatari rapprochement suddenly come unstuck?

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Despite recent signs that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are moving towards a reconciliation, it seems almost certain that Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin-Hamad Al-Thani will not, contrary to expectations, be attending this week’s annual Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Riyadh.

This impression was strengthened by the fact that on Monday, the Qatari ruler flew off to Rwanda to attend an award ceremony for a human rights prize bearing his name.

The reconciliation between Riyadh and Doha proceeds apace, but may yet be scuppered

By Abdel Bari Atwan

When the shelling and bombing subsides on most fronts in the Yemen war; When images of ‘The Two Muhammads’, the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, accompanied by disparaging reports about them taken from the Western press, disappear from the front pages of Qatari-funded media; When the leaders of the worldwide Muslim Brotherhood movement and their cadres in exile start to worry; And when Al Jazeera suddenly goes ‘professional’ in its coverage of Gulf affairs, rather than airing documentaries featuring scandalous secrets about the internal affairs of the ‘blockade states’; When all this happens, you can be sure that reconciliation efforts between Qatar and Saudi Arabia are proceeding apace behind closed doors and have begun to bear some fruit.

The Israeli prime minister seems to have finally run out of tricks

By Abdel Bari Atwan

The indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust – which may well mean he ends his political career behind bars – reminds me of something Yaser Arafat once told me.  While taking a stroll outside his office in Tunisia, he turned to me and remarked: “Never in my life have I seen any people as corrupt and bribable as the Israelis, or most of them.

The Palestinians are being treated like ‘Red Indians’. Their only option is resistance.

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Even more shocking than the US’ decision to recognise Israeli settlements in the West Bank as legal was the response of the Palestinian Authority  (PA) to the move. It sufficed with announcing, via its chief ‘negotiator’ Saeb Ereikat, that it would complain to the UN Security Council and International Court of Justice. The PA organised mass rallies to hail its president Mahmoud Abbas when he secured an inconsequential vote from the UN General Assembly recognising Palestine as a state.

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Recent news reports, official actions and diplomatic moves increasingly indicate that a breakthrough could be imminent in the Gulf crisis, bringing an end of sorts to the bitter feud that has pitted Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain against Qatar.

There have been unmistakable signs in the past few days that a rapprochement between the two sides is proceeding apace. It may be formalised at the end of next month when the annual Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit convenes.

Is the cancellation of the lease arrangement with Israel a sign of things to come?

By Abdel Bari Atwan

King Abdallah II of Jordan gave a speech to parliament on Sunday in which he announced the restoration of full Jordanian sovereignty over the territories of Baqoura in the north and Ghumar in the south which had been leased to Israel for 25 years as part of the Wadi Arba Treaty. State television meanwhile broadcast live images of Jordanian soldiers raising the national flag over Baqoura.

Was Hariri’s resignation dictated by the US and Saudi Arabia?

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Opinion in Lebanon and the Arab world is divided over the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s government 13 days after the outbreak of mass popular protests. Some viewed it as a dereliction of responsibility that offers no solution to the crisis but deepens it. Others cast as a courageous response to the protestors’ demands aimed at preventing a slide into civil war amid rising sectarian tensions.

There are good reasons to doubt Trump’s account of his latest ‘triumph’

By Abdel Bari Atwan

We never knew how good an actor President Donald Trump was until his press conference on Sunday announcing that US Special Forces had killed Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh) leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria’s Idlib province. He basked in self-awarded triumph and behaved as though he had achieved a monumental victory, as though he had defeated the Soviet Union at the height of its power. Each and every one of his utterances and movements, even his facial gestures, were carefully calculated and pre-rehearsed.

An updated  Adana Treaty could be the lifeline everyone needs

By Abdel Bari Atwan

The summit meeting to be held in Moscow shortly between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan may prove to be a pivotal event. It could open the door to the restoration of relations between Turkey and Syria and the revival of their 1998 Adana Treaty — perhaps followed by a signing ceremony bringing the Syrian and Turkish presidents together under the auspices of their Russian counterpart.

This is what the Russian have been carefully preparing for, in the hope of drawing a line under the war in Syria, removing all foreign forces from the country and reasserting the state’s sovereignty over all its territory and border crossings.

The country continues to serve as an inspiration for the rest of the Arab World

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Tunisia keeps on springing surprises, pleasant ones included. Its latest pleasant surprise was the landslide victory of retired constitutional law professor Kais Saied in the presidential election run-off. He won twice as many votes as his predecessor the late Baji Caid Essebsi, and more than the total number cast by voters who took part in the country’s parliamentary polls.

Essebsi is reckoned to have won the presidency largely on the strength of the women’s vote – 1.2 million out of 1.7 female voters backed him.