Recently, Israel has improved its relations with the Gulf. This development was formalized via the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain and the silent approval of Saudi Arabia. The normalization between Israel and the Gulf is the result of a process some 20 years in the making, as 27 years have passed since Rabin, Arafat and Clinton signed the Oslo Declaration of Principles, which for the most part is now inactive. The questions that arise are how these accords can potentially affect the regional balance and whether more accords are likely to come.

 

 

Last week’s popular protests in Bahrain and Yemen have revived some strategic questions. The regimes of both countries are important U.S. military allies in the region and their internal affairs have strong reverberations on Saudi Arabia's security. The possibility of Iran exploiting the situation to expand its influence in the region and the penetration of Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula are further elements of concern.

"This was an affluent crowd, far different from the mostly low-income Shiites who took to the streets to demand a constitutional monarchy, an elected government and a representative Parliament. The air was scented with perfume, and people drove expensive cars," writes Michael Slackman of the New York Times[i], describing a pro-status government self-described, "Unity" demonstration held in Bahrain on Monday. With repeated reference to Bahrain's sectarian divide in local and international media (some variation of the tagline "Bahrain has a 70% Shia population ruled by a Sunni ruling family" has rolled along the ticker of almost every major TV news network), and anti-government protesters insisting on Shia-Sunni unity (a cry also parroted by pro-government crowds), it's worthwhile then to trail this mysterious scent a little further.

Ο Υπουργός Εξωτερικών του Μπαχρέιν Sheikh Khaled σε συνέντευξή του, την 1η Οκτωβρίου στην εφημερίδα al-Hayat, πρότεινε τη δημιουργία μόνιμου περιφερειακού φόρουμ στη Μέση Ανατολή που θα περιλαμβάνει όλα τα Αραβικά κράτη καθώς και την Τουρκία, το Ιράν και το Ισραήλ. Η πρόταση του Υπουργού ήρθε να επιβεβαιώσει προηγούμενη δήλωσή του σε λόγο που εκφώνησε τον περασμένο Σεπτέμβριο σε συνάντηση των μελών της Γενικής Συνέλευσης των Ηνωμένων Εθνών