by SEAN MATHEWS
For over nine months, oil-rich monarchies in the Gulf have deftly manoeuvred to avoid becoming entangled in Israel’s war on Gaza, and the spillover conflicts it has spawned across the region.
Now, some Gulf states appear to be inching closer to entering the conflict’s forefront by participating in a US-backed peacekeeping force in the Gaza Strip when the war ends.
Last week, for the second time in a month, the United Arab Emirates called for a multinational force to deploy to Gaza to provide security after a permanent ceasefire is brokered. The decision represents a remarkable about-face for the UAE, which in May pushed back forcefully against Israel’s claim that it could assist in governing the enclave.
Bahrain, an arch-opponent of Iran, has also signalled privately it will participate in the force, which is likely to see officers and senior non-commissioned officers who are Gulf nationals working on the ground with Palestinian security forces, a US official told Middle East Eye.
If Gulf boots touch the ground in Gaza, it would represent a profound shift for the region, putting the royal families who rule the Gulf in uncharted territory.
The monarchs have spent decades brushing aside the Israel-Palestine conflict to focus on intervention in poorer Arab states like Libya, Syria and Yemen – but more recently, have focused on economic growth at home.
But the Hamas-led 7 October attacks and Israel’s subsequent bloody offensive on Gaza have jolted the Gulf states back into the Palestine-Israel arena, much like it has the US, analysts say.
“Saudi Arabia was not interested in the internal political arrangements of how a Palestinian state was to be governed [before 7 October],” Yasmeen Farouq, a Gulf expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said at a virtual event hosted by Chatham House on Thursday.
“Now Saudi Arabia is interested in the details.”
‘Cost-free’ way to make friends in Washington
The UAE and Bahrain are also chalking up diplomatic points in Washington by promising to participate in a peacekeeping force, underscoring their importance as partners to the US and Israel. But with the conflict still raging, they have very little skin in the game at the moment.
Middle East Eye for more