The leaders of nearly 60 Arab and Islamic countries gathered in Doha yesterday for an emergency summit in connection with the airstrikes that Israel carried out last week on members of the political wing of "Hamas" living in the Qatari capital. The forum was attended by the heads of the member states of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), with the results of the discussions today among the leading topics in the Western press, writes BTA.
The leaders of Arab and Muslim countries expressed their outrage over the Israeli attack on Qatar, but failed to reach agreement on the issue of punitive measures against Israel, writes the "New York Times". Several leaders called for real, not just rhetorical, action in response to both the Israeli attack on Qatar and the war in the Gaza Strip. But the summit's final communiqué only spoke of "legal and effective measures to prevent Israel from continuing its actions against the Palestinian people." The text also called on Arab and Muslim countries to "review their diplomatic and economic relations" and "initiate legal proceedings" against Israel, the New York Times reported.
According to analysts, there is very little likelihood of a military response against Israel, because further escalation could harm the domestic political agenda of the Gulf states and, in addition, the Arab states remain dependent on US military support. Instead, other options were discussed in Doha, such as downgrading diplomatic and trade ties with Israel, the American newspaper noted.
"Israel is unlikely to take the Arab League statements seriously," Abdulaziz Algashian, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank "Gulf International Forum", told the "New York Times". "I think people were hoping for a lot more action," he added.
An Arab official told the British newspaper "Financial Times" that some Arab countries were planning to take bilateral measures against Israel and that "the key message is that the Arab and Muslim world is united against Israel". Qatar, which has been integral to efforts to mediate an end to the war in Gaza, has already cut off all contact with Israel, including intelligence cooperation, the Financial Times reported. Diplomats and analysts say the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could downgrade its ties with Israel under the five-year-old Abraham Accords. “All options are on the table and there is a general consensus that the stakes could not be higher,” a senior UAE official told the British newspaper. “We must avoid actions that would undo the progress made over the years towards regional integration and peace,” he added.
The UAE signed the Abraham Accords in 2020, a landmark success for US foreign policy during Donald Trump’s first term. The UAE was later followed by Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Abu Dhabi has maintained relations with Israel despite growing anger among Arab and Muslim countries over the Israeli military's actions in Gaza, the Financial Times notes. The UAE, for its part, has said it provides an important channel of communication. But this month, the UAE has sharply criticized Israel after far-right ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government announced plans to annex the occupied West Bank. Abu Dhabi warned Israel that such a move would cross a "red line".
Following the strikes in Qatar, home to Hamas"s political office for more than a decade, the UAE banned Israeli companies from participating in an air show in Dubai and summoned the deputy head of Israel's diplomatic mission to protest the attack.
Abdulhaleq Abdullah, a university professor in the UAE, told the "Financial Times" that for the first time (in the kingdom) there was "a serious conversation that it was time to freeze the Abraham Accords". "The agreements are becoming a political burden, not a strategic asset," Abdullah said.
Trump has made it clear that he wants more Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, to sign the Abraham Accords. But Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and said that normalization of bilateral relations is out of the question unless Israel ends the war in Gaza and agrees to the creation of a Palestinian state, the British newspaper recalls.
The Israeli attacks on Qatar have sharpened the focus on relations between the oil-rich Gulf states and Washington, as these countries grow frustrated with Trump's inability to restrain Netanyahu. Some Gulf states rely on Washington to guarantee their security and regional leaders are worried about damaging their bilateral ties with the US, the "Financial Times" commented. Egypt and Jordan, who have been vocal critics of Israel's war in Gaza, have continued to uphold decades-old peace agreements with Israel out of security interests and to avoid provoking the United States, the British newspaper also wrote.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who visited Israel on Sunday and Monday, did not answer yesterday whether he had asked Netanyahu for guarantees that Israel would not attack Doha again. Israel appears to have failed to kill senior Hamas political leaders in Qatar, and the attack has shaken the United States' Arab allies.
"Everyone in the Middle East sees this as a test of how far US security guarantees will go and whether the United States will protect them from Israel," he told the "Financial Times" official representative of the Arab countries.
The lack of specific measures against Israel in the joint declaration of the Doha summit is a relief for the United States, which is trying to prevent a total breakdown in Arab-Israeli relations or an escalation of the conflict, writes the British newspaper "Guardian". However, it is possible that at the upcoming meeting of the Joint Defense Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council, calls will be made to the countries in the region to end their dependence on the United States as a guarantor of their security, the British newspaper predicts.
Arab leaders are shocked that Trump has not shown greater willingness to stop Israel's attempts to expand its territory, including through the mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. The mood of Arab leaders will not improve from Israeli statements that Netanyahu warned Trump about the attack on Qatar. Many Gulf leaders have said they now need clear evidence that Trump will take action to deter Netanyahu, the Guardian concludes.