Last month, after a summit in Doha where the wealthy Arab kingdoms of the Persian Gulf rallied around a joint naval and police force, Qatar’s foreign minister had some kind words for Egypt. Evoking the 1950s and 1960s, the height of pan-Arab rhetoric, Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah called Egypt “strong and capable…the backbone of all Arabs.” The nostalgia was part of a reconciliation campaign, led by the conservative Gulf countries that back Egyptian strongman President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, to mend ties between Egypt and Qatar. That came on the heels of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain’s own […]
Gulf-Backed Regional Status Quo Restored With Egypt-Qatar Thaw
