by Dr. Reuven Berko
It turns out that the Sunni Gulf states actually hope for U.S. protection, not confrontation, and hope that President-elect Trump will change U.S. policy in their favor.
U.S. President Barack
Obama's mystifying remarks this week warning of damage to both property
and persons should there be a confrontation with Islam, along with his
calls to shut down Guantanamo Bay, reflect a disconnect from what is
happening in the Middle East, since other than an all-out war against
radical Islamist organizations and their operatives, no one intends to
confront Islam on an individual or state level. At the twilight of his
tenure, they are fearful in the Persian Gulf, but they are also
optimistic.
An indication of both
the fear and the hope is a two-day conference of the Cooperation Council
for the Arab States of the Gulf, which came to a close Wednesday night
in Manama, Bahrain. The summit was characterized by a fear of
abandonment, the consequence of an Obama administration perceived to
have neglected America's Arab friends. It turns out that the Sunni Gulf
states actually hope for U.S. protection, not confrontation, and hope
that President-elect Trump will change U.S. policy in their favor.
The Persian Gulf is
dominated not just by the fear they have been abandoned by the U.S., but
by the fear that the U.S. has substituted their alliance with an
alliance with a new Iranian partner, a "second-tier contractor" for
regional order. Now the Gulf waits with baited breath for the return of
the No. 1 superpower (for now), and they have high hopes the incoming
president will help protect the region.
The Gulf Cooperation
Council comprises six member states: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. The council was established on
May 25, 1981 in Abu Dhabi following the Iran-Iraq War, which served to
expose their vulnerability to territorial, economic and religious greed,
especially on the part of Iran. This coalition aims to bolster economic
and security cooperation among the Gulf states to protect them from
external threats to their territories, their religious places and their
resources.
The 37th GCC summit is
an expression of the vigilance these states require to protect
themselves from the challenge presented by terrorist organizations that
threaten them at home, but mostly from the increasingly aggressive
behavior of Iran.
Participants at the
summit pointed to the chaos and Iranian and Russian involvement in the
region in light of America's absence. Media reports that accompanied the
conference mentioned the disaster in Aleppo and warned that an Egyptian
engineering battalion was assisting the Syrian regime and that Iranian
planes had hit Turkish military forces. From their perceptive, the lack
of an American presence has enabled Iran to get involved in Syria, Iraq,
Yemen and Libya, and for other hostile actors, like Russia, to help
fill the vacuum.
And indeed, Iranian
involvement in the region has been accompanied by that country's
increasing harassment of the Gulf states, including provocations by
Iranian Shiite pilgrims during the Haj in Saudi Arabia, the discovery of
spy networks and Iranian subversion in Saudi Arabia and other Arab
countries, the conquest of islands and outposts in the Persian Gulf,
provocative behavior by the Iranian Navy (including toward U.S. forces)
and overt military support to the Houthis in Yemen, who are attacking
targets in Saudi Arabia, including shooting missiles toward Mecca and
Medina, the two holiest cities in Islam.
The attempt to
establish a common operative military body for the Gulf states failed
despite the threat presented by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who
represent Iran's violent infiltration of the peninsula. Initial reports
in the Arab media point to the failure of the Gulf states to overcome
internal sectarianism and issues of self-interest. The exclusion of Al
Jazeera, which is owned by Gulf Council member Qatar, from the summit
was symbolic of this alienation. Nevertheless, the conference was given
legitimacy through the attendance of British Prime Minister Theresa May
and her call for the establishment of a road map for strategic
cooperation because "Gulf security is our security."
At the summit, Great
Britain was a pillar of support for the Arabs. The assembled called for
Iran to end its involvement in terror, subversion and the internal
affairs of Gulf states. The states agreed there is no military solution
in Iraq and Syria, only negotiations. They were also in agreement on the
need to help Iraq in its fight against Islamic State and the need for
an international effort to find a solution for Yemen. The Palestinian
issue -- and the widely held belief that Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas is the heart of the Arab people -- did not receive any
mention from the Arabs or the British, whom Abbas recently called
"Balfour criminals."
The prevailing fear in
the Gulf is not just that they have been abandoned by the U.S., but that
the U.S. has substituted a new Iranian partner in their place.
Dr. Reuven Berko
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=17829
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