In this special edition of Middle East Matters, we focus on the regional repercussions of the Israel-Hamas war. The October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel have placed Arab nations which have peace treaties with Israel in the awkward position of trying to honour their commitments under those deals, while they face mounting pro-Palestinian support from their people on the streets. We also take a look at the role played by regional mediator Qatar.
While Egypt and Jordan have longer-standing peace treaties with Israel, other Arab nations – the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – only agreed to recognise Israel in 2020, with the signing of the Abraham Accords, a series of bilateral agreements aimed at normalising relations. Saudi Arabia had been in negotiations to do so before the war, but suspended those talks as Israel began its aerial bombardment of Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks. We take a look at the response to the war in those nations which have signed peace treaties with Israel.
For more insight, we speak to Professor Gilbert Achcar from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.
We also take a closer look at the role played by Qatar, which has been leading negotiations aimed at securing the release of hostages captured by Hamas. The tiny emirate has a long record of brokering such deals. But it has maintained extensive ties with militant groups and admits financing terrorism. It also hosts an office of Hamas, which is used as the main residence for the group's self-exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh.
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