Despite efforts by the Israeli incumbents to imply there remains the possibility of returning to the issue of annexing the Jordan Valley and West Bank settlements, voices in the Gulf have been clear and unambiguous: Shelving annexation is very much part of the price Israel paid for the diplomatic coup of establishing diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates. The point was made clear by a Foreign Ministry official in the UAE and hammered home to Jared Kushner when he made the next stop on his current itinerary: Qatar. If the “first son-in-law” had hoped to see evidence of the “new Middle East” in other countries, it was not Qatar. Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani himself told Kushner that suspending annexation is, indeed, a condition/precedent for the UAE deal and then recited the Mideast mantra and took it one step further: Not only is his country demanding a “two-state solution with east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital,” but the emir said there would be no Qatari normalization with the Jewish state before there is a Palestinian state. Other Gulf leaders are taking the same line as the emir of Qatar.
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