Six takes on the GCC summit: Everyone wins … except Iran

1. Back to normal 

It started with a hug. At the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the historic Saudi desert town of Al-Ula on Jan. 5, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with a warm embrace, ending a 3½-year spat that shut down trade and travel between Qatar and its neighbors and undercut US and Gulf efforts to keep a united front against Iran. 

"Noble intentions" reaffirmed. The hug may have been more significant than the actual document that emanated from the summit. The Al-Ula Declaration and the GCC Final Communique are silent on the rift itself. No mention is made of the 13 demands on Qatar presented by the blockading countries of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain in June 2017, which included demands for Qatar to cut ties with Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups, and to shut down Al Jazeera.  Instead, the "noble intentions" of the GCC toward all sorts of cooperation and integration are reaffirmed. 

"Back to Normal." "The Al-Ula declaration has achieved a settlement of all issues outstanding in a way that is entirely satisfactory to all nations involved,” said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, adding that "all the outstanding [issues], whether it’s the returning of diplomatic relations, flights, etc., all of that will now go back to normal.”