On Jan. 5 the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) signed a "solidarity and stability" agreement during the annual GCC summit in Saudi Arabia. In short order, the GCC member states that had taken part in the blockade of Qatar took several important steps to implement the new agreement, inspiring confidence that the arrangement would resolve the dispute. Saudi Arabia lead the way, with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt lifting their three-year illegal boycott of Qatar in exchange for Doha agreeing to freeze legal actions against them. But there still is a very long way to go.
While official details of the agreement have not been released, it appears the quartet may have dropped or at least suspended for now its initial 13 demands that included Qatar having to shut down Al Jazeera, end its relations with Iran, close Turkey’s military base in Doha and end its military cooperation with Ankara. These early steps seem promising, but only time will tell if the bargain reflects a possible true reconciliation that settles long-standing disagreements among these GCC states — or if the agreement is simply a face-saving measure allowing all parties to return to the occasionally tense state of affairs prior to the embargo and the threat of an invasion of Qatar.
