Thaw in the desert

The 41st summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Al Ula, Saudi Arabia BANDAR ALAJALOUD / SAUDI ROYAL COU / EFE

The crisis of the Gulf Cooperation Council, declared three and a half years ago with the trade and border boycott of the emirate of Qatar promoted by Saudi Arabia, ended yesterday with the participation of the head of state of the Arab emirate, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al Thani, at the annual summit that brings together the leaders of the six neighboring and coastal countries.

Air and sea flows with Doha have resumed and the border with Saudi Arabia, the only land border available to Qatar, has been reopened in a de-escalation promoted by Kuwait that recovers diplomacy and multilateralism after a turbulent period of mutual accusations and even war dangers.

It is no coincidence that the boycott, unleashed at the initiative of the Saudi Prince Mohamed Bin Salman and the Emirati Mohamed Bin Zayed, took place in the early stages of Donald Trump's presidency and that reconciliation begins just as Joe Biden is about to settle in the White House.

Mohamed Bin Salman, the real leader of Riyadh, has also promoted the war in Yemen, the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a policy of frontal confrontation with Iran, of which the blockade of Qatar, accused among other things of an Iranian agent, was just an appendix.

Trump has been complicit in the excesses of the Saudi prince, encouraged by the Saudi purchases of American weapons and encouraged above all by his dual strategy of confrontation with Iran and of withdrawal from the region.

When it comes to the security of the Middle East, he has bet everything in favor of an Arab-Israeli alliance, woven between Netanyahu and the Saudi and Emirati princes, which would allow him to disengage militarily from the commitments made by his country.

The recovery of a functional Gulf Council, as well as the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and various Arab countries, are positive realities regardless of the purposes of those who promoted them.

In a region destroyed by the oppressive action of autocratic and police states, plagued by terrorism and in economic and demographic transformation, especially by the declining future of oil, an option that recovers multilateralism and diplomacy is always good news.

Although the thaw is shrouded behind the veil of the need for a common front against Iran, its political significance is a victory for Qatar - which has resisted suffocation without bowing to the initial requirements of the Saudis - and a defeat for the strategy of Qatar. Mohamed Bin Salman.

This normalization is good news.

There remains the enormous challenge of channeling the pulse with Iran and the disturbing prospect of nuclear proliferation.