By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers
The Path To A Regional Order
The US has launched
an air assault on several sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iran-backed militias,
in an opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US
service members in Jordan last weekend. US Central Command said the strikes
were targeted at Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and
affiliated militia groups. It said US military forces struck more than 85
targets including “command and control operations, centers, intelligence
centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aired vehicle storages, and
logistics and munition supply chain facilities” belonging to militia groups and
their IRGC sponsors.
Earlier, as the
catastrophic war in the Gaza Strip began to
inflame the broader region, the stability of the Middle East appeared to be
once again at the center of the U.S. foreign policy agenda. In the initial days
after Hamas’s October 7 attacks, the Biden administration moved two aircraft
carrier strike groups and a nuclear-powered submarine to the Middle East, while
a steady stream of senior U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, began
making high-profile trips to the region. Then, as the conflict became more
difficult to contain, the United States went further. In early November, in
response to attacks on U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Syria by
Iranian-backed groups, the United States conducted strikes on weapons sites in
Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; in early January, U.S.
forces killed a senior commander of one of these groups in Baghdad. In
mid-January, after weeks of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by the
Houthi movement, which is also supported by Iran, the United States, together
with the United Kingdom, initiated a series of
strikes on Houthi strongholds in Yemen.
Despite this show of
force, it would be unwise to bet on the United States committing major
diplomatic and security resources to the Middle East
over the longer term. Well before Hamas’s October 7 attacks, successive U.S.
administrations had signaled their intent to shift away from the region to
devote more attention to a rising China. The Biden administration has
also been contending with Russia’s war in Ukraine, further limiting its
bandwidth for coping with the Middle East. By 2023, U.S. officials had largely
given up on a revived nuclear agreement with Iran, seeking instead to reach
informal de-escalation arrangements with their Iranian counterparts. At the
same time, the administration was bolstering the military capacity of regional
partners such as Saudi Arabia to transfer some of the security burden from
Washington. Despite Biden’s early reluctance to do business with Riyadh—whose
leadership U.S. intelligence believes was responsible for the 2018 killing of
the Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal
Khashoggi—the president prioritized a deal to normalize relations between Saudi
Arabia and Israel. In pursuing the deal, the United States was willing to offer
significant incentives to both sides while mostly ignoring the Palestinian
issue.
October 7 upended
this approach, underscoring the centrality of the Palestinian issue and forcing
the United States into more direct military engagement. Yet
remarkably, the war in Gaza has not led to significant shifts in Washington’s
underlying policy orientation. The administration continues to push for Saudi
normalization despite Israeli opposition to a separate state for the
Palestinians, which the Saudis have made a condition of any such agreement. And
U.S. officials seem unlikely to end their effort to disentangle the United
States from Middle East conflicts. If anything, the war’s increasingly
complicated dynamics may result in even less U.S. appetite for engagement in
the region. Doubling down on commitments in the Middle East is also not likely
to be a winning strategy for either American political party in a crucial
election year.
Of course, the United
States will continue to be involved in the Middle East. If a missile strikes on
U.S. forces result in American deaths or if a terrorist attack linked to
the Gaza conflict kills American civilians, it could force a greater U.S.
military engagement than the administration might want. But waiting for the
United States to take the lead in effectively managing Gaza and delivering a
lasting Middle East peace would be like waiting for Godot: current regional and
global dynamics simply make it too difficult for Washington to play that
dominant role. That doesn’t mean that other global powers will replace the
United States. Neither European nor Chinese leaders have demonstrated much
interest in or capacity for taking on the job, even as U.S. influence wanes.
Given this emerging reality, regional powers—particularly Israel’s immediate
Arab neighbors Egypt and Jordan, along with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which have been coordinating since the war
began—urgently need to step up and define a collective way forward.
Finding common ground
after Hamas’s brutal October 7 attacks and Israel’s devastating
campaign in Gaza will be exceptionally difficult. And the longer the war
continues, the greater the risk of broader fractures across the Middle East.
But in the years preceding the attacks, both Arab and non-Arab states showed
the potential for new forms of cooperation in what amounted to a major reset of
relations across the region. Even after months of war, many of these ties have
remained intact. Now, before this trend reverses, these governments must come
together to build lasting mechanisms for conflict prevention and, ultimately,
peace.
Most urgently,
regional powers must support a meaningful political process between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. But they should also take decisive steps to
prevent such a cataclysm from happening again. In particular, they should seek
to establish new and stronger regional security arrangements that can provide
stability with or without U.S. leadership. It is well past time for the Middle
East to have a standing forum for regional security that establishes a
permanent venue for dialogue among its powers. Gleaning opportunity from
tragedy will take hard work and commitment at the highest political levels. But
as distant as this vision may seem today, the potential exists for Middle
Eastern leaders to arrest the spiral of violence and move the region in a more
positive direction.
Anxieties Of Influence
Despite mounting
frustration with the Biden administration for not taking decisive action to end
the war, some Arab leaders, along with pro-interventionists in Washington, may
be eager to see the United States “back” in the Middle East. The Biden administration’s
swift diplomatic and military response—and its willingness to use force against
Iranian-aligned groups—has suggested that the region is once more at the heart
of U.S. national security concerns. In fact, in terms of military might, the
United States never left: at the time of the October 7 attacks, tens of
thousands of U.S. forces were already stationed in the region, and Washington
continues to maintain sizable military bases in Bahrain and Qatar, as well as
smaller military deployments in Syria and Iraq.
However, the United
States’ military and diplomatic activity since October 7 has not instilled
confidence. For one thing, the administration’s effort to prevent a wider
regional conflict has been decidedly mixed. At one of the most concerning flash
points, Israel’s simmering conflict with Hezbollah on the Lebanese border,
Washington has been unable to prevent growing violence on both sides. Along
with significant military and civilian casualties, tens of thousands of
civilians have been forced to evacuate towns in northern Israel and southern
Lebanon. Hezbollah has thus far refused to withdraw its forces from the border
in exchange for economic incentives, and Israel—which has already assassinated
a top Hamas official in Beirut—has signaled that time is running out for
diplomacy.
Meanwhile, the United
States has struggled to contain military pressure from Iranian proxies in Iraq,
Syria, and Yemen. Since the start of the war, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria
have faced more than 150 attacks from these groups. And despite a series of retaliatory
strikes by the United States and the United Kingdom, Washington has been unable
to put an end to the Houthis’ relentless missile and drone attacks in the Red
Sea. Already, the Houthis have been able to cause significant disruptions to
international trade, forcing major shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal.
Notably, U.S. attempts to corral a multinational maritime force to counter the
threat have been unable to attract regional partners such as Egypt, Jordan, and
Saudi Arabia, which remain wary of the administration’s Gaza policies.
As Washington’s
military leverage diminishes, its diplomatic muscle has also weakened. Rather
than showing resolve, the continual visits of senior administration officials
to the region have demonstrated how little sway the United States retains—or in
the case of Israel, the administration’s unwillingness to use it. During the
initial months of the war, one of the administration’s few apparent
accomplishments was a one-week pause in fighting in late November, which led to
the release of over 100 Israeli and foreign hostages and a modest delivery of
humanitarian aid to Gaza. But even in that case, Qatari and Egyptian mediation
was crucial. Otherwise, the United States has been unwilling (at least as of
this writing) to call for a cease-fire, and the administration’s public
diplomacy has mostly been limited to rhetorical efforts to restrain the worst
impulses of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing
government.
The administration
has been more vocal in promoting “day after” peace ideas focused on what it
calls a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank and
Gaza and regional support for rebuilding Gaza. But regional powers,
particularly the wealthy Gulf Arab states, have made clear that they will not
endorse such plans without irreversible steps toward Palestinian statehood.
After U.S. officials began speaking more publicly about the need for a
two-state solution as part of a larger normalization pact with Saudi Arabia,
Netanyahu flatly rejected the possibility and insisted that Israel must remain
in full security control of Palestinian areas. But even centrist Israeli
officials expressed astonishment that the United States was pressing peace
initiatives while the all-out war against Hamas was continuing. Meanwhile, the
administration’s backing of Israel in the fighting and its perceived lack of
empathy for Palestinian suffering have created significant obstacles to
attracting regional support, let alone Palestinian buy-in, for any American-led
plan.
The United States
will continue to be a major player in the region because of its military assets
and its unparalleled relationship with Israel. But any expectation that
Washington will be able to achieve a grand bargain that could definitively end
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is detached from the realities of today’s
Middle East. In the end, major diplomatic breakthroughs are most likely to come
from, and depend on, the region itself.
Going It Alone, Together
The consequences of
Washington’s diminishing influence in the Middle East have not been limited to
the current conflict. As U.S. engagement in the region declined in the years
leading up to October 7, major regional powers steadily increased their efforts
to shape and set security arrangements. Indeed, beginning in 2019, governments
across the region began to mend previously fraught relations. This unusual
regional reset was driven not only by economic priorities—overcoming frictions
that had previously disrupted or held back trade and growth—but also by the
perception that Washington’s interest in managing Middle East conflicts was
waning.
Take the
rapprochement between the Gulf states and Iran. In 2019, the UAE began
restoring bilateral ties with Iran after a three-year rupture, seeing an
opportunity to directly manage relations and protect its interests from
Iranian-backed groups that had been disrupting Gulf shipping and threatening
Emirati tourism and trade. Abu Dhabi formally resumed diplomatic ties with
Tehran in 2022, paving the way for Riyadh to follow suit. In March 2023, the
longtime rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran announced that they were resuming
relations in an accord brokered by China after months of back-channel talks
moderated by Oman and Iraq. The United States had no part in these deals.
Meanwhile, in 2021,
Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE ended a three-and-a-half-year
blockade of Qatar that had been motivated principally by Qatar’s backing of
Muslim Brotherhood groups, its close ties with Iran and Turkey, and its
activist Al Jazeera television channel. Around the same time, the UAE and Saudi
Arabia reconciled with Turkey, which they had previously shunned in response to
Turkish support for Qatar and groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
(Saudi-Turkish ties had also been strained because of a Turkish judicial
investigation into the murder of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.)
By resuming ties, the Saudis and Emiratis opened the door to crucial Gulf
investment in the struggling Turkish economy. In May 2023, Arab leaders invited
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad back into the Arab League, marking the end of
more than a decade of isolation during Syria’s brutal civil war.
Arab leaders discussing the Gaza war in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, November 2023
As part of this
broader reset, governments across the Middle East also began to participate in
a variety of regional forums. The Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and
Partnership, which met for the first time in Baghdad in 2021 and again in Amman
in 2022 to discuss Iraq’s stability, convened a wide array of previous
rivals—including Iran and Turkey, the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council,
and Jordan and Egypt. The East Mediterranean Gas Forum, established in 2020,
brought together Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, and Jordan,
along with representatives from the Palestinian Authority, in what is designed
to be a regular dialogue built around gas security and decarbonization. The
so-called I2U2, a group that includes India, Israel, the UAE, and the United
States, was set up in 2021 to foster cross-regional partnerships focusing on
health, infrastructure, and energy.
Another aspect of
this regional reset was Israel’s normalization with several Arab governments.
In the 2020 Abraham Accords, Bahrain, Morocco, and the UAE agreed to establish
formal ties with Israel, creating opportunities for new economic relations and trade.
Notably, one goal of the accords was to pave the way for new direct security
relationships between Israel and the Arab world. Before the October 7 attacks,
the Biden administration had high hopes that Saudi Arabia, as a leading member
of the Arab world, would also join this group. Building on those accords, the
March 2022 Negev Summit brought together Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, the
UAE, and the United States to encourage economic and security cooperation in
what was intended to be a regular meeting.
Glaringly absent from
the normalization deals, however, was the Palestinian issue, which was largely
set aside. As a result, Jordan refused to participate in the Negev Summit, and
as tensions over Israel’s settlements in the West Bank flared in early 2023, a
further meeting of the group was repeatedly postponed. Now, with the
devastation of Gaza, any further progress will be contingent on not just ending
the war but also building a viable plan for a Palestinian state.
Ruptures And Resilience
In theory, the
catastrophic war in Gaza would seem to pose a grave threat to the Middle East
reset. In most cases, newly established regional relations are still fragile
and have yet to address thorny issues such as weapons proliferation, the
continued backing of militant groups in Libya and Sudan by the UAE, Iran’s
support for armed nonstate militia groups across the region, and Syria’s export
of the drug Captagon. Along with endangering Israel’s
fledging normalization of relations with Arab governments, the intensifying
involvement of Iranian-backed groups—from Hezbollah and the Houthis to various
militias in Syria and Iraq—has the potential to create new fissures between
Iran and the Gulf states. Yet so far, the emerging realignments have proved
surprisingly durable.
Rather than derailing
relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Gaza war seems to have
strengthened them. In November 2023, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attended a rare joint meeting of the Arab League and
the Organization of Islamic Cooperation hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman in Riyadh, and the following month, Iranian and Saudi leaders met
again in Beijing to discuss the Gaza war. The two countries have also planned
an exchange of state visits by Raisi and Mohammed in
the coming months—meetings that are supposed to formalize new economic and
security ties. And despite simmering tensions over the Houthis in particular,
the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers met at the World Economic Forum in
Davos in January 2024, as well.
Meanwhile, diplomatic
ties between Israel and its Abraham Accord partners have so far held. The UAE
has made clear that it views dialogue with the Israeli government, even in the
current crisis, as an important way to make progress on an Israeli-Palestinian
political settlement. Although Bahrain’s parliament has condemned the sustained
assault on Gaza, the country has not formally severed ties with Israel. For
both Arab states, normalization is not just about strengthening economic bonds
with Israel but also reinforcing strategic ties with the United States. Despite
Washington’s perceived shift away from the region in recent years, Gulf Arab
states still seek U.S. security guarantees and protection: in January 2022,
Biden designated Qatar as a “major non-NATO ally,” and in September 2023,
Bahrain and the United States signed an agreement to strengthen their strategic
partnership.
Certainly, the war
has created new obstacles to regional cooperation, particularly when it comes
to Israel and neighboring states. Both Turkey and Jordan have withdrawn their
ambassadors from Israel, and direct flights between Israel and Morocco stopped in
October. By late January, with more than 26,000 killed in Gaza and no
cease-fire in sight, Arab public opinion was more strongly opposed to
normalization than ever. Many also fear that the U.S. and British military
strikes on the Houthis could embolden the group in Yemen and set back efforts
to formalize a long-sought cease-fire in the Houthis’ nearly decade-long war in
Yemen with Saudi Arabia. And although Gulf Arab states have committed to
continue reaching out diplomatically to Tehran, few officials in the region are
hopeful that Iran will alter its approach of “forward defense,” in which it
relies on militant groups to build strategic leverage and maintain deterrence.
In mid-January, Tehran’s direct missile strikes on Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria in
response to Israeli strikes and an attack by the Islamic State in the Iranian
city of Kerman increased tensions further.
For now, there are
indications that Middle East leaders seek to transcend these
disputes. For example, to manage growing economic pressure and unrest at home,
Iran has given new priority to regional business and trade relations not only
with Gulf Arab states but also with Iraq, Turkey, and Central Asian countries,
as well as China and Russia. This points to the pragmatic impulses driving
Tehran’s message that it seeks to avoid direct engagement in the Gaza conflict
despite its backing of various proxy groups. But as tit-for-tat attacks mount
across the region in the absence of a Gaza cease-fire, Iran’s calculations
could very well shift.
The Gaza Effect
Paradoxically, one of
the strongest forces holding the region together may be the plight of Gaza
itself and the Palestinian issue, which the war has so starkly brought to world
attention. Facing overwhelming popular anger and the long-term potential for radicalization
and the return of extremist groups, regional leaders have largely aligned their
policy responses to the war. Despite divergent strategies toward Israel and the
Palestinians before October 7, governments around the Middle East are broadly united
on demanding an immediate cease-fire, opposing any transfer of Palestinians out
of Gaza, calling for humanitarian access to Gaza and the urgent provision of
aid, and supporting negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages in return
for an end to the war. The question now is whether this unity can be steered
toward building a legitimate peace process.
For many regional
Arab and Muslim countries, the highest priority has been defining a clear plan
for Gaza and, ultimately, Palestinian statehood. Israeli leaders have suggested
that Gulf states with substantial resources, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE,
might share the cost of rebuilding Gaza. But Israel’s current government has
said it opposes a Palestinian state, and with the war continuing, no Arab
governments are willing to make such a commitment or be seen to be underwriting
Israel’s war effort. Instead, they have unveiled their proposals for a postwar
peace.
In December 2023,
Egypt and Qatar put forward a plan that began with a cease-fire contingent on
phased hostage releases and prisoner exchanges. After a transition period,
these confidence-building steps would, in theory, lead to the creation of a
Palestinian unity government. Composed of members of both Fatah, the
nationalist party that has long controlled the PA, and Hamas, the new
leadership would jointly run the West Bank and Gaza, given a critical regional
demand that the different Palestinian territories no longer be politically
separated. This last phase would require Palestinian elections and the creation
of a Palestinian state. Although Israel dismissed the plan itself, both for the
inclusion of Hamas and over the issue of statehood, it provided a starting
point for further discussion.
Smoke rising from northern Gaza, January 2024
In turn, Turkey has
floated the concept of a multicountry
guarantor system, with states in the region protecting and bolstering
Palestinian security and governance and the United States and European
countries providing security guarantees for Israel. Others have proposed that
the United Nations-run a transitional authority in the West Bank and Gaza, an
approach that would allow time to overhaul the Palestinian governance structure
and ultimately lay the groundwork for Palestinian elections. For its
part, Iran has repeatedly stated that it will reinforce any
outcome that is supported by the Palestinians themselves—suggesting that there
is a renewed opportunity to persuade Tehran to support a deal and forestall its
usual spoiler role.
Meanwhile, Saudi
Arabia has been developing a peace plan with other Arab states that would
condition normalizing ties with Israel on the creation of an irrevocable path
to a Palestinian state. Riyadh’s approach is underpinned by the 2002 Arab peace
initiative that committed to Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for the
creation of a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. The
current Saudi plan aligns with Washington’s push for Israeli-Saudi
normalization. It remains unclear, however, whether the Saudis would agree with
their American counterparts on what constitutes credible and irreversible steps
toward a Palestinian state, particularly given strong Israeli resistance.
Under Netanyahu, the
Israeli government continues to reject all these proposals. But as of late
January, Israel remained far from accomplishing its war aim of eradicating
Hamas, and it had yet to secure the release of more than 100 remaining
hostages. There were also rising tensions in both the war cabinet and the
Israeli public about the future course of the military campaign. Moreover, the
country has deferred any serious public or political debate on its future
security until the war is over. When that happens, Israel will need to have
open diplomatic channels with, and secure funding and security guarantees from,
Arab governments, as well as retain Washington’s engagement through the
process.
It may take years to
establish the necessary political conditions for a serious peace process after
such a terrible war. Nonetheless, the conflict and its regional spillover are a
stark reminder that although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the only
cause, regional stability will be at constant risk as long as it continues. And
regional governments are increasingly aware that they cannot rely on the United
States alone to provide a viable peace process for them.
Rivals Into Neighbors
Even as it has thrust
the Palestinian issue back to the forefront of the international agenda, the
war in Gaza has underscored the important new political dynamics in play across
the Middle East. On the one hand, the United States appears to have less influence.
But at the same time, regional powers, including those previously at odds, are
taking the initiative, involving themselves in mediation, and coordinating
their policy responses. Whereas before October 7, regional powers—in
particular, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE—were less
aligned on the Palestinian issue, they are now acting with impressive unity,
coordination, and planning. To turn this shared resolve into a lasting source
of collective leadership, however, these powers must embrace more permanent
regional institutions and arrangements.
Most critically,
these should include a standing dialogue forum for the entire region. Episodic
summits for cabinet ministers and ad hoc “minilateral”
groupings such as the East Mediterranean Gas Forum and I2U2 will no doubt
continue to define the regional landscape in the years ahead. However, a
permanent forum for regional security is lacking. In other parts of the world,
cooperative security forums, such as the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, have been
able to develop alongside bilateral and regional security alliances, enhancing
communication even among adversaries and helping prevent conflict. There is no
reason for the Middle East to remain the global exception. And given the
region’s pressing need to coordinate and de-escalate, the current crisis
provides a crucial opportunity to begin such an initiative.
Although leaders have
been skeptical about the idea of a forum embracing the entire region, there are
several ways that new cooperative security mechanisms could be built. For
example, ever since the Madrid peace process was launched in the early 1990s to
address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such arrangements have been
informally proposed in dialogues among experts. Over the past few years,
numerous policymakers and others have made clear that this approach is ripe for
implementation at an official level. Although such a forum should ultimately
aim to include the entire region—all Arab states, Iran, Israel, and Turkey—that
won’t immediately be feasible. But a smaller number of key states could start
an official process, holding open the prospect of wider participation down the
road. Since several Arab states and Turkey have relationships with both Israel
and Iran, their participation will be especially valuable at the outset.
The new organization,
which could be called the MENA Forum, to encompass the broadest understanding
of the Middle East and North Africa region, should initially focus on
cross-cutting issues on which there is broad consensus, such as climate,
energy, and emergency responses to crises. Although the resolution of the Gaza
war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will likely need to be
led through a separate Arab initiative, the forum could coordinate positions on
postwar Gaza through its emergency response agenda, including humanitarian
support and reconstruction aid for Palestinians. The forum would not directly
mediate conflicts itself: cooperative security dialogues have proved most
effective when focused on improving communication and coordination to defuse
tensions and on providing mutual security and socioeconomic benefits to
members. But through regular contact and a gradual building of trust, such a
process could support conflict resolution in the Israeli-Palestinian arena and
beyond.
Indeed, standing
regional meetings can provide important opportunities, not to mention political
cover, for dialogues on contentious disputes among rivals and adversaries who
otherwise lack direct channels of communication. These could include not only Israelis
and Palestinians but eventually, also Israelis and Iranians, who could meet in
technical working groups on noncontroversial issues of mutual concern. Such
interactions have already quietly unfolded on the sidelines of other
multilateral forums focused on climate and water, suggesting that more
inclusive regional cooperation is ultimately possible.
Establishing a Middle
East security forum will require political will at the highest levels, as well
as a strong regional champion that is considered a neutral party. One
possibility is to announce the new organization at a meeting of foreign
ministers, possibly on the margins of another regional gathering, like one of
the economic sessions that have been held at the Dead Sea in Jordan. The
initiative will be more likely to succeed if it is both created and led by the
region. Middle powers in Asia and Europe could provide political and technical
support in areas where they may have valuable expertise, for example. At least
at the outset, China, Russia, and the United States should have limited roles
to prevent the forum from turning into another platform for great-power
competition. Nonetheless, support from both Washington and Beijing will be
critical to ensure that the forum becomes a useful supplement, rather than a
threat, to their diplomacy in the region.
A Time To Lead
Among the difficult
realities that the war in Gaza has exposed, one of the starkest may be the
limits of American power. As much as it may be wished for, the United States is
unlikely to provide the decisive leadership or the leverage needed to push through
a lasting Israeli-Palestinian settlement. It will be up to the Middle East’s
leaders and diplomats to take charge. By capturing the region’s attention and
diplomatic energy, the war has provided a rare opportunity for new forms of
cooperative leadership.
A regional security
forum cannot by itself deliver Middle East peace—no single initiative can do
that. And without accountable governance, genuine long-term stability will
remain elusive. Nor is an organization like this going to replace all the
competitive power balancing that has long been a hallmark of Middle East
statecraft. Even in Asia and Europe, cooperative arrangements have not
supplanted national strategic rivalries or been able to foreclose military
confrontation, as the war in Ukraine has so painfully demonstrated.
Nonetheless, a regular forum would add a crucial layer of stability to the
conflict-prone Middle East. Such a project is also increasingly urgent.
Although October 7
has not yet reversed all the regional currents favoring de-escalation and
accommodation, time may be running out to capitalize on this reset. Leading
Arab states, together with regional powers such as Turkey, must seize the
moment to lock in some of the rapprochement that preceded Gaza and the
coordination that has arisen since. The Middle East is facing a moment of
reckoning. If it becomes paralyzed by the horrific bloodshed in Gaza, it could
further descend into crisis and conflict. Or it can start building a different
future.
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