Regional and international effects of Israel's relations with the Gulf countries

One of the most serious problems of the Middle East, the Arab-Jewish conflict, which started with the policies towards the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, turned into Arab-Israeli wars because the Arab countries assumed the protectorate of the Palestinian cause right after the establishment of Israel. The Arab-Israeli wars, which started from the year Israel was founded in 1948 and lasted until the 1973 Yom Kippur War, brought along new problems that are still waiting for a solution in the regional sense, as well as the Arabs' failure to achieve any tangible success. The first step towards peace against the Arab-Israeli wars was the Camp David Agreements signed between Israel and Egypt in 1978, even though it cost Egypt's isolation from the Arab world and subsequently the life of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. After this agreement, the second country to normalize with Israel is Jordan with the Wadi Arabe Agreement signed in 1994. Arab countries, which see Israel as an enemy state due to the Palestinian issue, but have secretly established relations, waited for many years to sign normalization agreements with Israel after Egypt and Jordan. Israel's opening of illegal settlements, the attack and embargo on Gaza shaped the Arabs' approach to Israel. Therefore, it became more difficult for Arab countries to get their societies to accept normalization with Israel, especially after the Arab Spring. It seemed likely that the Gulf countries would sign the normalization agreements in the covert Arab-Israeli relations. Increasing military and commercial cooperation after the Arab Spring, displaying similar or the same policies with Israel in conflict zones, and Iran's regional goals, where they could combine political cooperation and security perceptions on a common ground, laid the groundwork for normalization agreements. In addition, the fact that they did not fight directly and did not share a geographical border stood out as the factors that paved the way for normalization. After the normalization agreements, the attitude of global and regional actors was important for the continuity of the agreements and the future of the Palestinian issue. The two important powers of the region, Turkey and Iran, reacted harshly. While Saudi Arabia has a moderate approach, Qatar has shown that it prioritizes the solution of the Palestinian issue. Kuwait was another country that reacted to the signing of the agreement. However, it should not be forgotten that Morocco was one of the first countries to react to the agreement and later decided to normalize with Israel. Keywords: Arab, Israel, Gulf, Normalization, Agreement