Time Is Ripe For a Saudi-Qatar Reconciliation
Despite resistance from Abu Dhabi, Jared Kushner seems to have engineered a Riyadh-Doha rapprochement.
They may be ready to make up.
Photographer: Fayez Nureldine/AFPGetty Images
It looks like the Trump administration’s effort to get some important last-minute gains in the Middle East is paying off. On a trip to the region this week, the president’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, is reported to have engineered a preliminary agreement between Saudi Arabia and Qatar to end their rift.
The key to the potential rapprochement between Riyadh and Doha is the reopening of a crucial flight route through Saudi airspace for Qatari civilian aircraft. This was cut off in June 2017, when Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, began an economic embargo on Qatar.