Description
The war between Israel and Hamas in 2023 had a substantive effect on geopolitics and international relations of the Middle East and North Africa region. While most analysis focus either on the future of Israeli-Emirati relations or speculate on the possibility of Saudi-Israeli normalization, the perspective of small Gulf states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman) are often neglected.
Nevertheless, each of them has a unique role and strategy towards the events taking place in Gaza and Israel. Qatar and Oman are two traditional mediators in regional affairs, whose unofficial relations with Israel had been open secrets even before the war. Besides being the only small Gulf state having diplomatic relations with Israel, Bahrain’s perspective is especially interesting, given the country’s vulnerability to the intensification of Sunni-Shia or Iranian-Arab rivalries. Lastly, Qatar (and Kuwait) have donated huge sums of money to Palestinian organizations and humanitarian efforts, which poses a dilemma in itself for the future. All of these aspects complicate the small Gulf states’ perspectives on the current war and shape their strategy.
The paper aims to compare the strategies of small Gulf states towards the Israel-Hamas war with two specific research questions – what are the similarities and differences between the approach of the four countries, and which variables can help us explain these tendencies? Utilizing the omni-balancing framework, the study will differentiate between domestic political constraints and international political ones, to better understand the logic behind their actions. Conclusions will be drawn not just in terms of the individual strategy of specific small Gulf states but also in connection with the extent of coordination between them and the future scenarios regarding Gulf-Israeli relations.
