Why are Gulf countries normalising ties with Israel?

In the Gulf, normalisation with Israel is paying off: there’s a major free trade deal, Israeli tourism to the United Arab Emirates is booming, and the prospect is brewing of normalisation with Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy. The occupation is still center stage to Palestinians, and for decades, Israel’s relationship with the Arab world has been at most a cold peace. What does it mean for that to change?

In this episode: 

Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom), Middle East correspondent, The Economist

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Alexandra Locke with Ney Alvarez, Negin Owliaei, Ruby Zaman, Amy Walters, and Malika Bilal. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad.

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