With the passing of Saud Al-Faisal, 75, Saudi Arabia lost its iconic foreign minister who had over 40 years helped shape the Kingdom's foreign policy while maintaining his personal commitment to a robust U.S.-Saudi strategic alliance. While his friendship with the United States was fostered during his time at Princeton University, from where he graduated with a degree in economics in 1965, the fourth son of Saudi Arabia's third king, Faisal, was not only a tireless champion of Palestinian independence and justice, but also became an avid supporter of Arab-Israeli peace by calling on the Arab states and Israel to accept the Arab peace initiative.
In its effort to build bridges of understanding between the United States and the Arab Gulf states and celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, AGSIW hosted its first Iftar on Wednesday, July 8. AGSIW welcomed guests from Gulf and other Arab embassies, the U.S. government, and organizations working on U.S.-Arab relations, as well as special guests from the Arab Gulf states' student community in Washington. Oud and Ney virtuosos Chakib Hilali and Abderrahim Amthqal provided entertainment during the gathering. Read More
The Arab Gulf States (AGS), or members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain Qatar in the United Arab Emirates), have historically used foreign aid and humanitarian aid as a quiet tool of their respective foreign policies within the wider Middle East. More recently, however, we have seen targeted financial aid and military assistance by these states, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, towards neighbours in crisis. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have used financial and military aid to jockey for influence within Egypt's evolving political leadership, to attempt to remove Syria's Assad from power, to counter the growth of the Islamic State movement in Iraq, to influence political battles in Libya, and even in the newly democratic Tunisia. Read more
The brinkmanship exhibited at the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5 +1 international consortium is breathtaking, and suggests, for the first time in several months, the actual possibility of failure. There’s too much invested by all parties to make walking away appealing, but the United States reminding Iran that this remains a possibility emerged as a key factor last week.
Perhaps the most dramatic example of this was the American suggestion that the talks could simply continue on a lower-level and open-ended basis into the foreseeable future. The grounds for that would be an extension of the interim accord. This was a not particularly subtle way for the American side to say to the Iranian one: “We can live with the status quo a lot more easily than you can.” Read more
In the Media
Ibish was also quoted in the Bloomberg article "U.S. Offers Billions in Arms to Ease Mideast's Iran Anxiety." He commented on the U.S.-Gulf relationship saying Gulf states would like a "commitment that the United States would come running, what they can get is deeper cooperation, more integration and technology transfers."
AGSIW Senior Resident Scholar Hussein Ibish discussed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, including the expansion of settlements, the national unity government between the PLO and Hamas, and the two state solution on The Heat with CCTV's Nathan Cole.
Ibish additionally spoke on Canada's main radio morning talk show CBC about the presence of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Gaza, and the potential for cooperation between Egypt, Israel, and Hamas.
