The foreign minister of the Sultanate of Oman, Yusef Bin Alawai Bin Abdulla, agreed to hold a short photo-op at the beginning of his meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday at the Sheraton Doha hotel. In the last eight years, since the Al-Aqsa intifada led to severing of relations between the two countries, Israeli and Omani foreign ministers have met mostly in secret, in European capitals or on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
When it comes to Israel's ties with the Arab world, progress is measured in millimeters. Therefore, although it might seem to be a marginal anecdote, the symbolic gesture made by the Omani foreign minister should not be belittled, especially since it was not prompted by an Israeli request.
If Oman took a one-millimeter step toward Israel this week, Qatar, which extended its hospitality to Livni, advanced a respectable few meters. The foreign minister, too, believes that Qatar went almost all the way. It was enough to see the headlines of the newspapers published in Doha or the broadcasts on Al Jazeera to understand that Qatar is not only unembarrassed by its ties with Israel, but does not hesitate to run and tell the world about them.
Qatar and Oman are prominent recent examples, but other Gulf states, too, seem to have undergone a certain change where Israel is concerned. In the last two years there have been quite a few meetings, albeit covert ones, between Livni and her colleagues in Bahrain and the United Emirates. The most conspicuous example is the Saudi peace initiative of March 2002: Even if Israel does not agree with all of its articles, the initiative has placed on the table, for the first time ever, the possibility of a pan-Arab agreement to normalization with Israel.
What makes Qatar and Oman different from Damascus or Beirut? It seems that the physical distance from the conflict and the fact that most of the Gulf countries have never fought an actual war against Israel play a significant role in the difference. Another reason is the economic market. The need to resolve the Palestinian issue does concern the regimes of the Gulf, but they are no less preoccupied with regional stability, economic growth, the international stock markets and investment and development possibilities.
There is another factor at play here, regional realignment away from old, obsolete camps and the common fear of a radical Shiite axis led by Iran, which, once armed with nuclear weapons, could render the wealth of the Gulf nations irrelevant.
Livni's visit to Qatar and her meetings with Gulf state leaders were not unprecedented. Nevertheless, a broader and more overt bridge has now been established between Israel and these countries, and there is now a greater possibility of deep, sincere and serious dialogue, held directly and without requiring Israel to ingratiate itself in exchange for a handshake or a joint photo.
There is still a long road to normalization, and the basic distrust of Israel's intentions will not disappear tomorrow or even a year from now. However, an Israeli show of seriousness about a two-state solution might speed up the process. We are likely to discover that peace with the Gulf states will be the warm kind.
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