Breakthrough in Saudi-Qatar dispute was short of reconciliation

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt signed a declaration calling for solidarity and stability at the Gulf Council summit on Tuesday. This statement ended the three and-half-year embargo which the three allies had imposed on Qatar for harboring Islamist terrorists and warm relations with Tehran. Although Qatar stuck to its guns on most disputed issues, Riyadh ended the sea and air blockade and invited the Qatari ruler to join the summit. Full reconciliation was held in abeyance.
DEBKAfile: Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner shuttled across the region in a bid to engineer an end to this dispute. This initiative rounded off the normalization of Arab-Israel relations that was a key component of the Trump blueprint for boxing Iran in from its Gulf neighbors while promoting regional stability.