UAE-Israel axis fragments Arab blocs

Pakistan brought together Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkiye in Islamabad on March 29 to try to stop the US-Israel war on Iran. (aljazeera.com) The meeting put Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar alongside Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for two days of talks. (aljazeera.com) Dar said afterward that Pakistan was ready to host “meaningful” US-Iran talks, and Egypt said the ministers also reviewed effects on shipping, supply chains, food security and energy prices. (aljazeera.com) That four-country format matters because it points to a diplomatic lane that does not run through Abu Dhabi or Jerusalem. Al Jazeera reported the platform was first discussed in Riyadh and was being expanded into “a regional bloc of sorts.” (aljazeera.com) The backdrop is a wider split inside the Arab and Gulf order. Carnegie wrote on April 16 that Gulf Cooperation Council states faced the same Iranian missile and drone fire, but still risked “greater fragmentation” over what comes next. (carnegieendowment.org) Outside analysts have described the emerging map as two loose camps rather than formal alliances. Foreign Policy wrote in January that one side is centered on Israel and the United Arab Emirates, while other reporting has grouped Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Turkiye and Pakistan on the other side. (foreignpolicy.com) (scmp.com) The old Abraham Accords logic has also weakened. The Conversation noted that Saudi Arabia still says it will not normalize with Israel before a Palestinian state, while Turkey halted its relationship with Israel in 2024 over Gaza. (theconversation.com) The same analysis said Saudi Arabia now wants Syria, not Israel, as the transit state for a fiber-optic cable to Greece. That is a concrete sign that trade and infrastructure planning are shifting with the politics. (theconversation.com) Pakistan kept pushing after the March meeting. On April 14, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif headed to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye after an initial round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad ended without agreement on April 12. (aljazeera.com) The result is not a new bloc with a treaty, command structure or common flag. It is a looser realignment in which Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkiye and Pakistan are trying to shape mediation and regional order while the UAE and Israel follow a different track. (aljazeera.com) (foreignpolicy.com)