Experts in the News

“There remains no regional appetite, on either side of the Gulf, for an escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the strikes in Yemen go against the de-escalatory dynamics that have been so evident since 2022,” said Coates Ulrichsen. “Much may depend on whether the strikes were a one-off or will be part of a larger campaign, and of how and where the Houthis respond.”

Palestinian-Americans in Houston are working to get their families out of Gaza, but options remain limited. “Individuals have just exhausted all other possible avenues,” including lobbying the U.S. government to have their names added to the exit list, said Norman.

Responding to Dubai’s efforts to increase the number of Emirati families, Coates Ulrichsen said, “If the initiative is to succeed it will have to be wrapped within a broader package of support and targeted assistance to Emirati households to enable them to juggle the burdens of work-life balance.”

Displacement is all too familiar to Palestinians. Today, there are about 6 million Palestinian refugees scattered across three countries, the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip. “I think up until this current conflict, it has kind of been a forgotten issue,” said Norman. “It’s seen as this just unresolvable displacement, ongoing for multiple generations without an end in sight.”

The rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar has been gradually repaired, but Qatar still focuses on network building to protect its interests. When the rift began, “the perception in Doha was that Saudi and Emirati officials had invested heavily in building relationships not only with members of the Trump administration but also in their lobbying activities in the United States, and that Qatar needed to do the same,” said Coates Ulrichsen.