Arab leaders are cautious towards normalization with Israel due to the Arab public opinion towards Palestine.

Fanack provides an overview of Saudi Arabia’s geography, including its state borders, local climate, and natural resources. Saudi Arabia’s main environmental struggles are with desertification, depletion of underground water resources, and the lack of perennial rivers and other permanent water bodies.

The UAE, for one, made peace with Israel partly to acquire the advanced F-35 jets, which the U.S has long denied the Emirates in order to preserve Israel’s significant military advantage in the region. Netanyahu, who allegedly agreed to allow the UAE to acquire F-35s, denied that concession days after the peace deal was announced, prompting the UAE to cancel a trilateral meeting between U.S and Israeli officials on August 24.

Bin Zayed grew up witnessing the rapid transformation of the UAE from huts to Hilton hotels and skyscrapers. Along the way, his father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, elder brother Khalifa and he learned two valuable lessons: the UAE cannot survive without outside protection and they need to remain strategically significant to keep mainly their Western allies interested and on board. Moreover, the country’s geographical location puts it between two regional powers that historically have shown an interest in controlling it.

Fanack provides an overview of the population of Saudi Arabia, including an overview of its demographics and refugee situation.

Fanack provides an overview of Saudi Arabia’s governance and politics, including its different branches of government and governance challenges.

Bahrain’s political structure resembles that of the other Gulf Cooperation Council states in some key ways. Members of the ruling family control the sovereign ministries (Defence, Interior, Finance, and Foreign affairs), and other ministries are headed by ruling-family members or technocrats.

Quarterly data show that the economy has successfully adapted to the shock, with the growth rate rising to 3.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to an average of 1 per cent in the previous three quarters.

In addition to addressing its current fiscal woes, Bahraini authorities face the long-term challenge of boosting Bahrain’s regional competitiveness — especially regarding industry, finance, and tourism — and reconciling revenue constraints with popular pressure to maintain generous state subsidies and a large public sector.

Following the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, he claimed that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for creating the radical jihadist al-Nusra Front. However, he remains politically active, despite confirming Taymour as his political heir in March 2017. For example, he blamed Saudi Arabia for the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in November 2017.