Statements by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi at the Arab and Islamic Summit in Doha on Monday were the focus of commentary in the Israeli media this week. Some writers expressed concerns about the first and oldest peace treaty Israel has with an Arab country, namely the Egyptian-Israeli Camp David Accords signed in 1979.
The Israeli strike on the Qatari capital Doha and the apparent Israeli obstacles to reaching a deal that can stop the war on Gaza led to the strongest condemnations and even concerns about derailing regional peace by many of the leaders of the more than 50 Arab and Muslim countries gathered at the summit meeting.
It was not expected that the Doha Summit would declare war on Israel, as almost all analysts and commentators noted, but the expectations were high among the peoples of the region that concrete actions against Israel would be announced. While this did not happen, threats of the further deterioration of stability in the region were reflected in many speeches made at the summit as well as in its final communiqué.
This concluded that “everything that has been achieved on the path of normalising ties with Israel including current agreements and future ones” has been threatened by Israeli actions. It included strong words, commenting on “the brutal Israeli attack on Qatar and the continuation of Israel’s hostile acts including genocide, ethnic cleansing, starvation, siege, and colonising activities and expansionist policies threatening prospects of peace and coexistence in the region.”
Some anticipated that Arab and Muslim leaders might accompany their words with actions, at the very least matching the steps that some Western countries have begun taking as the killing and deaths from starvation in the Gaza Strip continue to reverberate around the world.
There was an expectation that there would be some formal sanctions such as those imposed by Germany, Norway, Spain, and Britain on Israel and the boycott of Israel’s academic and cultural institutions, not to mention the possible severance of diplomatic relations.
Such expectations did not emerge only from the Arab camp, as reflected by voices on social media, but also from Western and Israeli pundits who also wrote about these possibilities.
Before the summit on Monday, many ambitious ideas were floated, raising hopes of practical moves to be adopted in Doha. One of these was that Arab leaders would finally heed Egypt’s call for NATO-style Arab joint forces to be formed in the region. Over the last decade since President Al-Sisi first proposed the forces, no concrete steps have been taken.
Since Israel attacked Qatar on 9 September, only Egypt has taken action, despite this not being officially announced. The media reported that Egypt has decided to reduce coordination with Israel until further notice. Egypt is also planning to restructure its security communications with Israel following the attack, according to reports.
The Western and Israeli media picked on President Al-Sisi’s calling Israel the “enemy” in his remarks at the summit. He directed his words to “the people of Israel,” telling them that “what is happening now undermines the future of peace, threatens your security and the security of all peoples of the region, and obstructs any prospects for new peace agreements.”
President Al-Sisi added that “it also undermines existing peace agreements with countries in the region. The consequences will be dire, with the region returning to an atmosphere of conflict and the loss of historic peace-building efforts and gains achieved through them. This is a price we will all pay, without exception.”
The Israeli commentary on Tuesday was wary about Egypt’s position, and the Israeli media even scoured social media, quoting posts by former Egyptian diplomats describing the peace with Israel as just a “piece of paper” not reflected in reality.
Egypt again called for the creation of “an Arab-Islamic mechanism for consultation to face challenges,” and this was echoed by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who called for a strong regional response to last week’s Israeli attack on Doha.
“Our response to aggression against Qatar must be clear, decisive, and deterrent, as Israel’s threat knows no bounds,” he said in his speech to the summit.
There were many explanations for the summit’s stopping short of severing relations completely with Israel or taking actions that might worsen the situation further.
The first line of reasoning pointed to the fact that more than half the countries gathered in Doha for the summit have relations with Israel, whether formal or semi-official. Most of these countries are reluctant to cut these ties, either owing to their national interests or for fear of intimidation by the US.
The most significant factor stopping the Arab countries from taking forceful action lies in their relations with Washington. As a Dubai-based Gulf commentator told Al-Ahram Weekly, no one in the region can afford to worsen their relations with the United States, including Iran.
“What benefit will any country, or the region, get from taking action against Israel when that would turn the US against them,” he asked.
The region relies on mediation efforts led by Egypt and Qatar to stop the war on Gaza. Both countries are working closely with the United States to achieve this goal, as Washington is the only party that can realistically pressure Israel. Taking action against Israel would alienate the current American administration and push it to back Israeli aggression further.
The Israelis understand this logic. As commentator Zvi Bar’el wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz, “prima facie, this summit can be considered just another forum consisting of fiery speeches, replete with condemnations of Israel and expressions of support for ‘our sister’ Qatar, whose sovereignty was defiled by Israel’s Air Force.”
But the end result might be no more than “conveying a sharp message to the US so that it fulfills its obligation to guarantee the security of its allies against another ally, one that has signed peace agreements with some of them but still behaves like an enemy.”
As a Saudi political analyst noted, “even the host of the summit, the country that suffered an attack on its sovereignty, is stressing its commitment to strategic relations with Washington. What do you expect from other countries?”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 18 September, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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