We can not help going back to the Middle East this month, simply because what is happening now looks so much like we had been anticipating for several years and announced at the beginning of 2017 in our list of “up and down trends”: Saudi Arabia’s emergence as a new strong player in the region, Turkey’s independence, switch from Israel to Daesh as regional enemy, game change with Russia’s return, waning US influence… As argued in the last issue of the GEAB, the Middle East of the end of 2017 is very different from that of the end of 2016.<\/p>\n
After having been world’s hot news in the 1980-90, we all preferred to forget about the Palestinian issue, this burning point dating back to the 20th century. And, over the horizon of this Palestinian question, there is still the face-to-face issue between Israel and Iran, Damocles’ sword hanging more than ever above the fate of the region. Here two topics, the regional transformation of which makes it possible to hope for a resolution in the short term.\t\t