Bahrain has also been concerned about evictions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah. It doesn’t want the peace process undermined or stability in the region. It wants provocations to stop. It wants tensions reduced as Ramadan concludes, after a difficult month of clashes.

The statements came as Saudi Arabia also said it “rejects Israel’s plans and measures to evict dozens of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem and impose Israeli sovereignty over them.”

The triumvirate of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE is important because it is largely accepted that Riyadh gave the green light to the UAE and Bahrain to make peace last year. The UAE went first, for various reasons, even though Bahrain had long considered a peace deal and was pushing coexistence for years.

The UAE made the first unprecedented flights with humanitarian aid during COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 and then the UAE ambassador to Washington Yousef al-Otaiba wrote an op-ed in Yediot Aharonot. Peace followed soon after as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed down from “annexation” of the West Bank.

However, the peace deals, which moved quickly in August and September, hit some hurdles. There were questions about F-35 sales and US president Donald Trump lost the election in the US. This took the wind out of the sails of Saudi Arabia’s considerations and several other countries that might have jumped on the peace wagon.

Now there were considerations about reconciliation after years in which countries had a transactional relationship with the Trump administration. Under Trump, Washington had signaled that human rights were not an issue. There was no pressure on Israel regarding Palestinian issues. In the opposite, there was a “peace to prosperity” plan. The plan was unveiled on January 27, 2020, but aspects of it had been pushed. In 2019, the US embassy had also been moved in 2018. Palestinians lost funding and were sidelined, the Jordanian king even went to Turkey for a meeting. He had hoped Trump would reconsider the embassy move.

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By 2020, things were moving in favor of the peace deals with key work from Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz. But calculations have changed in 2021.

Human rights groups have made a new push to condemn Israel for “apartheid.” There have been calls on the Biden administration to pressure Israel. Former CIA head John Brennan and other have led the push, along with critical voices in Congress.

Meanwhile Netanyahu sought to fly to the UAE for a quick trip to show off the new relations, while in the midst of an election campaign. Having twice cancelled the trip during the pandemic, he had to cancel again on March 11, claiming Jordan had prevented a stop-over. Embarrassment followed as voices in the UAE expressed concern that they were being involved in Israeli politics.

Then came the Jerusalem tensions. Failed attempts at Palestinian elections and the beginning of Ramadan coincided with Israel’s own elections on March 23, 2021. Ramadan began on April 21 and with it came clashes. Nevertheless the positive relations with the Gulf have continued. Mohamed Al Khaja, the UAE Ambassador to Israel, penned an op-ed at Yediot about his first month in Israel.

However, the scenes at al-Aqsa on May 7 were the kind that cause tensions in the region. Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas had slammed Israel in the days leading up to the clashes. Turkey and Qatar were preparing statements to slam Israel. The US was expressing concern and demanding deescalation. European countries were following closely the tensions. Instead of listening and trying to reduce the clashes, Israeli security forces waded into them. Whether that was due to political uncertainty in Israel, with Netanyahu’s rivals gaining in influence, or other issues, was not clear. Israel’s security cabinet met for the first time in months on April 18. A new crises after shooting attacks in the West Bank has led Israel to bolster forces. Hamas. Has fired rockets and threatens more. Israel is holding a large drill preparing for a multi-front conflict.

Could Gulf ties be strained by this convergence of troubles? So far, the statements are what is expected. Concern and some mild condemnation. A desire for stability and for Israel to listen. The question is whether Israel will listen.

Israel’s relatively cold official relations with Jordan and Egypt, combined with good security relations that largely go unnoticed, are the opposite of the positive ties and human to human connections with the Gulf that saw Israelis flock to the Gulf to take part in conferences and discuss business deals. However, voices in the UAE cautioned Israel about expecting too much and moving too fast. They certainly were wary of being used for a two-hour photo op by Netanyahu before an election. And some Israeli right-wing voices in Israel, using to slamming Arab states and never listening to regional voices, have paid lip service to peace with the Gulf, but still show little interest in listening to taking to heart the need to reduce tensions in Jerusalem.

Outside of the statements and Jerusalem clashes, on wider issues such as regional strategy, ties with Greece and other issues, Israel and its peace partners in the Gulf have much to work on. There are new deals and initiatives moving forward.

There is coexistence. However, the Jerusalem tensions are the kind that require sensitive handling and showing respect for the concerns of others, a type of language that Jerusalem has not often used in recent years.

With a new administration in the White House, electoral uncertainty in Israel, and Iran, Turkey, Hamas and Hezbollah chomping at the bit for a showdown with Israel, many challenges are in the air, of which the Gulf concerns about Jerusalem as just one issue.