Bahrain Mirror: Tensions between Gulf states and Israel are rising three years after historic peace deals, slowing down hoped-for investments and setting back US efforts to further integrate the region by including main power Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported.

Bloomberg revealed in a report that "The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have expressed frustration in high-level contacts with Israel about the outcome of the 2020 Abraham Accords," indicating that "this is largely due to concerns over Israel's deteriorating relations with the Palestinians - typified by the recent deadly raid on a refugee camp in the city of Jenin and incendiary comments by some far-right Israeli cabinet members."

"The strains are likely to complicate the US's already challenging goal of deepening relations between Israel and Middle Eastern nations, particularly Saudi Arabia," the report added.

"This is not part of the vision some in the Abraham Accords had - Israel wanted it as an anti-Iranian axis," said Aziz Alghashian, a Riyadh-based analyst who studies Saudi policy toward Israel. "The region is moving in a different direction now."

This has exposed the UAE and Bahrain to a backlash in Arab public opinion in the region due to the extremist Israeli government, which has sparked a wave of public unrest as a result of judicial amendments that have frightened investors, supported settlers and settlement expansion.

While the White House is encouraging the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Khalifa to finish the agreement on normalizing relations with the entity, Saudi Arabia is asking for firm defence guarantees from the US, access to top-notch US weaponry and a green light for its nuclear program.

Arabic Version