change the political culture of cause it to opposing lenin is why did they arrest these people because they demonstrated a capacity to organize the us president elect joe biden has said that china will be at the center of his foreign policy so it's possible hong kong will be an early point of friction with china's president xi jinping who has said the campaign against to send here is justified in the name of safeguarding national security adrian brown al jazeera hong kong. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera a defiant donald trump has told supporters at a so-called save america rally that he will never concede the election thousands in washington d.c. are backing the u.s.

president's unproven claims the november poll was reagan national guard troops have been deployed in the city at the mayor's request all of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by a bold in the radical left democrats which is what they're doing and stolen by the fake news media that's what they've done and what they're doing we will never give up we will never concede it doesn't happen you don't see that. and joint session of congress is meeting in the next hour to formally certify joe biden is the next u.s. president dozens of republicans have vowed to challenge the results though their efforts are likely to fail and democrats are poised to take control of the u.s. senate raphael warnock has already flipped the seat in georgia senate runoff race and has a narrow lead in the other. daily corona virus infections and deaths in the u.k. have now exceeded previous records more than

a 1000 people have died from the virus and a day that's the 1st since april and 62000 more have tested positive in the past 24 hours britain has been struggling to contain the spread of a more infectious variants the e.u. has approved over $1000.00 vaccine to be used across the region european union nations started vaccinations on december the 27th there are trying to catch up with other countries where large numbers of people have already received the inoculation there's been strong criticism of the slow pace of vaccinations across europe. and you can judge has denied bail for a week of leaks founder julian assange accused of endangering lives by publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential documents we'll have more news at the top of the hour with the news hour on al-jazeera for now its inside story by.

back in the fold saudi arabia the u.a.e. beheaded and egypt agreed to end the blockade of gaza but what will it take to truly heal the rift between neighbors and can they move forward after more than 3 and a half years of mistrust this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. blockade of qatar appears to have ended almost as quickly as it began in 2017 saudi arabia ahead in the u.a.e. and egypt abruptly sever ties with the gulf state closed their borders and shut their airspace to quote that he planes families were cut off from each other now

all sides have signed an agreement in saudi arabia to restore relations and put the past behind them but few details of the accord have been made public and it's unclear whether the issues at the heart of the dispute have been result. reports. after 3 and a half years of a crisis that threatened the very core of the gulf region g.c.c. leaders have agreed to end divisions and usher in a new era of cooperation the olympic relation is has achieved a settlement of all issues outstanding in a way that is entirely satisfied factory to all nations involved all the countries involved we are extremely pleased with having been able to achieve this very important breakthrough that we believe will contribute very much to the stability security of all our nations in the region and yes all the outstanding. whether it's turning of diplomatic relations flights etc all of that will now go

back to normal earlier the summit's had got off to a promising starts when saudi crown prince mohammed bin said a man insisted on hugging qatar's emir shift i mean going from a funny as the latter touchdown in the saudi city over lara the clearest indication yet that both countries were on the way to mending relations the qatari leader confirmed his attendance at the 41st street summits of the 11th hour only after saudi arabia agreed to lift the land air and sea blockade it had been imposing on doha since 2017 in his opening remarks to follow leaders crown prince mohammed bin salomon emphasized the importance of cooperation and unity between the g.c.c. member states and i'm with you. today we are in a dire need to stand united in the face of the challenges namely iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and other agendas adopted by its respected in the region which undermine the stability of the region this demands that we dovetail our efforts with the international community to cement the stability and security of

the region also in attendance at the summit was senior white house adviser on president donald trump's son in law jarrett christian or it was off to his visits to doha in the riyadh late last year that's a breakthrough in negotiations that had been led by coates was. reached since the start of the crisis courts had been exerting its efforts to solve the disputes with its late amir of ships often ominous obama successfully preventing the military invasion of qatar it was no surprise then but some it was named off together with the late senator over a man who also pos the way in 2020 with all 4 blockading countries now agreeing to open their land air and sea borders to put out the gulf region can now begin a new chapter one that its leaders say will be written by all of them together from out of. the. all right let's bring in our guests and measure them saudi is president of the

qatar international academy for security studies in kuwait city but a safe assistant professor of history at kuwait university and in new york rami hooty director of global engagement at the american university of beirut and senior fellow at harvard kennedy school welcome to the program measured let me start with you today do we know what the details are in this solidarity and stability agreement i mean there are still a lot more questions than answers at this stage correct. yes i mean of course we all heard the declaration that was made during the press conference and we got you know the documents but it seems that it outlines a very broad and general statements that echo. a lot of the main ideas that were circulated doing their blockade i mean we we didn't see any real detailed about what was agreed upon and i think partly this is because of course some of it is behind closed doors and will be dealt with between the leaders

themselves and also that there are issues that are still within consideration i'm quite sure that specialized teams and committees that would be 4 to operationalize this deal will start working immediately and they will you know consider a lot of the points that till now there i don't think there is a real agreement up on except on there but of principle and this is why i think it was called because they should have been civil as other than an agreement on ending their crisis around me aside from what was signed what does this agreement mean for bilateral relations between qatar and the quartet i mean does this mean that embassies are going to be reopened are are flights going to be restored between qatar and these countries. yes that's what the agreement does or the statements afterwards are made by various officials say that everything will go back to the way it was before which essentially repeats a pattern that has happened for decades of course the arab world where arab leaders

not necessarily people but arab leaders disagree with each other and they take unilateral action they create a crisis and then they climb down solve it and go back to normal and the real issue is that they will go back to normal flights and people going to universities and family reunions and all that but the real issue here is the nature of foreign policy making in the united arab emirates and saudi arabia that cannot go back to normal and i think the major significance of this agreement is that this is the 1st formalized. reflection of a failed emmott out the policy. they got out his drove this process they saw it is a gypsy was back when it went along they were at his drove it and they have done many other things in yemen and syria and libya and somalia other places that have

failed this is the 1st one was a failure isn't trying to in a in a diplomatic document without actually saying so so let's hope that this is a turning point in the policymaking process foreign policy making process of arab countries and the from the company side this is an extraordinary example of steadfastness self-confidence. dealing with the pressures and getting on with your mission and not caving in to to threats of course it wasn't that that hard for a couple or it's a wealthy country it's a small country that has many friends or supported it and almost nobody in the world supported them about this so that i think those are some of the mentalists are drawn. but that kuwait had been heavily involved in mediation efforts from the start you know it's one thing to reach an agreement but how do you move on from all the mistrust of the past 3 and

a half years i mean from your vantage point how is that going to be done let me tell you. there was a lot of doubt not. really great to me greater foreign policy prompted my visits at the bar and i think when. your months and the shore and they're waiting for him call it the problem is them believe and meet me and believe in. every unit he had continued unabated in terms of from a general agreement i'm impatient i would tend to say that. robert crear they're not happy ghonim to i'm president length when i get out when the public sphere though advantage ironically that and roll them out and reflecting their own opinions they were late and it became that token we only made sense that. any secret deal or secret agreement or anything issue they were

going to that go to the root causes with also be made public there's a demand for there were a lot we're an hour measured in the lead up to the summit it was expected by many analysts and observers that saudi arabia was most likely going to restore ties with qatar but did it come as a surprise to you that the u.a.e. by having an egypt also agreed to restore ties with other. well i mean since day one when they started talking about this. you know a version of coming together with this version of dialogue we we had that saudi arabia is it up with anything the 4 members of the quote that i think this is. logical saudi arabia has always been the leader within this back. you know the country with the geopolitical and used to egypt to be the leader of this group it

and you know to exercise leadership in their region as a whole and therefore it was expected of these countries still fall in line when decided that enough is enough and it's time to get back to normal relations where we can sense of course very clearly that there is hesitation on the side of specially the bahamians and the iraqis but i think this will be short lived at the end without any boycott of cut or any sanctions or got that you know that there are a lot by that there are from their side will be of course useless but that of the saudi foreign minister told attendees of a press conference after the summit that the turning of the page that this was a turning of the page on all points of differences but is this really a turning of the page i mean there are still differences that exist right. this is not new they're trying to do now earth show and pay their cooperation and with that not only then fill with another letter where we see this great example or

a bit later opec meeting at the ritz that's now the record lee gave a gift to all the other oil producers by cutting their own. output of oil to allow probably better than their own production and its new thing with this new thing that we've seen aren't from human rights activists in saudi arabia so the big picture is there that friends who are running our united front i think make her leaders that there needs to be a concerted effort and merit and they did express believe that continues and the feet one has a lot of their talk there in the deep in a very clear that's cute resolution that a lot of that allow her ongoing communication we can only result of the differences between our eyes and they are speaking to one another and at me but i think getting to that stage we would hopefully then mend the other underlying but i mean i want to ask you to expand on a point that you were making in your previous answer g.c.c.

countries have different positions when it comes to conflicts that are playing out in the region places like libya syria yemen in light of this agreement is that going to cause more issues going forward. there will continue to be tensions and differences of course each country makes its foreign policy on this domestic policy according to what it thinks. or at least according to what its leaders think is in the best interest of the country so we will continue to have these differences but this is really i think quite dramatic because this reflects a certain perhaps coming of age maturation coming to grips with the reality by the 2 key people involved in this hamad bin zayed them so to arabia u.a.e. and hamad bin style man and saudi arabia remember this happened at a moment when hamad bin some man had just taken over as crown prince was quite young and experienced totally untutored foreign policy and wanting to show his this

asserts his dramatic new leadership and that failed and so i think this is going to be a moment where the 2 key players in saudi arabia and the emirates realize that their work has failed they accepted it they are formally which is something we should acknowledge. and hoping we should expect that fits other differences going ahead would be resolved. by them said peacefully and through dialogue this is a tall order in the arab world where they enter into a country differences often are not resolved quickly lead to disputes in part because border closings media attacks we had all of that in this and then that it went away with another lasting victim of this which i hope can be fixed as the incredible damaged too much of the media and some of the countries not all of them

i think u.a.e. and saudi arabia in particular ravage their media and using them as attack dogs against cut out and putting out awful stuff and they have to work hard to regain their credibility because they did have credibility before and that means this is an important residue of one of the victims of this conflict is a shattered media credibility of course much of the region massoud i want to ask you about the timing of this agreement i mean how much of this has to do with saudi arabia wanting to reach an agreement before joe biden takes office as the next president of the united states. well it's not only the changing u.s. administration there are also economic factors here and play however certainly biden's coming to power in the u.s. will change dramatically u.s. policy towards asia especially towards iran and i think it's logical when gulf

countries and especially feel quite anxious about the plans to return to the nuclear deal which in the 1st time was not their d.c. countries were not included in their dialogue at the time and there was a lot of complaint from that side of the 2nd thing is and especially from. that they 'd were set aside from these negotiations and obviously in order for the g.c.c. to speak in one voice or at least to have their minimum level of understanding to be able to deal with the united states and with iran during this phase will be thought some kind of a conciliation however there is only a also another factor here in play which is that we have been so mine is gradually getting a position where he is very close to really being king of saudi arabia. certainly he is their father is this and that's appearing in the media as we have seen in this summit we have not seen. his majesty the king during the summit and how that's

a man had to open the summit himself and therefore there the need to reproduce the image of parents and mine as a statesman as a man of peace a man of resolution a leader in the region and when you look at the other files that are in play at the moment things that there but i didn't take it in as likely to pressure saudi arabia on like human rights issue is a i mean a war there d.c. crisis seems easier of the 3 to be remedied and there fairly quickly and this is i think one of the main reasons behind the up top. of this resolution and the way and they're the kind of. media show that. went with it i sent it to make sure that the message gets through that people in this region no state like and out of i think lane 2 but this debate in non rational or irrational disputes like what happened in 2070 but that as magid was mentioning there it is expected

that joe biden's administration is going to enter back into negotiations with iran on the nuclear deal from your vantage point how big a role did that play in getting this deal done now. these are the americans have been trying for a couple of years now reports are true or were when i. read the iran iraq their. banker and all of its. being spoken about will lead by. your theory and certainly having a united front there once they're. willing to engage and require them to present. our efforts in which their interests are also preserver doesn't mean a lot of sense and you know it's not only related. or if it was

a big country it's an issue that's been. through the thick of the region bro a line of iranian reckoning and reassure the gulf region then very. being about robert about complaining about and there haven't been any resolutions though rule root. beer and women not working at the regional intervention will be an issue and i think probably also an opening for the americans express their interest and the other unpaired where they are going to work great example but the thought has been going on for too long and hopefully they go. with result out in the low hanging fruit and believe the other group on the great romney does saudi arabia believe this deal is going to help president elect biden's incoming administration view the country more favorably and and what do you think a biden administration is going to mean for the g.c.c.

. i think for sure the saudi leadership expects that this kind of move will will record it ricochet positively from washington and people will look at the so it is on the other boycotting countries more favorably but it doesn't deal with the major underlying tensions that exist between them and this is not just the biden ministration the u.s. senate has voted and the congress has voted the majority votes to withhold arms from saudi arabia and the u.a.e. because of their internal policies because of yemen because of the who should be murdered so there's other issues that resonate deeply and negatively in washington that people are concerned about so i think this is part of the saudi calculation let's try to soften those sentiments the biden ministration looks at the middle east primarily in terms of iran right now. the security of israel has guaranteed

the flow or less guaranteed so i think the iranians issue is central and was as was just mentioned that it's and it's nuclear issues at one level but it's all this other political issues and the reason by the way a fascinating little side note here i've written books on archaeology history and the matter of the capital of the number 3 and in modern jordan and along as a side to north snowden so rigaud next to a whole range of nabatean monuments from around 2000 years ago iraq are beautiful things that the saudis hoped to develop into a tourist industry but the put nabatean kingdom which was a local arab and them survived and became wealthy because it negotiated diplomatic deals with its neighbors and big foreign powers like the romans and other than the greeks and who threatened it and it made diplomatic. coexistence the

central. policy of its foreign policy so that trade could continue because trade then was the man source of revenue and it still is today in many ways so i think people should do the arabs all of them should reflect on the significance of their love side and do what it and teaches hoping that this will impact on the absolute need to address real differences with iran but to do so to do so politically the latest examples in lebanon where iran and iran the hezbollah put up structures in general slim manning and for the one year anniversary of his assassination and this is creating great tension inside lebanon so i think this is a valid issue that has to be dealt with measured one outcome of the blockade is that it pushed qatar closer to turkey and iran going forward do you envision that qatar could play our mediating role perhaps between iran and turkey and g.c.c.

countries. i think if asked to follow a need to differentiate a little bit we've got those relationships with iran and others relationship with turkey turkey talk about that it's a strategic ally we mean works with turkey on a lot of regional issues economically i'm very so fast partners but also regionally and geo politically they are in agreement over the many of the regional issues and conflicts and issues there that they're getting deals where. it comes to iran it's a different matter iran is our neighbor gets a big country geopolitically speaking you cannot. turn a blind eye to iran it will always be there and you need to address the issue of iran whether way or the other i think that those position has always been historically to deal with iran to deescalate with iran to maintain the disputes and conflicts with iran compartmentalize in their respective context and not to

antagonize iran into becoming a direct enemy of their gulf states this will continue over their issue of mediation i think that there has always been a key player when it comes to mediation in the region and i think during their past couple of times when the united states their temperaments nation and iran. escalating against each other. there were diplomatic visits affair our foreign minister their foreign minister to that island where he actually did do some limited mediation efforts and therefore i think. that that is poised to play our role in mediating with with iran. but there we only have one minute left i just want to ask you very quickly how are citizens in g.c.c. countries viewing all this i mean as we mentioned before is 3 and a half years of mistrust here how difficult is it going to be for these countries to sell this reconciliation to their citizens after all this happened. i mean we

were bound by that relationship a group beyond that and we have read about that. earlier on what they have been working relationship between them. and. then you will. be together here that coming together will be. led by the people and then reported by the way i think they have been. you know. in kuwait and don't have. even went unreported i would say in the article because regarding iraq reuniting probably together probably you are really normal and happy to say that her appears not to become the new normal i think of the new law being made because that's the be that and hopefully this will be the issue there will be disputes in the future yes there will be. unfortunately it will but hopefully not to the level of bringing in every single person on board and i'm thinking of all

right we've run out of time so we're going to have to leave the conversation there thanks so much to all our guests measured long saudi but that is safe and promiscuity. and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story for meat raw meat in film and a whole team here are now. discovered

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get to the truth and empower people through knowledge. al-jazeera. you're watching the news hour live from headquarters and. these are live pictures from capitol hill in washington d.c. where both houses of congress are holding a joint session to confirm joe biden's presidential when there is unprecedented interest this time in what's usually just a formality announcement has donald trump's allies in congress plan to dispute the election results forcing a long debate there.