Editors Note : This is the first installment of a two-part assessment. You can read the second part here . Threatened by Iran and emboldened by the United States, the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are drawing closer to Israel , as the obstacles that have kept Riyadh and Abu Dhabi from contemplating such a radical move fall by the wayside. Indeed, for the first time in many years, Iranian influence has reached the Mediterranean Sea by land, prompting heightened worries in the Gulf states and Israel. But while the overtures between both camps are real, the nascent relationship remains subject to many of the old rules of Arab-Israeli dynamics.