“Egypt’s role is receding regionally, and its cards are limited,” said Emad Gad, an expert in international relations at the government-financed Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “Their main card, which is reconciliation and peace, is receding.”

Image Many Arab leaders were unhappy with remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Israel. Credit... Pool photo by Dan Balilty

Egypt says these efforts will come to nothing until there is progress in the peace process, an approach the Saudis have not accepted.

Even as its vast reserves of oil money have expanded its global influence, Saudi Arabia finds itself unable to exert its will even on its own border, where it blames Iran for stoking an uprising against the government in Yemen; or in Lebanon, where its chief source of influence, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated. Even its goal of leading the Persian Gulf states, under the umbrella of the Gulf Cooperation Council, has faltered.

“Saudi’s role in the last 10 years has declined,” said Abdulkarim H. al-Dekhayel, a political science professor at King Saud University in Riyadh. “The leadership now feels it has to try to reset the agenda.”

The Saudis have decided that the key to re-establishing a strong hand in the region rests broadly in Arab unity and specifically in Syria. Syria has close economic and political ties with Iran. It hosts the political leadership of the militant group Hamas. It shares a border with Iraq and has been accused of allowing militants and weapons to cross over. It has a close alliance with Hezbollah. All of these are excellent tools for undermining Saudi efforts to blunt Iran and push for peace with Israel.

“The relations between the Arab countries, if they are solid, if the understanding is there, if the cohesiveness of their policy exists, then there is no worry,” said Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s longtime foreign minister. “It is only when there is division, and looking for other alternatives between the Arab countries, that creates problems.”