My daughter, a home health nurse, was invited to visit the family of one of the children she is caring for…in Abu Dhabi area.
My daughter is the product of a non-Jewish mother and me, her Jewish father.
My question is this: Putting aside for this discussion the safety of going to the Persian Gulf countries, do any of these countries accept Jewish tourists directly?
This would include Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and kuwait
The UAE is fairly open to tourists, especially the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Check out the embassy websites, such as the UAE: link. A number of Arab countries will not accept entry of someone who has been to Israel, but I do not know what the Gulf states’ policies on this. If she has an Israeli visa stamp in her passport, now might be a good time to renew it, but I have never heard of an American being denied entry to an Arab country because of his/her father’s heritage.
I’ve taught English in the Gulf, in Qatar and spent a bit of time in the Emirates. This was 4 yrs ago so perhaps some things have changed.
First off they have no way of telling who’s Jewish and who isnt’ unless you walk around with a Star of David or something. In one memorable incident in school a student asked me if Abraham Lincoln was Jewish (beard, named Abe, black suit…). The Three Stooges are pretty big with some of the guys so I could blow minds by sharing the fact those guys were Jewish. And so on.
In theory they bar people who have Israeli stamps on the passport but I wonder about this. Odds are they wouldn’t even notice at passport control, I don’t recall them looking at every page of mine, or even most. I met Israelis in Qatar who worked at the trade office (i.e. the embassy-that-isn’t-there-but-actually-is) and I’d be surprised if the UAE doesn’t have something similar. So who knows.
THe UAE - or at least two of the Emirates, A-D and Dubai, are all about tourism. The other countries on your list not so much, although there are moves in that direction, especially Qatar which has a few nice hotels now and is rapidly investing in over the UAE style pleasure palaces.
When I lived there, on a free (for me) work visa, a tourist visa was US$300 plus you had to have proof of reservations at the approved hotels, which were the expensive ones. I imagine this is chagning.
Honestly there’s not a whole heck of a lot of diversity between the Gulf States that would warrant being a tourist between them. A person can only see so many opulent new hotels, sand dunes and corniches. Qatar has some limited remaining traditional charm but that could be found in one of the more conservative Emirates which is much like going to another country in some ways.
Honestly A-D and Dubai are the party locations of the Gulf and most people in the other countries are trying to vacation there! Bahrain is also pretty open with its alcohol/nightlife policy.
I would suggest taking advanatge of the relatively cheap flights out of the Gulf to explore somewhere like Isfahan, Kathmandu, Trivandrum, Lahore, even Bangkok. I went to Nepal with my vaca time, as well as the UAE.
If she does try to get to Qatar, which is half the size of NJ, have her email me & I’ll give her the list of everything to see in the country, which should take less than a week…
As an aside, the Gulf countries (& on that side of the Gulf they insist on calling it the “Arabian Gulf” of course…) are extremely safe to visit, especially for a woman, day and night. You’d have more to worry about if she were going to, say, Florida. There are decently sized expat communities in all of the nations you mentioned, mainly working in the oil industry. Westerners walking around (or more likely taking a cab around) are mundane and receive no particular attention.
I wouldn’t have worries on that end. The worst I’ve heard of a woman travelling alone was having an argument with Russian hookers on her floor in A-D who thought she was trying to muscle in on their territory!
I should also mention that Oman is apparently still very colorful from a cultural standpoint and probably worth a visit; not the typical Gulf state. My students told me that everyone knows the Omanis can control the djinn and can have you turned into a donkey if you displease them, so have her watch out for that! 
It takes a lot less time that that
I just want to echo what everyone is saying. You don’t even need to apply for a visa for the Gulf States, you can pick it up at the airport when you land.
I think maybe you mean no visa for the UAE; they’re very tourist friendly. Qatar appears to have lowered their visa to the low, low rate of $100. Like they need the money! I would imagine that Kuwait etc aren’t letting you in at the airport unless you’re a GCC member citizen, which westerners are not. I’d check with each embassy.
If you really want to see Qatar, I think you could spend a decent week there. The inland sea, the camel races, funky little spots like Rawdat Rashed and the old town ruins of Umm Said, a couple days in the Doha souks and City Centre… call it 6 days or so.