As soon as the war broke out between Israel and Hamas, another battle began, the diplomatic one, to find a way out of a conflict that has left 1,200 dead on the Israeli side in just over a month (according to the latest government estimate) and more . of 11,000 in the Palestinians. And Qatar has played a leading role in this. On this tiny peninsula in the Persian Gulf, which has immense wealth thanks to its gas and oil reserves, mediation is a state policy enshrined in the constitution.
Qatar has two decades of experience in dealing with international crises and conflicts. In what is now being contested in Gaza, Doha occupies a unique position, the result of a complicated diplomatic ploy that allows it to maintain good relations with Iran and the United States while simultaneously hosting Hamas’s political office and Gaza The latter provides assistance in coordination with Israel. In these weeks he has multiplied his contacts to advocate for the release of Israeli hostages and the cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, which is heavily besieged by Israeli bombs.
Talks are progressing discreetly and in recent days it has emerged that Qatar and Egypt, in coordination with the United States, are redoubling their efforts to reach an agreement. But there are already tangible results. Hamas has currently released four of the approximately 240 hostages captured on October 7th. when the group’s armed wing managed to invade Israel in an unprecedented attack. Qatar’s mediation was the key to liberation. And last week, his intervention facilitated the limited reopening of the Rafah crossing that separates Gaza from Egypt, allowing the entry of trucks carrying humanitarian aid and the exit of hundreds of foreigners stuck in the Gaza Strip.
“Given that Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political office since 2012, it is natural that the United States and other countries, including Israel, would ask Qatar for help in using these contacts to secure the release of any potential hostages,” he tells Email. Email Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Middle East expert at the Baker Institute at Rice University in Houston (USA). “Qatar has dedicated its foreign ministry to special envoys dedicated to conflict resolution and the reconstruction of Gaza,” he added.
Mediation in this war is just the latest link in a chain of interventions that have allowed Doha to gain greater weight in international diplomacy than its size suggests. Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio, professor of Arabic Islamic studies at the Complutense University of Madrid, explains by telephone that when Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the current emir’s father, came to power in the 1990s, “he wanted to oppress the country.” in the map”. “He was trying to escape the tutelage of Saudi Arabia because all the small emirates in the region had always been under the tutelage of Riyadh in some way. That is why he wanted to propose a differentiated foreign policy.”
The Arabist cites four pillars of Qatar’s foreign policy: “First, supporting the Muslim Brotherhood to try to gain influence in the Arab world.” Another reason was the launch of the Al Jazeera television channel to project the Qatari narrative. The third option is to choose neutrality in an area where there is strong polarization between Saudi Arabia and Iran and maintain good relations with the two actors. The fourth element was to commit to diplomacy. The 2003 Constitution provides for this, it is a state policy, it is committed to diplomacy to end regional conflicts, which are the main cause of persistent, innate, structural instability in the region.
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Palestinians with foreign passports waited at the Rafah border crossing on November 7 for permission to leave Gaza. IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA (Portal)
The country has been offering itself as a mediator for two decades. The experts interviewed recall that he intervened in 2007 to resolve a conflict between the Yemeni regime and the Houthis; In 2008, he helped defuse a political stalemate in Lebanon that threatened to plunge the country into civil war; He was a key mediator in negotiations between the United States and Iran to revive the nuclear deal signed in 2015, from which the Donald Trump administration withdrew in 2018, and to complete a prisoner swap between those two countries last September. After 2013, a Taliban office was located there with the consent of the USA, which contributed to the conclusion of the Doha Agreement in 2020. This agreement set the roadmap for US withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war (which was ultimately abruptly ended by the return of the Taliban). drive).
Qatar is a fundamental ally of Washington: it hosts the headquarters of the North American Central Command and buys billions of dollars’ worth of defense equipment annually. Álvarez-Ossorio specifies that this “military alliance protects it from possible aggression from neighboring countries”. Doha also has good relations with Iran, as both countries share one of the largest gas fields in the world. And although it officially has no relations with Israel, Álvarez-Ossorio points out that there is “some understanding” between the two countries “because Qatar is the main financier of the Palestinian administration in Gaza,” which has been de facto ruled by Hamas since 2007 becomes. “There is about $30 million a month to pay the salaries of the Palestinian administration and also for the neediest families, and it is channeled through Israeli banks, with the green light from the Israeli government because it was a way to prevent that. “ “We will prevent the humanitarian crisis from escalating. It will get worse,” he adds. All this while Qatar “continues to be a strong supporter of the creation of an independent sovereign Palestinian state.”
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Bader Al Saif, a professor of history at the University of Kuwait, explains in a telephone conversation that the authorities in Doha handled the transfer of the Palestinian militia’s political office to Qatar “very intelligently” after the outbreak of war in Syria. “The United States was part of this request. They wanted someone to stand in the middle and talk to Hamas without doing it directly. [Washington lo considera una organización terrorista]”, he clarifies. “It was made under the American umbrella.”
So Doha maintains “a kind of tightrope balance,” in the words of Álvarez-Ossorio. Al Saif reminds that this policy has caused more than just a headache for Qatar. The most serious is the blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt between 2017 and 2021, “dissatisfied with this very active role” in the region and with the “talks”. [de Qatar] with Islamists who they saw as a threat to their security.” But the country emerged victorious.
Doha has also faced international criticism for violating the rights of foreign workers in the construction of the 2022 World Cup facilities, women and LGBTBIQ people. Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is an absolute monarch in a rich country (with a per capita GDP of $81,970 compared to $33,090 in Spain) where Sharia (Islamic law) prevails.
Álvarez-Ossorio, author of the book Qatar. Perla del Golfo, together with Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán, believes that this is “the only actor who can receive the head of the Israeli Mossad, the Iranian foreign minister and the head of the US State Department in the same week.” These appointments took place a few weeks ago, but contacts continue. On Thursday, the heads of the CIA, Mossad and the Qatari prime minister met in Doha. And US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterated his gratitude to Qatar. This Friday the Emir of Qatar met with the Egyptian President and another with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salmán.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in Doha on October 13.POOL (via Portal)
Bader Al Saif points out that Doha “is not acting in the middle of nowhere” and that “the Gulf region has states that are doing more or less the same thing.” He points to Oman, which “also has good relations with Iran and the United States.” The difference, he explains, is that Qatar is “more focused” and “more stable” from a financial perspective. “When you combine the gas reserves and high production capacity with a small population [unos tres millones de habitantes], it gives you great strength.” “They have the money, the resources, the ambition and want to be a force for good in the region. “That’s how they see themselves,” he continues. That’s why, he says, Doha is talking to all parties. “They have used foreign policy to strengthen their national security. They use mediation as a form of survival,” he continues. “Mediation as a soft power strengthens your security as a state,” he says, “and also gives you a good image.”
In the conflict between Israel and Hamas, other important players such as Egypt are also very active, although “there is a certain mistrust between the parties” because “the Muslim Brotherhood is considered a terrorist organization,” says Álvarez-Ossorio. Hamas therefore – similar to the Muslim Brotherhood – does not see them as neutral. Or Türkiye, whose relations with Israel are “not experiencing their best moment.” But Qatar “has a longer history of negotiating the release of hostages.”
In the short term, Doha can play its cards well. However, pressure on the country’s relations with the political branch of Hamas is likely to increase in the medium term. Firas Maksad, an expert at the Near East Institute in Washington, defends via videoconference that the role of mediator may continue and evolve as this conflict progresses. Especially when the Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip reaches its peak and negotiations about the future begin. Qatar and other Gulf states “will be sought after” as the escalation phase is left behind and “the type of exit diplomacy becomes more central to how we can begin to overcome it.” [el conflicto actual]”, he clarifies. “These countries will play a role, either through the Arab League or under the umbrella of the United Nations with American support.” More diplomacy for Qatar.
With information from Macarena Vidal Liy.
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