The mood between supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas in Doha and Western diplomats appears to be slowly changing. The Qatari embassy in Washington posted a rather long statement on Platform X, where Ramadan greetings are usually sent or meetings of politicians are documented. They read „with interest“ Congressman Steny Hoyer’s statements regarding the Gaza War negotiations, but were „surprised by his threat to reassess U.S. relations with Qatar.“
US Democrat Steny Hoyer, who is even older than US President Joe Biden – 84 – had previously called for more pressure on Hamas, which until yesterday did not want a temporary but a permanent ceasefire. As a consequence, Qatar should cut off their funding or close their offices in Doha. The Qatari embassy responded as follows: Qatar’s mediation role only exists „because we were asked by the United States in 2012 to take on this role because Israel and Hamas regrettably refuse to speak to each other directly.“ They share the frustration that no breakthrough has yet been achieved in the negotiations to free the remaining Israeli hostages. However, „blaming and threatening the mediator not constructive, especially when the target is a friend and important non-NATO ally that currently hosts 10,000 U.S. troops and is America’s largest military presence in the Middle East.“
The rulers in Qatar were reacting to the increasingly loud voices in the US. A few days earlier, Republican Ted Budd had made similar statements. Such demands also come from Israel again and again. Last but not least, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on further increasing the pressure on Qatar so that the emirate would increase its influence on Hamas.
Negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of the hostages who were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip in the Hamas massacre on October 7 have been going on for months without success, and the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip has been criticized internationally. Yesterday, Hamas terrorists talked about agreeing to a ceasefire. But Jerusalem doesn’t seem to be interested in that.
Qatar emphasizes that it „does not control” Hamas and that both Israel and Hamas „bear sole responsibility for reaching an agreement.” But it is questionable whether Doha has pulled out all its billion-dollar levers to increase the pressure on Hamas to release the Israeli hostages. On the other hand, the past few weeks have also shown the limited influence of US President Biden in dealing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is still pushing for the controversial offensive on the border town of Rafah and Israeli tanks have now penetrated the border post between Rafah and Egypt.
All of this led to Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed al-Thani speaking to the press in Doha in similar words to the elderly US Democrat Hoyer, saying that Qatar now also wanted to „completely reassess” its own role as a mediator. Press conferences are anything but daily in the hereditary monarchy of Qatar, which makes them all the more important when they do take place. Al-Thani, who is also the country’s foreign minister, said Qatar’s role is being „exploited and abused by politicians who are trying to gain electoral advantage by badmouthing the state of Qatar.“ This has led Qatar to „completely reassess its role and we are currently in that phase.” Although one stands by its role „from a humanitarian context”, there are limits to this role.
Even though critical voices about Qatar’s role can often be heard from the US, the official approach is different. Just at the beginning of the year, the US government under Biden quietly reached an agreement with Qatar to extend its military presence at the US base in Al Udeid for another ten years. The base was built in 1996 in the Qatari desert, about 30 kilometers from the capital Doha. From here, US fighter jets took off on various missions: from 2001 to Afghanistan, 2003 to Iraq and most recently to Syria in 2014, for example to carry out air strikes against the so-called Islamic State (IS). Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Al Udeid just last December to „expand and strengthen bilateral defense relationships.” He thanked Qatar for its increased investment in the base. In times of crisis, Qatar is there to talk, said Austin.
For the small emirate, which fell out with its neighbors in 2017 over the open financing of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, the US presence is also a kind of guarantee of existence. Qatar shares the world’s largest gas field with Iran. The sandwich position between the hostile regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia repeatedly brought Qatar into trouble. As long as the Americans maintain their largest US base in the Middle East in Qatar, the rulers in the Gulf will be of particular importance. Qatar is also reacting so harshly because such demands from the USA question this security concept.
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