Dubai: Analysts in the Arabian Gulf said there was a need to address the Qatar situation “once for all” so that all obstacles could be removed between them and the GCC as a whole.
“Enough is enough, and we can no longer just be content with kisses and kind words,” Mohammad Jaber, a Bahraini researcher, said.
“We have over the years seen how the situation did not really improve and that every time there is an issue, there is anger and then we get over it only to stumble across another issue, get angry and then kiss and make up. We simply cannot afford such relations characterised by the alternation of high and low feelings when the matter can be resolved in a more rational way.”
To the Gulf analyst, Qatar has broken out of the Gulf ranks and sided with the wrong people, organisations and countries.
“The fact that Qatar nurtured special relations with Muslim Brotherhood groups and splinter groups and eventually with terror groups to serve its own agenda meant that it was not aligning its position on those of fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members,” he said.
“The situation was compounded when Qatar even went aggressively after some GCC countries through its media and this is not acceptable because it transcends all agreements and accords based on a common history, social norms and values and approaches to political and economic developments.”
Mohammad said that the latest developments and statements by Doha meant that Qatar has become more dangerous than the terrorist groups it supported and the GCC nemesis, Iran.
“That is why I call for a surgical operation to end the miasma and not be content with a make-up to hide whatever we do not want to be seen. The problem is, as we say in the Gulf, how can you cure yourself when the illness is within you?”
He added that Saudi Arabia and the other GCC states were prepared to deal with the situation.
“They have shown a high level of patience, fortitude and composure and refused to be drawn into a circle of negative attitudes as they recognise the significance of preserving the unity of the Gulf people. However, when a strong attitude and a stronger approach are needed, there should be strong action.”
Jameel Al Dhiyabi, a Saudi columnist, expressed the same attitude.
“I feel like I am watching a re-run of the same movie. The same situation is repeating itself since 1996 when Qatar established Al Jazeera,” he said.
“We had a serious issue in 2014 and we are having another serious issue in 2017. From the pulling out of the ambassadors of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE from Qatar to the statements of Qatar’s Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani that included the claim that Iran was the guarantor of security in the Gulf, the allegations that neighbours were coveting Qatar and praise for the groups he is hosting and that were categorised as terrorist by Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE.”
Al Dhiyabi said that nothing had really changed between 2014 and 2017.
“We have witnessed how Qatar was dealing with Saudi Arabia using one mask and then going to other Arab and Islamic countries to exert pressure on them and foil any agreement with Saudi Arabia,” he said in a column published by Okaz on Sunday.
“Qatar’s plan is aimed to divide the Arab countries according to the bigger plans of the new Middle East. Doha rushed to win the allegiance of the Bahraini and Saudi opposition, to draw Hamas closer at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, the internationally recognised representative of the Palestinian people, to support separatists in Sudan and to side with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.”
