Dubai: UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash has warned that patience and tolerance “has its limits” amid a serious diplomatic crisis in the GCC.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates signalled frustration at Qatar after its state media published purported remarks by Qatari Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani criticising Gulf rhetoric against Iran and suggesting tensions between the emir and US President Donald Trump.
Since the dispute erupted, authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have blocked the main website of Qatar-based Al Jazeera television.
On Sunday, Gargash reminded, without mentioning Qatar by name, that it should change its behaviour that has damaged its relations with its neighbours and open a new page.
“The right path is through openness, credibility and confidence,” he wrote.
“In a turbulent region, there is no alternative to Gulf unity, and Saudi Arabia is the linchpin,” he tweeted on Friday.
The latest tensions came days after Gulf Arab leaders met Trump at a Riyadh summit of Muslim nations meant to showcase solidarity against Islamist militants and Iran’s regional meddling.
Relations between Qatar and other Gulf Arab states suffered an eight-month breach in 2014 over Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Doha in protest.
Eight months later, they returned their ambassadors as Qatar forced some Brotherhood members to leave the country and quieted others.
In the time since, Qatar repeatedly and strongly denied it funds extremist groups.
However, it remains a key financial patron of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and has been the home of exiled Hamas official Khalid Mashaal since 2012.
Western officials also have accused Qatar of allowing or even encouraging funding of extremists like Al Qaida’s branch in Syria, once known as Al Nusra Front.
