Humanitarian move helps support joint families

The people of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are closely linked by centuries of intermarriage, traditions and common social customs. In the modern era many hundreds of thousands of GCC nationals regularly have moved between the six states seeking employment, education, and frequent cultural exchanges, as well as holidays and many other things. One of the most important parts of the GCC agreement was the free movement of people that recognised this underlying social reality, which has been a regular and accepted part of daily life in the GCC.

In the light of the measures against Qatar, the decision of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to treat joint Qatari-GCC families with kindness is so important. It proves that the serious dispute with the leadership in Qatar should not have unintended consequences for the families and children of those GCC nationals who have married Qataris. This humanitarian decision announced by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan is a significant pointer to the UAE’s concern for its nationals and those of Qatar that otherwise might be caught up in the ongoing challenge to Doha’s dangerous political stance that favours dealing with radicals and extremists rather than seeking to isolate them. The governments of both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain announced similar orders, quoting “appreciation of the brotherly Qatari people” and treating them as “a natural extension” of their own states. This reflects the reality that the GCC people act and think as one large family, even if they have their differences like in any family.

This is the reality to which the government of Qatar needs to return. It should not seek to abandon its common heritage with its brothers in the Gulf. It has failed to recognise the danger of its readiness to accommodate the extremists eager to seek social destruction and ready to espouse violence and chaos to achieve their aims. By doing so it is putting itself at odds with its entire Gulf heritage, and the other members of the GCC are eager to welcome Qatar back once it reverts to the commonly agreed position to abjure terrorism and all its forms, and to treat the current regime in Iran with suspicion given its well-proven record of backing militias and destabilisation in many Arab states. It is important for all states in the Arab world to work for the restoration of stable nation states and the rule of law.