Egypt and Qatar spar over US peacemaking guarantees

Cairo: Egypt has criticised what it termed a Qatari campaign to distort its efforts to relaunch peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.

The Egyptian-Qatari crisis, the latest between the two countries, was triggered by what an Egyptian official described as a Qat-ari media fuss over comments made by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al Geit's in which he said he had no idea that Qatar had demanded that the US offer guarantees for the revival of the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

"The reason for our astonishment is that the Qatari reaction towards statements attributed to the (Egyptian) foreign minister was not relayed as diplomatic norms dictate through diplomatic channels," an official source at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said this week.

"The Egyptian side would have been happy if the Qatari officials had asked for clarification on the issue without making up an unjustifiable media fuss, which contradicts the requirements of the Arab action," added the source in a statement carried by semi-official newspapers.

Qatar has said that all Arab countries, including Egypt, were notified of a Qatari letter presented to the US administration for guarantees and that Doha had sent a copy of the letter to the Arab League.

Egyptian-Qatari ties have been in trouble over recent years with Cairo accusing Doha of constantly casting doubts over its regional role.

In March 2009, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak snubbed an annual Arab summit conference held in Qatar.

Moreover, Egyptian official media openly criticise the Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera for allegedly distorting Egypt's name.

"It is regrettable that as part of the same campaign some Qatari writers have jumped on the bandwagon to distort Egypt's stance over the issue of (US) guarantees by unfairly implying that Egypt has renounced the idea or sought to put pressure on the Palestinians to stop demanding these guarantees," said the Egyptian source.

"This is a sheer lie. The idea of demanding internationally supported US guarantees is a basic component of the Egyptian efforts exerted for the resumption of (Palestinian-Israeli) negotiations on a sound basis."

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