The truce between Hamas and Israel has strengthened Qatar’s status as a country specialized in resolving delicate hostage situations (it already did so in Afghanistan and Iraq). Its prime minister and foreign minister, Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al Thani, has emerged as one of the key figures in the negotiations that have culminated in dozens of releases by Hamas and Israel. His efforts have earned him praise from world leaders such as US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell.
CIA and Israeli Mossad officials met with Al Thani on Tuesday in Doha to discuss a possible extension of the ceasefire. It is understood that this architect of past mediations is the one who meets with the political leaders of Hamas, whose offices have been in the Qatari capital since 2012. “We are dealing with a very complicated structure,” Al Thani admitted in reference to the Islamist organization, in an interview with the American network CBS. We deal only with the Hamas political office in Doha, and they communicate with the military branch.”
Its proximity to Hamas makes Qatar the only interlocutor considered valid by both members of the Islamist group and Israel. “This is what we can do and no one else can do,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari told France Presse. “We have oriented the entire country towards this. “If it doesn’t work, all hell will break loose,” he added as the ceasefire began last week. Judging by the facts, the truce worked and was even extended, although on Saturday the agreement was about to be blown up with accusations of violations of the agreement between the two opposing parties. A whirlwind visit by the Qatari delegation to Israel saved the deal, demonstrating once again the emirate’s key role in the negotiations, which also involved the United States and Egypt.
While Egypt has traditionally served as the main mediator between Israel and Palestinian groups – it helped secure the 2011 release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit -; The bets have focused this time on the emirate. “Qatar hosts the political leadership of Hamas, it is the only entity authorized to negotiate on behalf of Hamas and its armed wing,” the director of the Center for Studies and Research on the Arab World and the Mediterranean, Hasni Abidi, told AFP. Qatari money has helped Hamas pay the salaries of its public officials. “Qatar is seen as the only actor in the Arab world that is loyal to the Palestinian cause,” Yoel Guzansky, a researcher at the Tel Aviv Institute for National Security Studies, told the AP.
As Foreign Minister since 2016, Al Thani has overseen the mediation of several successful operations, involving the Taliban and Iran, from which the United States, among others, has benefited. During the Syrian civil war in 2017, Qatar helped negotiate the release of hostages held in Iraq, some of whom included members of the Al Thani House, the royal family that rules the emirate. In 2019, Qatar chaired talks that led to the release of two Western hostages taken by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The wealthy emirate played a key role in evacuating thousands of people when the Taliban regained power in 2021. And last September it made possible a prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran. “It is precisely the accumulation of these successful mediations that has also made Qatar an essential interlocutor,” Abidi recalled.
Now the young Qatari prime minister (Doha, 1980), who studied Economics and Business Administration, aims high in his desire to “promote international peace”, one of his priorities, according to his profile on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. “There is no conflict that begins and ends on the battlefield,” Al Ansari, his spokeswoman, said Monday. “Now that hostages are being released and there are lulls in fighting, it is possible that we can find a solution” to this war.
