Has Qatar failed to resolve the Hamas-Israel conflict?
Last Updated on November 16, 2024 6:34 am
The Qatari government has expressed interest in mediating a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, but has suspended the effort because neither side has agreed to sit down for talks.
The country is also reportedly under pressure from the United States to close Hamas’s office in Qatar.
The small and wealthy state has made a name for itself as a peacemaker in the Middle East, but it is currently finding it difficult to mediate a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. BBC News
Qatar has long played the role of an international peacekeeper. Over the past two decades, the country has brokered several ceasefires and peace agreements between warring parties in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
In November 2023, Qatar facilitated talks between Israel and Hamas for a temporary ceasefire, which resulted in the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israel and 105 Israeli hostages held in Palestine.
In addition, in 2020, Qatar brokered a peace deal between the Taliban and the United States to end the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan.
As a result, the United States and its allies withdrew their forces from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained control of the country.
In 2023, Qatar also acted as a mediator in a prisoner exchange agreement between the United States and Iran.
In the same year, it mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine to return Ukrainian children who had been taken from Ukraine to Russia during the ongoing conflict.
In 2020, Qatar brokered a ceasefire between the government of Chad and 40 opposition groups in the Central African country, and in 2010, it also oversaw a peace agreement between the government of Sudan and armed groups in the western province of Darfur.
The country’s government even wrote into its constitution that Qatar will play a peacekeeping role. Article 7 of the country’s constitution states that the foundation of the country’s foreign policy is to strengthen international peace and security by promoting the peaceful resolution of international disputes.
Qatar is not only a close ally of the United States, but it has also allowed the Taliban and Hamas to set up offices in its country.
It hosts thousands of US military personnel at Al Udeid Air Base, which has allowed the country to act as a bridge between two political parties that do not want to talk directly to each other.
That’s according to H.A. Hellyer, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based think tank.
Qatar is in a good position to engage with groups like the Taliban and Hamas, he said, because it has never been in conflict with them.
Dr. Sanam Vakil of Chatham House, a UK-based international affairs think tank, said Qatar has built an image of itself as a mediator who solves problems.
Qatar has a team of diplomats who are highly trained in overseeing peace talks, but they have not always been able to broker peace deals or commit to a lasting ceasefire between warring parties.
Dr. Vakil said the Qataris are very good at overseeing situations when the end of a conflict is near and the cycle of violence is broken and both sides are hoping for peace.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it was suspending efforts to mediate a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, but denied reports that it had closed Hamas’s office in Doha.