A ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas terror group was announced on Thursday, following weeks of talks in Doha, brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
The agreement stops the existing active conflict between the parties, which has been ongoing since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the abduction of approximately 250 more. Went. The subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza resulted in the deaths of more than 46,000 people, including an estimated 18,000 children.
At a news conference late Wednesday, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the first phase of the ceasefire would begin on Sunday and extend for 42 days. Hamas will release 33 of the 98 remaining hostages in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held hostage by Israel.
Al Thani said the agreement should also increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.
This is not the first time that Qatar has been involved in resolving global conflicts. Qatar has helped negotiate deals to release Americans captured in Iran, Afghanistan and Venezuela and return Ukrainian children to their families after being taken to Russia.
Qatar has also predicted diplomatic successes between Sudan and Chad, and Eritrea and Djibouti, as well as the 2011 Darfur peace agreement.
In 2020, Qatar helped negotiate the US withdrawal from Afghanistan with the extremist Taliban group. And, in November 2023, Qatari negotiators helped reach a temporary ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war.
‘Partners for Peace’
“Qatar’s emergence as a key mediator has enhanced its diplomatic status, taking it from a regional outsider to an important player on the world stage,” Burcu Ozcelic, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank, told DW. Has become a player.” “This new role enhances Doha’s influence… and positions it as an indispensable ‘Partner for Peace’ within the global community.”
The reasons why Qatar has established itself as the world’s arbiter are well documented. Analysts say that by increasing its importance from a diplomatic point of view, Qatar wants to establish its own security independently in an unstable region.
Creating its own foreign policy – for example, harboring dissidents and aiding revolutionary and extremist groups – is a way to compete with its traditional rival, the UAE, and refuse to take orders from larger neighbor Saudi Arabia. , researcher Ali Abo Rezegh wrote 2021 paper in academic journal insight turkey,
Why are Qataris so good at mediating?
Relationships are important and Qatar is known for its wide and diverse network of contacts. It has supported many different groups by providing bases, weapons or funding. This includes the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Libyan militias, and anti-government revolutionaries in Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen during the so-called Arab Spring.
In 2012, the US government led by Barack Obama asked Qatar to host the political wing of the terrorist Hamas group rather than moving it from Syria to Iran, where it would have had little reach.
Qatar maintains better relations, including economic ties, with Iran than its neighbors, many of whom consider the country an enemy.
And Qatar has hosted the United States at Al-Udeid Air Base since 2001. It is now the largest US base in the Middle East with approximately 10,000 troops.
“This will definitely benefit Qatar because governments in the West and to a lesser extent in the East consider them very useful friends,” said Cinzia Bianco, an expert on Gulf countries at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
For example, in early 2022 President Joe Biden designated Qatar a “major non-NATO ally” partly because of the country’s role in negotiating the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Being able to empathize with all parties also helps. Analysts say that, even as officials work closely with the United States, Qatar has also been more pragmatic about Islamist organizations in the region, seeing these as part of popular political movements that cannot be eradicated or avoided. Could. In some cases, this has helped. Apparently, members of the Taliban They said they felt more comfortable In Qatar, he believed they understood all sides.
neutrality is priority
Qatari negotiators don’t necessarily have the specialized skills, Bianco said. They train for the job. “But I wouldn’t say it’s anything more than diplomats working for other governments, including in Europe,” she said. “So I think it’s about the approach of trying to remain as neutral as possible. It’s fundamentally important for them to play this role, and that means they separate it from anything else, including internal and regional politics. Let’s keep it above.”
It’s also about Qatar’s assets, Bianco said. The country’s resources allow the government to host participants and work on multiple crises simultaneously.
It may also relate to a short chain of command. ,[The Qatari] “The Foreign Ministry’s ability to make decisions without public questioning or scrutiny means it can act decisively,” wrote Sultan Barakat, a professor of public policy at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar. a february analysis In Accord, a publication that regularly reviews international peace initiatives.
dangerous balancing act
Israeli politicians have accused Qatar of being a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and funding terrorism. US politicians have called for a reassessment of relations with Qatar if this does not put greater pressure on Hamas. In April, Republican senators introduce a bill to revoke Qatar’s status As a major non-NATO ally.
The Qataris have repeatedly said that they have no authority over Hamas.
Bianco said, “When you interact with non-state armed militias that do bad things, obviously you run the risk of people pointing fingers at you and people who say that, in some ways, you are doing these things.” Groups are validated and given them more legitimacy or access to resources.”
He said the Qataris’ argument was: “Yes, we have these relations, but we use them for good.”
No matter how imperfect the country is, experts argue that Qatar is playing an essential role at the moment.
“Humanity paid a heavy price for not sitting down and talking to each other during the first two world wars,” Rabih al-Haddad, director of the multilateral diplomacy division at the UN Institute for Training and Research in Switzerland, told DW.
“Today, we need parties that enable people in conflict to talk to each other and resolve their differences through dialogue, diplomacy and in accordance with international law,” he said.
DW’s Jennifer Hollis contributed to this report.
This article was originally published on August 20, 2024 and was updated following the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on January 16, 2025.
Edited by: Davis Van Opdorp