Doha, Qatar: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said that things are “in a much better place” in mediation efforts on Gaza war than they were a few weeks ago.
Talking at the Atlantic Council yesterday, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs said: “Our main role as a mediator is trying our best to get a negotiated solution where it can bring the hostages safely back to their homes, yet also stopping the bombing and the continuation of the killing of the civilians.”
He said that the whole process was working in November that resulted in the release of 109 hostages but unfortunately the process fell apart at that time.
“The intensity of war made the situation more complex,” he added.
Talking about mediation talks held in Paris, he said: “I think yesterday good progress was made to get things back in shape to lay foundation for the way forward. We can not say that this will make us in better shape soon, but we are hoping actually to relay this proposal to Hamas and to get them to a place where they engage positively and constructively in the process, because we think that in today's world, I think that's the only game in town now and that will be the only way to get the situation de-escalated.”
Reiterating Qatar’s stance on two-state solution to solve the issue permanently, he hoped that both parties would take the opportunity to make the war stop and also to get the hostages back.
To a question about Qatar’s leverage on Hamas, he said: “Basically we are using our good offices to connect, to bridge gaps to put solutions to come up with some alternatives. That’s what Qatar has an ability and this way has worked, has worked previously in the process and worked in process between the US and Iran, has worked in a process between the US and the Taliban, and it’s been working between Ukraine and Russia with the Ukrainian children. So that’s the way that Qatar is operating.
“Beyond this leverage, we don’t see that Qatar as a superpower that can impose something on this party or the other party to bring them to some place.”
He said the role of the UN is very important, particularly in the role of UNRWA. “We have been seeing the suffering that they have been facing with the cut of funding that’s happened to them, not now only, but even the shortage in funding that happened to them in the last few years.”
To another question, he condemned attack on US troops in Jordan, terming it against the sovereignty of Jordan which also undermined the efforts of coalition against ISIS.
“What we’ve been warning from the day one is the bigger picture in the region ... We’ve been warning from day one that this war has a potential of expanding and spill over in the region. And we are seeing this building up unfortunately in the last three months and half.”
He said that putting an end to this war was not only a demand of the people in Gaza, rather it was a regional demand. “We have seen the amount of destruction that happened. We have seen the number of victims. We cannot punish an entire population for an act of small group.”
He said Qatar is committed to continuing mediation efforts to come up with some solutions that provide the ground for everyone to move. He said Hamas political office in Qatar was opened in coordination with the US as a communication channel to diffuse many tensions in the past years.
To another question, he said that it is the right of the Palestinian people to elect their government and not the right of any other country.
About the Red Sea issue, he said Qatar was not playing any mediation role with the Houthis right now. He said what’s happening in the Red Sea is disrupting international trade. “Freedom of navigation is something very important for my country, for the entire region, for the world and something unacceptable to be messed up with.
“The only way forward for us to have a peaceful region is a two-state solution. That’s what Qatar stood for. That’s what we believe in, that the entire region has adopted long time ago.”
