Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
23 February 2024 | 19:00 CAT
2 min read

Israel and its staunch US allies are intensifying efforts to discredit Qatar, the primary mediator between Hamas and the Israeli government, amid stalled talks for a Gaza ceasefire and a prisoner exchange. The campaign against Qatar accuses the Gulf state of cultivating ties with contentious groups like Hamas and the Taliban as part of its conflict mediation strategy, despite these relationships being encouraged by the United States and, in the case of Hamas, Israel themselves.

Dr. James M. Dorsey, award-winning journalist and scholar, shared his insight on the situation in the Middle East, with Radio Islam.

“US President, Joe Biden’s Middle East advisor is in Israel at the moment, which has already produced at least a nominal result, in the sense that Israel agreed to return to the negotiation table and give its negotiators some leeway in terms of negotiating but that doesn’t necessarily mean that what Israel wants is going to square with what Hamas is willing to accept,” he said.

Earlier this month, the anti-Qatar campaign achieved a notable victory when Texas A&M University announced the closure of its Qatar campus, which had been operational for two decades.

“What Israel is doing, is trying to undermine, the leverage of the negotiators, particularly that of Qatar, and doing so by demonising Qatar, in a sense together with the Texas Republicans, scored a very tangible success this month with the withdrawal from Qatar of Texas A&M University. There have also seen attacks on Qatar and demonization of Qatar, through pro-Israeli websites and in statements by Israeli PM, Netanyahu

Dorsey highlighted that Qatar is endeavouring to devise a framework through which the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority and Hamas can reconcile their longstanding differences.

According to Dorsey, conveniently, Israel, while demonizing Qatar, overlooks its engagement with Hamas, as well as Egypt’s historical view of the group as a valuable asset in countering Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula.

The Israeli campaign against Qatar also disregards the fact that not long ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu requested Qatar to finance the salaries of Gaza’s Hamas administration and contribute to reconstruction efforts following several earlier conflicts.

LISTEN to the full interview with Ml Sulaimaan Ravat and Dr. James M. Dorsey, award-winning journalist and scholar, a Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute, here. https://on.soundcloud.com/76Cyz