Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister pointed out on Friday that there is no end in sight for his country’s crisis with Qatar. Adel al-Jubeir added that the crisis is, in any case, “very small” compared to other challenges facing the Middle East.
Jubeir made his comments while attending the high-level Conference on the Sahel at the European Commission in Brussels, where he gave several media interviews and addressed the EU Parliament. “Qatar,” he insisted, “has to stop its support for terror and stop meddling in the affairs of the neighboring countries,” Middle East Monitor reported.
The Saudi minister claimed that Qatar had stopped its support for the “terrorist” Palestinian group Hamas, and this has “facilitated the handover” of government offices in Gaza to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority. Commentators with knowledge of the situation in the coastal territory noted that the handover was actually part of the agreement reached by Hamas and the Fatah-led PA in a deal brokered by the Egyptians, and that the Gaza Strip has been in the grip of a devastating blockade for more than a decade.
“In the West, they see Qatar as a developed country with foreign universities and museums and Paris [Saint-Germain Football] Club, but they do not know the dark side about it as it supports and finances terror.” He did not provide any evidence for this allegation. Doha denies the charges.
Opponents of the Saudi government are described routinely as “terrorists”, an accusation which, say observers, seems to require no further explanation.
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