Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, all diplomatic eyes have been on a powerful and contradictory regional actor: the Emirate of Qatar.
The small and powerful Arab monarchy, able to harbor the leaders of the Palestinian terrorist organization and finance organizations for years radical Islamists around the world while maintaining close ties with the United Statess – Qatar has the largest US base in the Middle East – and Europe, was instrumental in the agreement reached between them this Wednesday Tel Aviv and Hamas.
The long and complex negotiations – involving a small number of senior Qatari and US officials – allow for a four-day ceasefire – which will come into force at ten a.m. local time – and the release, on the one hand, of fifty civilian hostages of the Islamist organization and on the other hand, more than one hundred and fifty Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
“The State of Qatar announces the success of joint mediation efforts Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States between Israel and Hamas “Which have led to a humanitarian pause,” official sources in the Gulf’s wealthy and influential absolute monarchy said yesterday.
There are two main political and financial supporters of Hamas in the region: the Islamic Republic Iran and Qatar, respective sponsors of Shia and Sunni Islam – which does not prevent them from agreeing to support the terrorist organization linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Doha is crucial to the administrative functioning of the government structure that Hamas has built in the Gaza Strip since its victory in 2006. A year later, Turkey and Qatar were the only two countries to support Gaza’s exclusion from the Palestinian Authority.
The current leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh –He has lived in the Qatari capital Doha since 2016 (this has been the case for several leaders of the organization’s political branch for at least ten years). In 2019, Israeli authorities estimated Qatar’s financial contribution amounts to $1.1 billion to Hamas only in the period 2012-2018.
Contacts between Qatar and the United States began immediately after the massacre on Israeli soil in which around 1,400 people were murdered. Hamas carried out the abduction of 240 people from Israel – of which 220 remainto their refuges in the Gaza Strip without their current condition being known.
The agreement reached between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Islamist organization allows not only the cessation of hostilities for four days, but also the Import of several hundred trucks carrying humanitarian aid and food into the Gaza Strip.
Qatar, which has been developing soft power for years thanks to its inexorable penetration into the global economy, has an indisputable claim on its American partner and the international community. In any case, Both Hamas and Israel have clearly shown their willingness to continue the fight. One thing seems certain: Doha will continue to work behind the scenes.