Sawsan Al Shaer

By : Sawsan Al Shaer

:: The delay in finalizing the Qatari problem escalates the situation and makes us more distant with Qatar. The more mediators renew their efforts, the more Qatar thinks it is right and that everyone wants to please it. This only makes the Qatari command madder as it commits more mistakes. Qatar took things too far and exposed more than one face since the boycotting decision was made against it. As efforts to resolve the crisis renewed, Qatar negatively acted towards us and towards mediators as its media has been even working to obstruct mediations and prevent restoring things to normal.

Just when Kuwait’s Emir Sabah al-Ahmad dispatched an envoy to revive Qatar’s hopes, Doha’s media outlets intentionally acted like Iranian media outlets while covering Al-Awamiyah events in Saudi Arabia. They used the same terms used by the Iranian Kayhan daily! Qatar led to the failure of the first mediation efforts as it lightly dealt with the matter and published the demands before meeting with Kuwait’s emir. It’s now exploiting the Kuwaiti envoy’s visit to cross all red lines and side with Iran in how it sees Al-Awamiyah developments. It’s doing so although it knows that to Saudi Arabia, Al-Awamiyah is a national security matter and a red line. Qatar thinks it’s being smart when it disregards the Saudi Arabia’s security and Kuwait’s mediation. However, Doha must realize that when it begins to match its media policy with Iran’s, then it means it chose to match Iranian goals. Whom does Qatar think Saudi Arabia is fighting in Al-Awamiyah? Saudi Arabia, like Bahrain, is fighting the soldiers and servants of Iran in the region. Those who fortified themselves in the village of Diraz in Bahrain and in Al-Awamiyah in Saudi Arabia are fighting the Bahraini and Saudi states and declaring war against them. They are funded and trained by Iran. Qatar then comes and underestimates all these threats against the security of Gulf states! And it thinks these are nothing more than media debates?! And when does it do that? When mediations start again to save it!

Just when Kuwait’s Emir Sabah al-Ahmad dispatched an envoy to revive Qatar’s hopes, Doha’s media outlets intentionally acted like Iranian media outlets while covering Al-Awamiyah events in Saudi Arabia.

Sawsan Al Shaer

We are now in a state of war and the souls of our sons in the armed forces are precious to us. They are fighting terrorism to protect us. Qatar’s underestimation of our sons’ lives is tantamount to declaring war against us. This is how it is, straightforward. By us, I mean the Gulf Cooperation Council countries – not just Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates but also Kuwait that’s confronting the Abdali cell which escaped to Iran. Therefore, if the GCC does not stand with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait in their war against terrorism, then the council and its members will fall, and the first to fall will be that state which thinks it’s safe from this fire.

Undermining security

Mediations, whether by the dear state of Kuwait or by a friendly state or an ally, aim to address this member that underestimates our security. When the goals of a GCC member match the goals of an enemy who’s fighting the GCC, then the latter must specify the fate of this enemy. Mediations, especially the Kuwaiti one, must specify the fate of this member and not the fate of the 13 demands.

All mediators must understand that there are no mutual points we agree with Qatar with when the matter is related to threatening security. There should be no negotiations when countering terrorism, as Jubeir put it. The quartet alliance’s demands are not “dictations” required to restore relations with Doha but they are conditions which if not met then Qatar will have declared war against us. Qatar must either stop threatening our security or there will be complete estrangement. This is our simplest legitimate right. It’s the least influential card to play and settling with it until now is only out of honoring the Qatari people. If Doha decides to side with Iran against us, then it must bear the responsibility of this decision while mediators must specify their stance from the Qatari decision.

:: Sawsan Al Shaer is a Bahraini writer and journalist. She tweets under the handle @sawsanalshaer.

:: Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in the Column section are their own and do not reflect RiyadhVision’s point-of-view.