This week’s state visit by the Emir of Qatar is the first of any Arab leader since King Charles ascended the throne. This is no coincidence: while its role is often misunderstood, Qatar has skilfully positioned itself as one of the West’s most important allies in the Middle East.
Doha’s role as the world’s mediator-in-chief is only going to become more important
With the current conflict in the Levant showing no signs of slowing, the Russo-Ukrainian War entering a critical phase, and events in Syria and Yemen increasing the risk of a wider conflict, Doha’s role as the world’s mediator-in-chief is only going to become more important.
Yet the polarisation of political opinion in critical western partners such as America and Israel since the atrocities of October 7 have led many to misunderstand Qatar’s position. In particular, the presence of Hamas’ formal delegation (and much of its senior leadership) in Doha has drawn the ire of right-wing politicians in both countries.
No wonder, then, that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has chosen to visit the United Kingdom. As a long-standing pillar of the Western alliance, British diplomats and policymakers are well-positioned to be a voice of reason both in Washington and Tel Aviv.
For as any student of history knows, very few wars are ever won through outright conquest and formal surrender. Any realistic prospect of a just peace requires not just firmness on the battlefield, but the maintenance of crucial backchannels where diplomacy can take place. Until both sides can start talking, there is little hope that they will stop shooting.
That is the role that Qatar has, over several decades, consciously chosen. Following the model pioneered in Europe by nations such as Switzerland and Norway, Doha has emerged as the 21st century’s critical diplomatic nexus – described by the Royal United Services Institute as “an indispensable ‘partner for peace’ within the global community”.
Nowhere else do embassies from the UK and America sit within a few kilometres of formal delegations from the Taliban and Hamas. While the presence of the latter has drawn the ire of Qatar’s critics, recent events show just how important it can be.
Since October 7, for example, Doha hosted regular meetings between CIA Director William Burns, Mossad Chief David Barnea and Mohammed Al Thani, the Qatari Prime Minister, in a bid to secure the release of the hostages still held in Gaza. The pause in Israeli operations between 24–30 November 2023, along with each side’s release of a limited number of hostages and prisoners, could not have taken place without Qatari mediation efforts, which US president Joe Biden described as a ‘critical partnership’.
Unlike traditional mediators such as Saudi Arabia or Egypt (the latter of which actually invaded Israel twice in the last century), Qatar has no historical baggage in the Holy Land.
It also has a much longer history of good relations with Israel than many other Arab countries, having an operational trade office in Israel from 1996-00 and hosting Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni in 2008 to discuss normalising relations with Arab states.
The hosting of non-state actors such as Hamas and the Taliban is not without strict conditions. Their political offices are prohibited both from raising funds or engaging in direct support of military acts, and must demonstrate serious engagement in political processes.
Most importantly, such outreach efforts have always been done in close consultation with its diplomatic partners, especially the United States. In fact, it was the Obama Administration that first asked Qatar in 2012 to host Hamas’ political office: Washington was keen to establish a diplomatic channel and feared that the group might otherwise base its overseas headquarters in Tehran, where it would be much harder to keep an eye on them.
America made active use of Qatar as a broker in its negotiations with the Taliban
America also made active use of Qatar as a broker in its negotiations with the Taliban, from mediating prisoner swaps in 2013 and 2014 to facilitating the final negotiations that preceded Washington’s final withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2022.
There is obviously much to criticise in the Biden Administration’s foreign policy, especially over Afghanistan. But the foundation of any successful foreign policy is being a dependable diplomatic partner. If Western nations turn on Qatar for hosting organisations like Hamas after spending decades actively encouraging its role as a diplomatic backchannel, that will send a powerful signal to other countries about the relative merits of partnering with the West. If this makes nations thing twice about following in Qatar’s footsteps, this could spell trouble. Such lines of communication are only going to get more important if we are to prevent Cold War II, as historian Niall Ferguson has dubbed the current standoff between the western democracies and the autocracies, turning hot.
Doha’s role in facilitating hostage negotiations extends far beyond Gaza, for example. Qatar has helped secure deals to release Americans held in Iran, Afghanistan and Venezuela, as well as return Ukrainian children to their families after they were taken to Russia.
Qatar was also well-advanced in plans to host a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations earlier this year. Both were set to send delegations to Doha to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both sides, before the talks were scuppered by Kyiv’s surprise offensive into Kursk.
Qatar has mediated talks between the Yemeni government and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and the various factions in Libya’s ongoing civil war, as well as helping to broker the normalisation of relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2018.
In 2011 it also hosted the Doha Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement, one of the main Darfur rebel factions. This agreement, though not universally accepted, was an attempt to bring stability to the region. With Sudan plunging into a fresh civil war that threatens to become a humanitarian catastrophe, this proven ability to get its factions round the table is invaluable.
As the high hopes of the post-Cold War years recede, ours is shaping up to be a very dangerous century – one where armed adversaries are increasingly plentiful, and proven peacemakers few. Britain has an essential role to play in keeping open the diplomatic channels that run through Doha – and Sheikh Tamim’s visit shows that Qatar knows it.
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