Qatar has been on the front lines in communication between all countries involved in the current war, as of now, they have come up with a deal between Israel, Hammas, and Egypt, as well as the United States kind of working in the background at the moment. The country has maintained relations with the terrorist group involved in the war, Hammas, as well as being very close allies with the U.S. and has kept communications open with Israel. The deal involved the release of foreign nationals and wounded Palestinian civilians to Egypt from Gaza, this agreement did not involve hostages but in other medication with Hammas, 4 hostages have been released. Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been communicating that negotiations with the terrorist group have become more difficult with recent events but have continued disregarding the growing tensions in these states. The United States and Qatar have arranged to discuss Qatar’s ongoing relationship with Hammas after the current hostage situations have been taken care of.
Qatar has a history of Mediation skills especially in the region in which the state resides. Doha (the capital of Qatar) mediated a deal between the United States and Iran in September which released 5 Americans from detention in Iran and unfreezed $6 BILLION in untouched Iranian funds. Qatar has good intentions in its mediation, it hopes to harbor a safe place for diplomacy and in addition wanted to delay Israel’s attacks in Gaza in the trust without added tension more hostages would be released, however Israel’s full group operation started on Friday making these negotiations more difficult. The relationship that Qatar continues to hold with Hammas is a sticky situation, the group now has an office in Doha and harbors some of the organization’s members. It is not likely Qatar will push Hammas out of the country but they may dissociate with the terrorist organization the same was done to the Taliban, who also had an office in the capitol. There are the pros and cons of letting the group go in Qatar’s eyes, it would be seen as a self-defeating move and would push the group further into Iran’s financial support.
World peace is the ultimate end goal and Qatar understands that fact, instead of the violence being inflicted on hundreds of innocents we should discuss and come to an agreement in order to keep everyone satisfied. Their government is practicing liberalism by brokering these peace agreements for countries in the region, they are focused on the international affairs of the surrounding area and state communication with one another. Discussing the global challenges is very important, especially right now while the war is going on, we must maintain human rights and continue to hold global actors responsible for their actions and respect international law.