Qatar helped the US create a communication channel with Hamas: Macron and Sunak’s turn

A small emirate has become a global intermediary for the release of hostages

Western leaders are hoping Qatar will bring their citizens held hostage in Israel home. The small Gulf state’s role in the release of two American hostages by Hamas militants has bolstered the emirate’s reputation as a “global broker.”

When news broke that two American women held hostage by Gaza militants had been released by Hamas after negotiations brokered by Qatar, phones began to ring in Doha, The Observer writes.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak were among the world leaders waiting at the back of the line to formally congratulate the tiny Gulf state on the successful negotiations, but mostly to ask for help in bringing their citizens home.

Crisis teams across Europe and the US are already familiar with the work of their Qatari counterparts from similar calls two years earlier. When the Taliban swept into Kabul, Qatar helped them evacuate Westerners and vulnerable Afghans, from activists and athletes to an all-female team of budding scientists.

The emirate has spent nearly two decades leveraging its oil and gas wealth, Qatar’s powerful Al Jazeera television channel and much of its increasingly skilled diplomatic corps to become one of the world’s most indispensable mediators, The Observer said.

“Mediation and conflict resolution are an integral part of our foreign policy, so a significant number of personnel are actively involved in this part of the matter,” said the Qatari official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Qatar has carved out an unusual niche as a key American ally – home to a major US military base – with extensive Islamist ties strong enough to make Washington’s worst enemies feel comfortable living in Doha close to American troops.

Qatar’s ambitions as a mediator gained worldwide notoriety a decade ago when Hamas and the Taliban “political offices”—sort of embassies for high-ranking officials—were set up in Doha under US auspices to facilitate negotiations.

“A Hamas political office was opened in Qatar in 2012 in coordination with the United States government, following a US request to open a channel of communication with Hamas,” said a Qatari official.

This was initially an initiative of President Barack Obama’s administration, but the use of the Hamas office as a communication channel was continued by Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Qatar’s role as a mediator and close US ally pays clear strategic dividends for a small country surrounded by large, well-armed neighbors in a troubled region.

Its only land border is with Saudi Arabia, and it is across the Persian Gulf from Iran.

This strengthens the soft power created by Al Jazeera’s coverage, and also helps offset negative Western media coverage of migrant workers, especially in the lead-up to last year’s World Cup, and other human rights issues such as attitude towards women.

Qatar currently mediates disputes involving a long and growing list of countries outside Gaza and Afghanistan, from Yemen, Lebanon and Syria to Sudan, Chad and Eritrea. Most recently, Doha acted as a mediator in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, securing the return of several Ukrainian children, The Observer claims.