DOHA: Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, former Prime Minister of Qatar, has said he is not optimistic about Saudi Arabia developing a healthy relationship with Qatar as the blockade imposed by the neighbouring enters its third year, adding that most of the Islamic State fighters are from Saudi Arabia, which exposes the irony of Saudis accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism.
The former prime minister lambasted Riyadh for its double standards in an exclusive interview with Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper.
“This will be the third year running that Qatari citizens have been denied access to the Hajj. Even the Iranians are allowed to go,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said.
He said the region desperately needs a normal relationship between the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, but Saudis are in no mood for such alliances, which he attributed partly to Saudi jealousy of Qatar’s oil and gas wealth, and the uses it has been put to in expanding into a range of different industries, including the media, through Al Jazeera.
“They falsely accuse us of terrorism and so on. There is no international organisation that publicly supports these claims. The United States did not accuse Qatar, or any European body, or any other bodies, it’s just Saudi and the Emirates, and they do that because they know that in America and Europe when they talk about terrorism, everybody wants to listen, because for the West, the war on terror is a priority,” the former prime minister said in the interview.
“They thought that by these means that they could crush Qatar, but we have proved them wrong. Qatar has demonstrated that it can survive the blockade, as a nation, as a people, economically, politically. We have seen no economic impact, thanks to our government and our Emir.”
Most of the Islamic States fighters are from Saudi Arabia. Most estimates put Saudi Arabia among the top three regional contributors to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, along with Tunisia and Jordan, he said.
“… of the 19 hijackers who did the twin towers, 15 of them were Saudis, two from the Emirates, one Egyptian and one Lebanese. Shall I say that these were supported by the government of Saudi Arabia or the governments of the Emirates and Egypt? Shall I say of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington that it sent bank transfers to these guys in their account?” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said.
On Iran, Qatar has a different position which is guided by its principles and the geopolitical situation. Even the United Arab Emirates does far more business with Iran than Qatar. “If you go to the Emirates, the official number I think is a few billions, but unofficially it is 10 or 20 billion dollars of exchange between Iran and Emirates in terms of smuggled oil and currency. That’s not been done in Qatar but it’s been done in the Emirates, one of those who are against us now,” the former prime minister said.
“Let me tell you one thing. If we announce that Iran is our enemy, and my only corridor to the outside world – through air, through sea, through land – is Iran because the borders with surrounding Arab countries who are supposed like members of the European Union one with another to be in solidarity with us, should I then commit suicide by not dealing with Iran because the Saudis say I shouldn’t? And also, we have an opinion – Iran did not do any harm to Qatar. We don’t agree with all their policies, definitely. But we cannot fight them when we share the same gas and oil fields,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said.