Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani called
His Majesty KingAbdullah twice in the last week. The emir left no warm words unsaid in order to
express his support for Jordan. His country, Qatar, had already survived an
almost three-year boycott from its neighbors in the Gulf and Egypt. Yet, he
managed to neutralize its effects on the Qatari economy without retaliating
with similar measures.
اضافة اعلان
He did not stop sending gas to the UAE, he kept Egyptian
laborers in Qatar, and he did not deny his airspace to the airplanes coming
from the boycotting countries.
When Jordan played its clever balancing act, which
necessitated demoting its relations with Qatar, their officials responded with
a gentle query. A top Qatari official asked me which is more important to you
Qatar or Bahrain? Why does not King Abdullah pay us a visit like he does to
Bahrain?
I reminded my friend that to us the question is not about
choosing Bahrain over Qatar. The kingdom of Bahrain is more vulnerable to
Iran-related problems in the Arabian Peninsula. Last, but not least, the
question could be rephrased to read: Which is more important to Jordan — Qatar
on one side or Qatar and the UAE?
Now that relations among Arab Gulf states with Qatar have
been normalized as a consequence of the reconciliation effort by Salman Ibn
Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, Jordan can take a sigh of relief.
No Jordanian who remembers the events of 1990-1991 would
ever erase them from ones’ memory. As a result of our reconciliatory position
after the occupation of the Kuwait by Iraq, the Late
King Hussein exerted
momentous efforts to put matters ex-post. Yet all parties directly involved in
the conflict were not in the mood to adhere to but one rule: “If you’re not
with us, you’re against us.”
Once Kuwait intellectuals realized how much destruction and
danger the deterioration of Iraq had brought, they saw in retrospect the wisdom
of the Late King Hussein. Kuwait now follows a prudent policy of
reconciliation, and they are taking a forward-looking view of things. They
believe in hedging more than in reacting. We in Jordan love Kuwaitis despite
the fact that more than 300,000 Jordanians returned to Jordan as a result of
the Gulf War, and predominantly from Kuwait.
The UAE and and the Bahrain were quick to pre-normalize with
Israel. Jordan, which is very keen on resolving Palestinian-Israeli conflict on
the basis of a two state solution as described in the Arab Peace Initiative of
2002, was not pleased with that premature normalization with Israel. Awarding
Netanyahu, who is the main culprit responsible for stalling peace negotiations
and who targets Jordan, is not something that Jordanians would appreciate.
Qatar has revealed its mettle by toning down its media
handling of other Gulf state news. It has also refrained from normalizing with
Israel and kept its support for Jordan.
Both Jordan and Qatar should put their relations on the fast
track. Their relations can work in tandem with other Gulf states and both have
excellent relations with the US administration and Congress. The twining of
these relations create added value needed for the challenges ahead.
Read more opinion
.jpg)
.jpg)
