OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel and
Qatar, which
have no diplomatic relations, have discussed opening a temporary Israeli office
in the Gulf state during the World Cup, an Israeli official told AFP Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
Israel has not qualified for the tournament which
begins in November, but has announced a deal that will allow its citizens, like
other foreigners, to obtain a Qatari entry visa with proof of ticket purchase.
“There was contact between Israeli and Qatari
officials,” an Israeli diplomatic official said, confirming the discussions had
centered on opening a “temporary” office for Israeli fans attending the
World Cup.
“They shouldn’t be classified as diplomatic talks.
As of now, no agreement has been reached,” added the official who requested
anonymity.
Qatar does not recognize Israel and supports Hamas.
Israel, which maintains a blockade on Gaza, engaged
with Doha to grant permissions for the distribution of Qatari aid in the
Palestinian coastal enclave, but details on such contacts are rarely publicly
confirmed.
Israel has since September 2020 normalized relations
with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.
In January 2021,
Sudan’s transitional government also agreed to do the same but the northeast
African country has yet to finalize the deal.
Those agreements, sponsored by then US president
Donald Trump, broke with decades of Arab consensus that ties should only be
established with Israel in the event of a peace agreement that gives the
Palestinians their own state.
Qatar has been critical of the US-brokered
agreements called the Abraham Accords.
Tensions between Israel and Qatar surged following
the May killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering
an army raid in the occupied West Bank.
The Doha-based network and the Qatari state both
accused Israeli of deliberately targeting Abu Akleh.
The Israeli army has conceded that one of its troops
had likely shot her, but said the soldier had mistaken her for a militant.
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