Qatar has long played the role of mediator in regional conflicts, particularly between Hamas and Israel. It has also mediated between the Taliban and the US. Yet, Qatar has now been directly targeted twice. Days ago, Israel carried out a strike in the heart of Doha, targeting the Hamas negotiating team. Two months earlier, amid its war with Israel, Iran launched missile attacks on the US Al-Udeid Air Base.
The shift from mediator to target has provoked widespread shock and condemnation. Yet amid the madness and criminality unleashed since October 7, reasoned voices persist. They continue to stand against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminality, Hamas’s intransigence, and Iran’s escalating ambitions.
As Hamas and its hardline supporters criticised regional negotiations and normalisation with Israel, the UN General Assembly adopted the ‘New York Declaration’. This declaration emerged from an international conference co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France at the UN in July, aimed at addressing the protracted conflict and providing a roadmap towards a phased ceasefire and a two-state solution.
Netanyahu, however, favours military solutions. With Israel's overwhelming military superiority, war remains his preferred course of action. The price Israel pays is minimal compared with the devastating toll exacted on the Palestinians, and its brazen strike on Doha did not encounter significant domestic opposition. Today, Israel rejects peace, turns its back on diplomacy, and even targets those striving to mediate.
