By Yaseen Kippie

The reasons behind the severance of ties between a number of Arab states with Qatar are somewhat complex, but what we do know is that this will have a major impact on the future of power in the Middle East. More than six countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Yemen have cut ties with Qatar over alleged lack of opposition to Iran, the main opposition to Saudi Arabia for hegemony in the region.

Afro-Middle East Centre executive director Na’eem Jeenah spoke to VOC about the reasons leading up to this collective decision by the Arab countries against Qatar.

“This has been ongoing since the beginning of the uprising in North Africa in 2010/2011. Qatar took a position supporting the uprising, especially through the support of certain organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood. The Egyptian military found this unacceptable, and in 2014 there were cutting of ties in some regards between Egypt and Qatar, but was resumed shortly thereafter. In the current one, it is much more severe, meaning the ending of trade, diplomatic relations and travel links, which affects the airlines.”

The severance of ties comes after the President of United States Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia to talk about Arab-Islamic and American relations last month.

“Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been emboldened by the recent visit and speech by Donald Trump in Riyadh. They’re now using that against Qatar, due to Qatar’s not-so-committed opposition to Iran as Saudi Arabia would like. What angered them more was when the Qatari Emir contacted Hassan Rouhani to congratulate him for his win in the recent Iranian elections.”

There were a number of hackings that purportedly showed Qatar’s links to Iran, prompting the Gulf countries to accuse Qatar as supportive of alleged terrorists from Iran, mentioning Hezbollah as well Hamas in Palestine as part of that.

With Trump’s strong sentiments of labelling Iran as the common enemy, the UAE ambassador in Washington has demonize Qatar and has urged the US government to downgrade their relations with the estranged country. At the same time, the UAE is more inclined towards opposing Qatar’s ties with the Muslim brotherhood and other groups on the US list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Jeenah’s analysis points to the obviousness of this move.

“All of this has come to where we are now. This is not something sudden; it has been in planning behind the scenes. The UAE lobbyists have been working with a Zionist think tank in the United States. They want to reduce Qatar’s status both in the Middle East and the rest of the world.”

Latest developments: What we know so far

1. The UAE has given Qatar’s diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi 48 hours to leave the country after what it said where “Doha’s several policies which destabilizes the security and stability of the region and manipulates commitments”.
2. The UAE informed Qatari citizens they had 14 days to leave the UAE. Citizens from Qatar have also been banned from passing through the UAE.
3. Emiratis are now banned from visiting or even passing by Qatar at all means.
4. The Saudi state news agency SPA said Riyadh had closed its borders, severing land, sea and air contact with Qatar and largely isolating it. It cited officials as saying it was to “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism”.
5. Etihad Airways said it would suspend all flights to and from Doha from 02:45 local time on Tuesday
6. Bahrain’s state news agency said the country was cutting ties with Qatar because Doha was “shaking the security and stability of Bahrain and meddling in its affairs”.
7. Saudi Arabia said Qatari troops would be pulled from the ongoing Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Al Houthi militia in Yemen. [Source: Gulf News]

How does this practically affect Qatar’s relations with the rest of the world?

This can be seen clearest in the form of Qatar Airways. As the announcement of the severing of ties took place, a parallel call came for all diplomats from the countries involved to return home from Qatar as well as the pulling out of airlines from the Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar.

This has left a number of ordinary flyers stranded, including those travelling to Saudi Arabia via Qatar to perform the Umrah, including some South Africans. Efforts are being made to continue their journey.

With all the hysteria surrounding the Qatar row, Qatar Airways says that the airline’s travel routes between Qatar and the countries mentioned will only be from between the 5^th June until the 6^th July. VOC