Munich: Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah said yesterday that Qatar was the first Arab country that proposed a resolution to the Syrian crisis and maintained that the failure of the Middle East peace process remains the biggest challenge.
He said Qatar was also the first to deal with international players who would negotiate a peaceful solution with Bashar Al Assad, but a breakthrough was still awaited.
Dr Al Attiyah was participating in a seminar ‘Is This the End of the Middle East?’.
He said the change the Arab Spring brought about means that the international community will no longer have to deal with dictators. Instead, he said, the international community now has to deal with the will of the people.
The Minister said temporary stability in the region is not the answer. He said problems in the Middle East began with the occupation of Iraq, with sectarian violence still plaguing the country.
Dr Al Attiyah then addressed the issue of extremist groups in the Middle East and said the problem has to be eliminated.
He said the problem was that Sunni groups that defeated Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2007 were targeted by former Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al Malki.
On the international coalition formed to fight in Syria and Iraq, he said GCC members backed efforts of the coalition in Syria but it lacked a clear strategy to deal with Iraq.
On Libya, he said members of the old regime were trying to regain control of the country while others in the country were looking to protect their revolution. Qatar is looking to resolve the crisis through negotiations, he added.
On the Palestinian issue, he stressed that Israel’s only option is to hold dialogue with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas.
He said Israel had waged three fierce wars against Hamas but was never able to wipe off Hamas and will never resolve the crisis.
To a question about accusations by Israel’s Minister of Strategic and Intelligence Affairs for International Relations Yuval Steinitz about support to Hamas to launch attacks on Israel, he said Hamas was not a terrorist group but a political and social representation and plays a role of resistance to Israeli occupation.
Dr Al Attiyah said Hamas would not fight Israel if the latter would end its occupation and that Qatar does not support any terrorist groups.
He said there were more than 1.5 billion Muslims in the world but mocking Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) went beyond the freedom of expression. He condemned recent acts of violence in Europe. QNA
