The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani speaking at the Doha Forum at the Ritz- Carlton yesterday.
DOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said yesterday that the Arab revolutions have put Israel in direct confrontation with the Arab masses who have been seeking a just solution to the Palestinian issue.
Opening the 13th Doha Forum and Enriching the Middle East’s Economic Future Conference at the Ritz-Carlton yesterday, the Emir stressed that poverty, unemployment, absence of decent means of living and violation of human rights were the driving forces behind the unfolding Arab revolutions.
“We have heard in the past that reform has to be put aside until a peaceful settlement is reached with Israel, but everyone should realise that such thinking is no longer tenable after the Arab Spring revolutions, which were necessitated by the propensity towards reform and pursuit to implement the ensuing outcomes, and that could not be achieved unless it is coupled with the quest to find a peaceful settlement for the Palestinian cause and the Middle East conflict,” said the Emir.
“The reason for this is that the Arab Spring revolutions have set Israel in a direct confrontation today with the Arab peoples and not only with their rulers. Those peoples would no more accept negotiations or the political process as an end in itself, and consequently there must be a serious effort to achieve just peace as the main objective and goal of the peace process,” he added.
The opening session was also attended by the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Chairman of the Qatar Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, senior diplomats and other dignitaries.
“We must not forget that the prevalence of poverty, unemployment, absence of decent means of living and violation of human rights under the reign of autocratic, repressive and corrupt regimes were the driving forces behind the unfolding of Arab revolutions that have been targetting popular participation in the political and economic decision-making,” said the Emir.
Achieving this goal requires beginning with developing the institutions that guarantee the scale of this participation, which cannot succeed unless coupled with plans to disseminate democratic awareness, and an active effort in the sustainable development considered as an inseparable face of the process of comprehensive reform based on a modern educational system, thus we ensure the practice of respecting others’ opinions to achieve a social interaction based on dialogue rather than violence, he added.
The Emir said he felt sorrow and grief to see the Syrian people’s revolution entering its third year without a clear prospect to stop the bloody conflict.
“It is no longer acceptable from the powerful countries in the international community not to act to put an end to this terrible tragedy and the worsening humanitarian disaster, while at the same time they want to determine the identity of those who defend the Syrian people under various pretexts. Sadly, this happens after the failure of all Arab and international initiatives to push the Syrian regime to listen to the voice of reason,” said the Emir.
The Prime Minister, in his welcome address, stressed that the Doha Forum has proved its usefulness after a modest beginning and expanded its theme becoming a platform to discuss everything pertaining to democracy and free trade. “The Forum has important axes which had its significance if we took into account what is happening on the global arena in the political, economic and social fields and the resulting significant impacts on the Arab world, especially the countries that witnessed the Arab Spring and entered into the institutional reform process,” said the Prime Minister.
The Peninsula
