In the year and a half since the coup in Egypt, Qatar’s leadership has turned a deaf ear to insults from Egyptian officials, media and decision-makers, who are still working hard to come up with more verbal abuse directed at Qatar and its leadership.
They attacked Qatar from all sides, while searching for excuses for the utter failure of their rule.
Under the current regime, Egypt has entered a dark tunnel the like of which the country has not seen in its modern history.
Qatar, its leaders and officials didn’t bother to respond to the ugly insults, which weren’t used by Arabs even during the period of ignorance before the advent of Islam. Qatar is cautious not to be pushed into the dirty swamp that the Egyptian media, with a few exceptions, is living in.
However, it is apparent that patience doesn’t work with the Egyptian regime, which has dared to accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism because it disagreed with Egyptian military intervention in Libya.
Egypt launched air strikes that claimed the lives of innocent victims, including women and children, in the peaceful city of Derna, which was bombarded with rockets at dawn even though it has nothing to do with the execution of 21 Egyptians in Libya, which Qatar denounced.
Derna was neither the site of the execution, nor is it an Islamic State stronglhold, so why target that city, its calm neighbourhoods and innocent inhabitants?
The reason behind the air strikes was simply that Derna is giving a headache to former army general Khalifa Haftar, who is a Sisi ally. The city has resisted Haftar’s troops, who have not been able to enter it.
Moreover, Haftar’s survival was under threat without urgent military intervention, such as the one that created this crisis.
In addition, the Egyptian military intervention in Libya is against the Arab League’s charter, which stipulates that the member states must approve any military action by one member against another.
Qatar is following this charter, which the Egyptian regime has chosen to ignore in order to serve its own interests.
Besides, the Qatari reservation was related to lifting the ban on arms sales to Libya, which is based on the principle of not strengthening one party at the expense of another.
The ban cannot be lifted before a national unity government is established in the country. Only it would have the right to ask for the lifting of this ban on behalf of the Libyan people.
I do not think that Qatar’s reservations insulted the Egyptian regime to such an extent that its leaders accused it of supporting terrorism.
This made Qatar decide to recall its ambassador for consultations.
The recent leak of talks between Sisi and his officials revealed the hidden agenda of that regime, and made it clear that it considers the GCC countries as merely a source of funds.
It is unfortunate that these funds are not meant for the Egyptian people, who really deserve them, since the $40bn transfers have gone into private accounts. Only a small portion is transferred to the Egyptian Central Bank, according to the leak.
Fighting terrorism is not a logical excuse for the Egyptian military intervention in Libya. We should not mix up the necessity of fighting terrorism with the killing and burning of innocent people.
From the beginning the world has rejected Sisi’s proposal for military intervention in Libya, which led the Egyptian foreign minister to rephrase the proposal and omit the items related to military intervention after he saw everyone opposing them during UN Security Council sessions.
Over the past year and a half the Egyptian regime has employed the worst kind of oppression, persecution and prosecution against those opposing it. It has suppressed freedom and unleashed tyranny. It has resorted to the police state strategy in dealing with its opponents.
Arrests and assassinations are on the rise; around 40,000 activists have been imprisoned since the coup, according to civil society organisations. This is, of course, besides the thousands of people killed in various incidents; some were even burned to death.
Qatar’s decision to recall its ambassador for consultations came in reaction to the accusation by the Egyptian regime that Qatar supports terrorism.
This charge was the last straw that pushed Qatar to take this step. The GCC countries backed its decision and all of them condemned Egypt’s allegation.
Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani, the Secretary-General of the GCC, said that the accusation was false and it ignored the sincere efforts of Qatar and other GCC countries in fighting terrorism and supporting Arab initiatives in this regard at the national and international levels. All these efforts are aimed at protecting the interests of the Arab world.
This clearly embodies Gulf unity and solidarity between its countries. Targeting any country means targeting all. These six countries are united against challenges and dangers that face the Gulf.
Even if they have different views on any issue, they stand together during difficult times. The best proof is the invasion that Kuwait was subjected to in 1990, and there are many other such instances one can narrate.
More than once, Qatar has affirmed that it supports people’s choices and is aligned with Arabs’ desire for freedom, dignity and good livelihood. Qatar will always defend this stand.
Doing that, Qatar will continue supporting the will of the Egyptian people and the stability of Egypt, without paying any attention to what the Egyptian regime, its followers, media outlets, and “magicians” are trying to do to provoke international opinion against Qatar and its leading role in supporting the Arab nation and its people.
The Qatari people and leadership will always support Egyptians. We oppose the ruling regime in Egypt now, but we are aligned with the people, who are our brothers. We appreciate their role and contributions to their second homeland, Qatar.
The Qatari leadership refuses to get involved in a clash with this regime, while it works hard to limit its negative impact on the people, who are not to be blamed since they are themselves oppressed by the regime.
A year and half after the overthrow of elected president Mohamed Mursi, the current Egyptian regime is trying to export its long list of internal crises and is unable to solve even the simple problems of the Egyptian citizen.
This failure is despite the support that Egypt has received from Gulf countries. Instead of being thankful, Egypt sees them only as “wealthy funders”.
In Qatar, we are sure about our stand, moving ahead with our plans, sticking to our values, supporting our nation, and backing the Egyptian people; and we will do so forever.
