Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09DOHA23
2009-01-12 13:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Doha
Cable title:  

QATAR COULD SEVER TIES WITH ISRAEL IF PART OF

Tags:  PREL KWBG KPAL QA 
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VZCZCXRO4708
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHDO #0023/01 0121321
ZNY CCCCC ZZH ZFR
P 121321Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8591
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000023 

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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/11/2019
TAGS: PREL KWBG KPAL QA
SUBJECT: QATAR COULD SEVER TIES WITH ISRAEL IF PART OF
JOINT ARAB STANCE

DOHA 00000023 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Ambassador Joseph E. LeBaron, for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

--------------
(C) KEY POINTS
--------------

-- Qatar's Prime Minister told Al Jazeera television January
11 that Qatar would consider severing its relations with
Israel "provided there is a collective Arab decision to cut
ties with Israel."

-- Qatar formally requested January 11 that the Arab League
hold an emergency ministerial meeting to establish a
"unified Arab position on Israel's aggression in Gaza."

-- Israeli Trade Representative to Qatar Roi Rosenblit told
the Ambassador January 12 that Israeli FM Livni and Shaykh
Hamad last spoke by phone January 8. In all the direct
contact between the GOQ and GOI since the Gaza fighting
began, the GOQ never indicated any intention to change its
diplomatic relationship with Israel, he said.

-- Rosenblit expressed surprise that Al Jazeera and Qatar
were leading the region, not following it, in disseminating
excessive language about Gaza.

-- Qatar has hosted the quasi-diplomatic Israeli trade office
since 1996.

-----------
(C) COMMENT
-----------

-- We think it is unlikely that Qatar will actually sever its
overt ties with Israel, for two reasons:

a) The relationship is too useful to Qatar; it helps Qatar
stay in the regional game diplomatically.

b) The condition the Prime Minister set -- "a collective Arab
decision to cut relations with Israel -- is unlikely to
occur.

End Key Points and Comment.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000023

ZFR - ZFR - ZFR - MESSAGE WILL BE RESENT UNDER NEW MRN


SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/11/2019
TAGS: PREL KWBG KPAL QA
SUBJECT: QATAR COULD SEVER TIES WITH ISRAEL IF PART OF
JOINT ARAB STANCE

DOHA 00000023 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Ambassador Joseph E. LeBaron, for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

--------------
(C) KEY POINTS
--------------

-- Qatar's Prime Minister told Al Jazeera television January
11 that Qatar would consider severing its relations with
Israel "provided there is a collective Arab decision to cut
ties with Israel."

-- Qatar formally requested January 11 that the Arab League
hold an emergency ministerial meeting to establish a
"unified Arab position on Israel's aggression in Gaza."

-- Israeli Trade Representative to Qatar Roi Rosenblit told
the Ambassador January 12 that Israeli FM Livni and Shaykh
Hamad last spoke by phone January 8. In all the direct
contact between the GOQ and GOI since the Gaza fighting
began, the GOQ never indicated any intention to change its
diplomatic relationship with Israel, he said.

-- Rosenblit expressed surprise that Al Jazeera and Qatar
were leading the region, not following it, in disseminating
excessive language about Gaza.

-- Qatar has hosted the quasi-diplomatic Israeli trade office
since 1996.

--------------
(C) COMMENT
--------------

-- We think it is unlikely that Qatar will actually sever its
overt ties with Israel, for two reasons:

a) The relationship is too useful to Qatar; it helps Qatar
stay in the regional game diplomatically.

b) The condition the Prime Minister set -- "a collective Arab
decision to cut relations with Israel -- is unlikely to
occur.

End Key Points and Comment.


1. (SBU) Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani,
acknowledging the pressure Qatar faces to close Israel's
trade office in Doha, said in a press interview on Al Jazeera
television's Arabic service January 11 that Qatar would
consider severing its relations with Israel, if "there is a
collective Arab decision to cut relations with Israel."
Hinting at Arab hypocrisy (Note: Egypt, Jordan and
Mauritania, unlike Qatar, maintain ambassadorial-level
diplomatic relations with Israel.)


2. (SBU) The Prime Minister stressed that Qatar alone should
not "make a sacrifice" while other Arab countries continue to

deal with Israel. "Any decision to cut relations with Israel
should have a clear credibility from all (Arab states)." The
PM added that he was not saying that Arab countries having
signed peace treaties with Israel (Note: Egypt and Jordan)
should sever ties, only that Qatar was "prepared to join a
collective Arab decision."


3. (C) Israeli Trade Representative to Qatar Roi Rosenblit
told the Ambassador January 12 that Israeli Foreign Minister
Livni and Prime Minister Hamad last spoke by phone January 8.
In all the bilateral contact since the fighting began, the
GOQ has never indicated any intention to change its
relationship with Israel, according to Rosenblit.
Acknowledging that he may be too optimistic, Rosenblit told
the Ambassador he saw nothing in the Qatari PM's Al Jazeera
interview to cause him concern, underscoring that the PM
merely responded to a journalist's question.

4. (C) Rosenblit expressed surprise that Al Jazeera and Qatar
were leading the region, not following it, in disseminating
excessive language about Gaza. In the end, though, he
emphasized that Oman closed Israel's trade office once in the
past; Qatar never did. Then again, he added, Al Jazeera was
not the potent media force during the Intifada that it is now.


5. (U) Against the backdrop of Qatar's call, also on January
11, for an emergency Arab League ministerial meeting to "seek
ways to respond to the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip,"
the PM underscored on Al Jazeera "a need for a unified Arab
stance on the Israeli aggression in Gaza" and added that
"Arab leaders should represent the opinions of their peoples
if they want stability."


6. (SBU) The MFA confirmed January 12 that Qatar requested
the Arab League ministerial. As of this writing, the
official MFA statement and the transcript of Shaykh Hamad's

DOHA 00000023 002 OF 002


above interview had not been posted to MFA's web site.


7. (SBU) The last time the GOQ considered breaking off ties
with Israel was when it announced in November 2000 the
closure of the Israeli trade office. Qatar was scheduled to
host the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference
(OIC) on November 12 of that year and take over the
presidency of the OIC immediately after the summit. Against
the backdrop of violence in the Palestinian territories at
the time following then-Israeli PM Sharon's visit to Al-Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem, Iran and Saudi Arabia had threatened to
boycott the gathering if Qatar did not close the Israeli
trade office, which first opened in 1996.


8. (SBU) Qatar announced a one-time closure of the Israeli
trade office on November 9, 2000 in order to keep the OIC
Summit meeting in Doha on track. The trade office, however,
never effectively closed. In fact, Israeli personnel
remained in Qatar, keeping a low profile, until normal
operations of the office resumed.
LeBaron