Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani in discussion with Tucker Carlson at the Doha Forum yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has affirmed that while Doha remains unwavering in its commitment to support the Palestinian people and ease their suffering and Qatar’s support is to the people of Gaza, not to Hamas.
He criticised the international community’s double standards on post-conflict accountability, stressing that Qatar’s role is to stand with the Palestinians. In a live one-on-one discussion with Tucker Carlson, Founder of the Tucker Carlson Network, at the Doha Forum yesterday, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered these remarks.
“There is an ironic situation when you look at two conflicts happening at the same time,” he said, noting that many argue Russia should fund Ukraine’s reconstruction and have its assets seized for that purpose.
“But when you say that Israel has the responsibility to rebuild what it has destroyed, they will tell you no, that as a region you have the responsibility to do so. It’s really a very ironic double standard,” he added
“From our side, as a state of Qatar, we will continue supporting the Palestinian people. We will do whatever to elevate their suffering. But we are not the ones who are going to write the cheque to rebuild what others destroyed. That’s basically our position. But also, we will not let the Palestinian people at dry if they are not helped or they are not funded,” said the Prime Minister.
Speaking about the situation in Gaza, the Prime Minister noted that the current conditions are unsustainable. “Now, the issue is that if the Israeli forces remain there, if the violations continue happening in Gaza, this conflict can escalate again, and that’s what all of us want to avoid,” said the Prime Minister.
He suggested that the best plan is to apply what’s already been agreed in the plan that was launched under President Trump, and the countries in the region have supported to rebuild Gaza for the Gazans to remain there, but also find a political solution for the bigger issue, because if you keep the Palestinian issue unresolved, things will escalate again and again.
“We cannot build a house without building the foundation of that house, and the foundation of that house that the Palestinian people to get their rights for their state, and they have the right to stay in their own land,” said the Prime Minister.
He said, “With the current configuration in Israel and what we are seeing in the political landscape there in the Knesset, and all those resolutions that they are passing against the two-state solution, it is just setting us apart from this path, which is unfortunate to see that there is no enforcement to push them that this is the only path forward to have a two-state solution.”
“We cannot remain hostage to the far right and the extremist agenda to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians or to kick them out of their lands. And we are looking for two countries, two people living side by side peacefully and being part of the region. And that’s what the entire region is aspiring for,” said the Prime Minister.
On Qatar’s engagement with Hamas, the Prime Minister emphasised that communication with the group began more than a decade ago at the request of the United States.
He added that it was 19 years ago when they (Hamas) first participated in an election (in Palestine) and then when they moved their office, back in 2012, here (in Doha) to be used only for communication, like facilitating ceasefires.
He added, “Sometimes they are state actors, sometimes they are non-state actors. If you have no one speaking to those non-state actors, how are we going to resolve this or reach a solution at the end of the day?” “Now we have seen that this communication has led to ceasefires, release of the hostages, and elevating the suffering of the people over there,” said the Prime Minister.
Unfortunately, he said, some politicians are trying to use this to score short-term political gains to fuel their narratives in order to blame other countries for what’s happening over there or for their wrong policies.
“All our aid and all our support and financing that went and what they claimed that it went to Hamas went to the Gazans, and it was under a very transparent process that the United States is fully aware that Israel is the one who’s facilitating, and it’s not one government; it was across governments. All of them were involved in these aids and the delivery of those aids,” said the Prime Minister. He said that the claims Qatar’s financing of Hamas has no basis.
“If you just go to Qatar records within its engagement with the United States for the last 20 years or 30 years, Qatar has never gone to United States and encouraged them to bomb this country or to support this group or to that group.”
“We’ve always been in our dialogues with the United States about how we de-escalate the region, bring peace to the region, and this peace cannot happen without an engagement with everyone in the region,” said the Prime Minister.
To a question about the Israeli attack on Qatar, he said that the concept of mediation is like a safe place for the conflicting parties to achieve a deal to end wars and to end conflicts. “To have the mediator being bombed by one of the parties of the conflict has been unprecedented.”
“It’s not only an unethical move but also just throwing everything against the wall - the international law and the respect of the sovereignty of any other country,” said the Prime Minister.
