Gaza Diplomacy Cements Qatar’s Global Mediator Role
DOHA, Qatar—Qatar’s diplomacy in the Gaza war, including help in arranging a temporary cease-fire and hostage-release deal that took effect Friday, cements the ultrarich Muslim nation as Washington’s preferred interlocutor with extremist groups and pariah states—in the Middle East and increasingly around the world. It is an improbable role that began to take shape some 30 years ago as the small Persian Gulf monarchy sought to secure itself in the midst of bigger neighbors by resolving regional disputes while winning the trust and gratitude of the U.S. and other Western governments.
It has also hosted a major U.S. military base for two decades and purchased billions of dollars in arms from the U.S. and Europe.
The approach carries great peril, as Qatar’s willingness to talk to extremist groups has left it open to allegations from its neighbors and others that it supports terrorism, which it denies. The past seven weeks of painstaking mediation, which Qatar launched hours after Hamas’s cross-border attack against Israel on Oct. 7, have again laid bare those tensions.
Some U.S. lawmakers and former senior officials lambasted Qatar as a key Hamas backer, even as the Biden administration was pressing it to help secure the release of hundreds of abducted civilians and soldiers, including several American citizens. Qatar opened a channel with Hamas leaders more than a decade ago, a step Qatari officials say came at the U.S.’s request.
Qatar later allowed the group to open an office in Doha and provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for Gaza. Many in Israel are suspicious of Qatar’s relationship with the militants and fear it could thwart attempts to destroy the group. Qatari officials said they have become used to
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