Qatar suspends role as mediator has suspended its role as a mediator in ceasefire and prisoner release talks between Israel and Hamas, officials said.
The country said it would resume its work when Hamas and Israel showed a “willingness” to negotiate. Storie News
Israel
It comes after senior US officials said Washington would no longer accept Hamas representatives in Qatar, accusing the Palestinian group of rejecting new proposals to end the war in Gaza.
Qatar said initial reports that it had pulled out of the mediation talks and that Hamas’s political bureau in Doha “no longer serves its purpose” were “inaccurate.”
“Qatar informed both sides 10 days ago during the latest attempts to reach an agreement that it would halt its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel if no agreement was reached in that round,” the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Qatar will resume these efforts… when the parties demonstrate their willingness and seriousness to end this brutal war,” it added.
Hamas has had a base in the Qatari capital since 2012, reportedly at the request of the Obama administration.
Several news agencies reported on Saturday that Qatar had agreed with the United States to demand that Hamas close its political office in Doha because of its “refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith.”
But the foreign ministry called the reports “inaccurate,” and Hamas officials denied the allegations.
The small but influential Gulf state is a key US ally in the region. It hosts a major US air base and has handled several sensitive political negotiations, including with Iran, the Taliban and Russia.
Along with the United States and Egypt, the Qataris have also played a key role in the so-far unsuccessful rounds of talks to broker a ceasefire in the year-long war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
But there is growing evidence of a shift in the relationship.
Following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Hamas held a two-hour mourning tent in Doha in a small hall, in stark contrast to the recent three-day mourning for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which was held under official state supervision and security.
The last round of talks in mid-October failed to reach an agreement, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal. The movement has consistently called for a complete end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Hamas
“Media reports about the presence of a Hamas office in Doha are inaccurate,” the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The main purpose of the office in Qatar is to serve as a channel of communication… [which] has contributed to reaching ceasefires at previous stages.”
Hamas Israel has also been accused of rejecting the deals. Days after his firing earlier this week, former Defense Minister Yoav Galant accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of rejecting a peace deal against the advice of his security chiefs.
The call to expel Hamas from Qatar appears to be an attempt by the outgoing Biden administration to force some sort of peace deal before the end of his term in January.
If Hamas is forced to leave Doha, it is unclear where it might set up its political office. Its main ally Iran could be an option, though the assassination of former leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July suggests that Hamas could be vulnerable to Israel if it set up an office there. It would also give it nothing close to diplomatic channels with the West.
The most likely option is Turkey. As a NATO member but also a Sunni-majority country, it would provide the group with a base from which to operate in relative safety. In April, President Erdogan hosted then-Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and his delegation in Istanbul, where they discussed “what needs to be done to ensure adequate and continuous humanitarian access to Gaza and a just and lasting peace process in the region.”
Qatar suspends role as mediator
The move would also likely be welcomed by Ankara, which has often sought to position itself as a mediator between East and West.
Prominent Hamas figures such as Osama Hamdan, Taher al-Nunu and others whose names frequently appear in the media have been in Istanbul for more than a month.
Their extended stay in Turkey marks a departure from previous visits, which were usually limited to short stays.
The personal safety of Hamas’s leadership is now believed to be a major concern for the movement, which has seen two of its leaders killed in less than four months. In addition to killing Haniyeh in July, Israel killed Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, in October.
Qatar suspends role as mediator
According to the European Council on Foreign Relations, “Hamas has adopted a temporary model of collective leadership to mitigate the impact of future Israeli assassinations.”
HA Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told the BBC that nowhere “will they be protected from Israeli assassination attempts in the same way that they were in Doha, home to the largest US military base in the region.”
The latest move comes at a time when US officials appear increasingly frustrated with the Israeli government’s approach to ending the war. In October, the US secretaries of state and defence said they would face unspecified political “consequences” if Israel did not allow more humanitarian aid into the Strip by November 12.
Last weekend, a number of UN officials warned that the situation in northern Gaza was “catastrophic.” On Saturday, the independent Famine Review Panel said there was a “strong possibility that famine is imminent in some areas.”
The relationship between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu has deteriorated over the course of the war in Gaza, with pressure mounting from Washington to improve the humanitarian situation for the Palestinians and find some kind of negotiated settlement.