The Wall Street Journal reported on January 4 that senior Trump administration officials said on Monday (January 4) that Qatar and Saudi Arabia and their allies are expected to sign an agreement on Tuesday to end the long-standing feud. Prolonged discord has split the Middle East and hindered US efforts to isolate Iran.
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White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner helped bring the standoff to an end in the past few weeks. He received a rare invitation to the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday. Fly to Saudi Arabia for the signing ceremony, where leaders are expected to take the first important step to end the dispute. Z1z
US officials said that according to the agreement, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt are expected to officially end the blockade of Qatar. The blockade began in June 2017, when these countries accused Qatari leaders of supporting terrorism and ally with Iran.
A senior Trump administration official said, “This is the biggest breakthrough we have made so far,” “It doesn’t mean they will love each other and become best friends, but it does mean that they can be together Work." On Monday, Kuwait, the mediator in the dispute, announced that Saudi Arabia will officially open its airspace to Qatar aircraft for the first time since 2017. Z1z
U.S. and Saudi officials said they have reached a compromise to allow Qatar to fly over the Gulf country again on condition that Qatar Airways abandons a series of legal challenges to these four countries. These four countries require the United States to provide US$5 billion (approximately RMB 33 billion) in compensation for the banned airspace.
But the agreement will not resolve the fundamental differences that led to the dispute, and some Gulf officials have therefore hinted that the agreement can only cover up issues that will soon recur. One of the main sticking points of
is that in the ongoing media war between the two countries, government-backed news organizations often target competitors with negative reports.
Another senior official of the Trump administration said, “Is this perfect? No.” “In the end, I think this shows that the two parties are now ending this matter, rather than letting it continue after the Trump administration. It’s more beneficial.” At first, Trump enthusiastically supported this Middle Eastern country in cutting off relations with Qatar, although Qatar is the location of the largest U.S. military base in the region, which was used to attack the Islamic State armed forces and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan launched air strikes.
Saudi Arabia and its allies made 13 requests to Qatar, including shutting down the government-supported Al Jazeera TV satellite news network, cutting off ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, and cutting off its military cooperation with Iran. Qatar rejected these demands and managed to mitigate the damage caused by the dispute.
The Trump administration quickly changed its course and has been trying to bring this dispute to an end for years, but without success. In the past year, negotiations have mainly focused on resolving airspace disputes.
In order to circumvent the ban on flying over Saudi Arabia, Qatar has changed some of its routes over Iran to provide Tehran (Iran) with a new source of funding to use its airspace. At the same time, the United States is working to prevent the flow of funds to the Iranian government. . Trump urged Saudi Arabia to make concessions on this issue, but Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) is unwilling to make concessions on the main dispute with Qatar. Z1z
criticized media reports that angered the leaders of hostile capitals, thereby exacerbating the discord between the two sides. In the autumn of 2019, Qatar's foreign minister flew to Riyadh secretly to propose a new agreement to end the dispute. Leaders in the Gulf region said that Qatar agreed to restrict Al Jazeera’s coverage, but the station was still broadcasting programs that angered the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. According to US officials, at the end of last year, leaders of Gulf countries contacted Kushner and asked him for help. Kushner has established a close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In addition, he also has a business relationship in Qatar. The Kushner family tried to obtain key funds in Qatar to help the financially troubled Manhattan real estate project get out of trouble, but failed. Z1z
US officials said that Saudi Arabia has a new motivation to end the dispute: the president-elect pays homage to the government's upcoming administration. Biden vowed to take a tougher attitude towards Saudi Arabia than Trump. When the leader of Riyadh was accused of detaining human rights activists and killing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump stoodOn their side.
Last month, when Kushner was trying to end the dispute, the Trump administration approved the sale of weapons worth more than US$760 million (approximately RMB 5.01 billion) to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Egypt also approved the sale of weapons worth more than 100 million US dollars (about 660 million yuan) weapons, and Egypt has blocked the agreement reached by the United States mediation. Z1z
US officials said that the arms sales have nothing to do with the agreement signed on Tuesday.
Qatar has its own motivation to reach an agreement to end airspace restrictions: this small Gulf country is preparing to host the 2022 World Cup.
(Canada and the US Finance)
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, reconciliation
Author: Hailey
Zebian: carrie
