Political analyst Marwa Osman says that Saudi Arabia, which has played a greater role than Qatar in spreading the ideology that terrorism feeds upon, is accusing Doha of harboring terrorism.
She said Saudi Arabia and its regional allies are trying to pinpoint Qatar for being the sole terrorist harboring nation in the Middle East, while according to the political analyst the reality is different.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the UAE, and Yemen have severed diplomatic ties with Qatar while Saudi Arabia and Bahrain also closed their borders with the country. The five Arab nations accuse Doha of supporting terrorism and interfering in the internal affairs of Arab states.
RT asked Middle East analyst, Marwa Osman what is behind these accusations and why are they surfacing now.
“They started surfacing, to begin with, in 2011… But I think people who are harboring terrorism are now accusing other people who are also harboring terrorism of harboring terrorism. That should be a punch line of a very serious joke, but it is not. It is very risky, challenging for the entire region," Marwa Osman replied.
"We started feeling the heat between Qatar and Saudi Arabia three months ago when the affiliates that are being funded by both states started bickering and fighting each other in Syria. That was the first mark that started a war of words between them which concluded in what happened today. But they surfaced at the beginning of the so-called Arab uprisings, and Arab Spring in 2011, that had a historical background. It did show that they challenged one another since the 2011 uprisings to take control of the MENA region, who funds which group in which state starting from Tunisia ending up in Syria passing through Libya, obviously. But it all started in the 1950’s."
"The main bickering of Saudi Arabia and Qatar started with the Saudi support for the Muslim Brotherhood and started from the (Persian) Gulf War being enemies,” Osman said in an interview with Russia's RT television network.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly been accused of sponsoring terrorism alongside Qatar. WikiLeaks leaked Clinton's 2014 email where she says both Qatar and Saudi Arabia support ISIL. RT asked Osman whether this current dispute is a bid to shift the focus to Doha.
“Yes, but to back this with more evidence, you could look at the terrorism report that was banned from being released in the UK just yesterday because it spoke directly against Saudi Arabia and pinpointed Saudi Arabia to be a funding and supporting force for terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere. That is one piece of the evidence. Yes, they are trying to pinpoint Qatar for being the sole terrorist harboring nation in the Middle East, but that is not true,” she concluded.
(FNA)
