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Qatar is a key financial supporter of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas. Qatar has transferred more than $1.8 billion to Hamas. [1] [2] According to a Qatari official interviewed by Der Spiegel, $30 million were transferred monthly to Hamas in consultation with the U.S. and Israeli governments. [3] In 2011, the U.S. requested that Qatar provide a base for the Hamas leadership to ease communications with the group. [3] From 2012, Qatar hosted the Hamas party leadership when Hamas head Khaled Meshal relocated from Syria to Qatar. [4] The current head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has resided in Doha since 2016. [5] Qatar has been called Hamas' most important financial backer and foreign ally. [6] [7] From 2018 to 2023, Israel's government enabled and approved of the Qatari support for Hamas for political reasons. [8]
In 2007, Qatar was, with Turkey, the only country to back Hamas after the group ousted the Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip. [4] The relationship between Hamas and Qatar strengthened in 2008 and 2009 when Khaled Meshaal was invited to attend the Doha Summit where he was seated next to the then Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who pledged $250 million to repair the damage caused by Israel in the Israeli war on Gaza. [9] These events caused Qatar to become the main player in the "Palestinian issue". Qatar called Gaza's blockade unjust and immoral, which prompted the Hamas government in Gaza, including former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, to thank Qatar for their "unconditional" support. Qatar then began regularly handing out political, material, humanitarian and charitable support for Hamas. [9]
In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama personally requested that Qatar provide a base for the Hamas leadership. At the time, the U.S. were seeking to establish communications with Hamas and believed that a Hamas office in Qatar would be easier to access than a Hamas bureau in Iran, die group's main backer. [10]
In 2012, Qatar's former Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, became the first head of state to visit Gaza under Hamas rule. He pledged to raise $400 million for reconstruction. [11] Sources say that advocating for Hamas is politically beneficial to Turkey and Qatar because the Palestinian cause draws popular support amongst their citizens at home. [12]
Speaking in reference to Qatar's support for Hamas, during a 2015 visit to Palestine, Qatari official Mohammad al-Emadi, said Qatar is using the money not to help Hamas but rather the Palestinian people as a whole. He acknowledges however that giving to the Palestinian people means using Hamas as the local contact. Emadi said, "You have to support them. You don't like them, don't like them. But they control the country, you know." [13] Some argue that Hamas's relations with Qatar are putting Hamas in an awkward position because Qatar has become part of the regional Arab problem.
In a controversial deal, Israel's government under Benjamin Netanyahu supported Qatar's payments to Hamas for many years, in the hope that it would turn Hamas into an effective counterweight to the Palestinian Authority and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. [8]
Following the Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and the outbreak of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Qatar's hosting of the Hamas political office in Doha has come under greater scrutiny. Speaking to the media in Doha alongside Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said "there can be no more business as usual with Hamas." [14] [15] [16]
The political system of Qatar runs under an authoritarian semi-constitutional monarchy with the emir as head of state and chief executive, and the prime minister as the head of government. Under the Constitution of Qatar, the partially-elected Consultative Assembly has a limited ability to reject legislation and dismiss ministers. The 2nd general election was held in 2021; political parties are banned and all candidates had to run as independents.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Hamad bin Abdullah bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani is a member of the ruling Al Thani Qatari royal family. He was the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 until 2013 when he abdicated the throne, handing power to his fourth son Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani who was born to his second spouse, Moza bint Nassir. The Qatari government refers to him as the Father Emir.
Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned is one of the three consorts of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the former Emir of the State of Qatar and mother of the current Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. She is the co-founder and chair of the Qatar Foundation, the largest state-owned NPO in the country.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is Emir of Qatar, reigning since 2013.
Qatar and the United States are strategic allies. Qatar has been designated a major non-NATO ally by the United States.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani, who was also known informally by his initials HBJ, is a Qatari politician. He was the Prime Minister of Qatar from 3 April 2007 to 26 June 2013, and foreign minister from 11 January 1992 to 26 June 2013.
Qatar established unofficial trade relations with the State of Israel in 1996, the first amongst all nations of the Arabian Peninsula after Oman reportedly did, concurrently with Israel–Jordan peace treaty. Until 2009, Qatar and Israel maintained trade relations, but due to Operation Cast Lead, Qatar broke the trade with Israel.
The Fatah–Hamas Doha Agreement was a reconciliation attempt between Fatah and Hamas, signed on 7 February 2012. The parties agreed to form an interim national consensus government composed of independent technocrats, to prepare for upcoming elections. It would be led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The envisioned government did not materialize.
The governance of the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 has been carried out by Hamas. The Hamas government in Gaza was led by Ismail Haniyeh from 2007 until February 2017, when Haniyeh was replaced as leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip by Yahya Sinwar. As of November 2023, Yahya Sinwar continues to be the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Due to the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, Hamas lost control of most of the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Ismail Haniyeh is a Palestinian politician who is seen as the overall political leader of Hamas, the de facto ruling entity of the Gaza Strip. He is the current chairman of Hamas’s political bureau; as of 2023, Haniyeh lives in Qatar.
Qatar has been accused of allowing terror financiers to operate within its borders, which has been one of the justifications for the Qatar diplomatic crisis that started in 2017 and ended in 2021. In 2014, David S. Cohen, then United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, accused Qatari authorities of allowing financiers who were on international blacklists to live freely in the country: "There are U.S.- and UN-designated terrorist financiers in Qatar that have not been acted against under Qatari law." Accusations come from a wide variety of sources including intelligence reports, government officials, and journalists.
France–Qatar relations are the bilateral relations between France and the Qatar. The first embassy to be established was the Qatari embassy in France in 1972, and the first bilateral agreement was signed in 1974. Qatar has marked various concurrences with France, covering all areas such as cultural, political, economical, academic, scientific and military agreements. The nations are tied in a key discourse protocol, where conversation over various issues of significance to the two capitals are occurring consistently.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani is a Qatari diplomat, economist, and politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Qatar since 7 March 2023 and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2016. He has also been serving as Chairman of the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) since 2014, and is a member of Qatar's Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investments (SCEAI) since 2014.
Italy–Qatar relations are the bilateral relations between Italy and Qatar. Italy has an embassy in Doha and Qatar has an embassy in Rome.
China – Qatar relations are the bilateral relations between the People's Republic of China and the State of Qatar. China has an embassy in Doha, while Qatar has an embassy in Beijing. With diplomatic relations first formed in 1988, Qatar is a strategic ally of China, and the two countries maintain a strong relationship.
Jordan – Qatar relations are the bilateral relations between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Qatar. Diplomatic relations were established in 1972. Jordan has an embassy in Doha. Qatar also has an embassy in Amman.
Events in the year 2023 in Qatar.
Hamas, the entity who as of 2023 had been the governing authority of the Gaza Strip, has foreign relations that spans various countries around the world. As of 2023, Mousa Abu Marzook is the group's head of international relations office.
Palestine–Qatar relations refer to foreign relations between Qatar and the State of Palestine. The State of Palestine has an embassy in Doha, Qatar. Munir Abdullah Ghannam is the ambassador of Palestine to Qatar. Mohamed Al-Emadi is the ambassador of Qatar to Palestine.
Qatar has been acting as a third-party mediator in various conflict since the 1990s. Qatar has mediated negotiations between the US and the Taliban, the signing of several peace deals for Lebanon, Yemen, Darfur, and Gaza, and hosted political offices for groups like Hamas in Doha. In addition, Qatar operated as a key mediator in various international hostage crises, leveraging its unique geopolitical standing and relationships with a wide array of actors, including both state and non-state entities.