Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaking in a session organised by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Doha, Qatar: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said that the efforts are intensifying to ensure the ceasefire holds and to move toward the next critical phase which is rebuilding trust, reconstructing Gaza, and establishing a viable political horizon for the Palestinian people.
“We’ve been engaging in a very intensive way with both parties to ensure that the ceasefire holds. And the US engagement, of course, was key in that,” said the Prime Minister.
He was speaking in a session on “Qatar’s regional and international role and joint mediation efforts to end the war in the Gaza Strip”, organised by the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Prime Minister said: “What happened yesterday (on Tuesday), the attack on the Israeli soldiers, that’s basically a violation by the Palestinian party. Now, Hamas has put out a statement that they are not, like, in communication with this group. We don’t know yet. We didn’t have any verification of whether this is true or not.”
“We remained focused on making sure that the ceasefire holds. And also, we heard some discussions about Hamas is trying to delay the handing over bodies. We made it very clear for them that this is part of the commitment that we need to fulfill.”
“From our perspective since October 7th until today, if you look throughout the process, we went through a lot of challenges, a lot of obstacles, and it wasn’t an easy road. It was a very bumpy road.”
The Prime Minister said: “We tried our best to navigate and to make sure that we achieved the first one - the first ceasefire, the second one, and now the ceasefire that hopefully will last.”
He said that Tuesday’s event was honestly something that was very disappointing and frustrating for us to see that it’s happening.
The Prime Minister said: “We were trying to contain it, and we mobilised right away after this and in full coordination with the United States. And we have seen that the US is also committed to the deal.”
“The approach that we took from our side since October 7, had two priorities. One is to bring the hostages back and to end the war and end the suffering of the people of Gaza. Throughout the last two years, we were like the main stable player and factor in that formula, trying to mediate to bring this to the finish line.”
The Prime Minister added: “I believe that it is what we have achieved in Sharm Al-Sheikh, bringing this conflict to the finish line. And our job today is to protect it and to safeguard it and to make sure that it holds and then also make sure that it’s implemented.”
He said that it will be a complicated process. “It will not be an easy process to go through the disarmament and the decommissioning, but it’s part of the agreement.”
“I don’t see that the governance will be a challenge, because this is something that we’ve been very clear with Hamas and Hamas’s response was also very clear to us that they are willing to give up the governance.”
On disarmament of Hamas, he said, “We are trying to push them (Hamas and other factions) all in order to get to a point where they acknowledge that they need to disarm and they need to move on to the next stage. We need to make sure that the Palestinians are safe and the Israelis are safe. That’s the whole purpose of the decommissioning and disarmament, and creating a political horizon for the Palestinian people and creating the Palestinian agency that will be able to be the sole holder of arms.”
He added, “When you look at President Trump’s plan, the 20 points, its major themes are ending the war, no occupation, and no annexation. These are like three key principles that’s been highlighted in the proposal. Now, under the first redeployment to implement the first stage of this deal allows the Israelis to stay in Gaza within these lines.”
But ultimately, he said, they need to withdraw once the international stabilization forces come into place. “And then the process of decommissioning starts, then the Israelis should withdraw from Gaza.”
The Prime Minister said, “We need to create the political horizon and the political environment, the right environment for the Palestinians and for the Israelis in order to reach an understanding and an agreement for coexistence. That’s what we are looking for. We are looking for a two-state solution that will put an end for the suffering for both sides.”
To a question he said that he believed there are enough wise people who understand that you cannot have two people treated differently under one state. “And for Palestinians to have their own state is their right. And Arab Peace Initiative has actually laid a plan for Israel to normalise relations with the region in exchange for the statehood for the Palestinians and providing Israel with big guarantees.”
“And I believe, right now, with the US engagement, we have seen how the President, the Vice President, the Special Envoy, Jared Kushner, all of them, are heavily engaged and the Secretary of State heavily engaged in making sure that the ceasefire holds and making sure that we are crossing the line to the next stage, which is hopefully rebuilding the trust, rebuilding Gaza, and then also creating a political horizon for the Palestinian people.”
To another question he said that the attack by Israel on Qatar was a shock. “It wasn’t a shock only for us in Qatar, it was a shock for the entire world. And if you look at where the attack happened and how it happened... it happened in a neighbourhood, in a residential area where the negotiations were taking place... there are schools, embassies around these buildings.
"And the trauma that the attack created for the Qatari people affected them significantly. Yet, we still have a responsibility as a country to protect our citizens, to ensure that there are enough security assurances and security guarantees for them and actually also ensuring that our role will remain adding value to put an end for the conflict and will not be affected.”
“If you look at the pattern of our policies, in the last 10 years, we always try to pursue diplomacy over any other option. We went through all the legal channels, the diplomatic channels, in making sure that this attack is not repeated and making sure that Qatar and the people of Qatar are protected.”
To a question about Qatar’s mediation for conflict resolution across the globe, the Prime Minister said that Qatar became like a responsible player in that field and mediation actually is something that enshrined in Qatar’s constitution.
