Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was in Doha recently for talks with the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, flew to Riyadh in a recent unannounced visit.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, was in Riyadh some days ago for talks with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
Sheikh Tamim also visited Riyadh recently.
Also, the King of Bahrain visited Riyadh before the others. However, Oman was absent from the Riyadh dialogues.
All these visits indicate that a very serious issue has arisen in the Gulf Arab political sphere; evil must be surrounding us from all sides.
Analysts say that the Saudi objective is to reinforce the Gulf militarily and politically against any threats.
Others claim that the aim is to turn the GCC into a political and military alliance.
A third interpretation goes as far as to say that it was all due to the crisis between Doha and Cairo.
Everything that has been said was based on speculation, not information.
Regarding the crisis between Cairo and Doha, I consider myself a follower of the Egyptian media, especially on Arab and international issues.
I was listening to media reports on what was said about Qatar, its leaders, and its political, economic and social policies. At the same time, I followed the Qatari media to see what it was saying about Egypt, and I didn’t find anything that would offend Egyptians.
I asked an Egyptian living in Qatar who is loyal to the Sisi regime about the reason behind Egypt’s anger. He said: “Don’t you follow Al Jazeera news?” I replied positively.
He continued: “Don’t you see the plain attack on Egypt? I said: “No”. I had heard news about what is happening in Sinai, seen images of the Egyptian army attacking Egyptians on the pretext of fighting terrorism, and watched peaceful demonstrations rejecting the coup against a legitimate leader — all on Egyptian media.
He added: “Didn’t Al Jazeera air leaks of top Egyptian leaders talking negatively about the people of the Arabian Gulf?” I said: “Yes, I heard those leaks that were previously broadcast by other television stations, so what’s wrong with that?
“All media outlets race to be the first in disseminating news, whatever it may be, if confirmed by the source.”
The summary of our talk was: “Al Jazeera news channel is broadcasting from Egypt and it hosts Egyptian intellectuals and thinkers to comment on each event, which proves the legitimacy of its news.
“Note that there is no Qatari broadcasting corporation that talks negatively about Egypt and its people the way Egyptian TV stations are talking against us.”
My friend was outraged, and said: “Al Jazeera airs news about the criminal activities of Islamic State (IS), such as the burning of the Jordanian pilot, the slaughter of the Japanese journalists, the massacre of Egyptian citizens in Libya, and the Egyptian air strikes on Libyan sovereignty that killed civilians.”
I said, “Don’t get angry. All news agencies, including Japanese ones, aired images of the crimes committed by IS. This doesn’t mean that those broadcasting agencies agree with the ideology of the perpetrators of these crimes, so how did Al Jazeera offend Egypt?”
I added: “Doesn’t Egypt have more than 30 media outlets, including radio, television and newspapers that are venting their anger at those they dislike, including Qatar; we neither protested nor cried.”
Before each of us went his way, I said: “A political system that is shaken and frightened by a small fraction of society is not worthy to govern a nation.”
Returning to the Gulf leaders’ visits, I am convinced that they were related to the situations in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Bahrain, and not to an issue that doesn’t affect the GCC’s safety and security.
King Salman and Sheikh Tamim discussed a number of regional and international issues, especially developments in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, the geographical expansion of IS, and the Iranian-American nuclear talks and their impact on GCC security.
King Salman wanted to put his brothers in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the right perspective on how the GCC should be dealing with threats facing the Gulf, and to develop a collective plan to address these threats.
Last but not the least, an Egyptian farce: The Egyptian Arab League delegate accused Qatar of sponsoring terrorism because its delegate didn’t attend the Arab League meeting last Wednesday that gave Egypt the power to carry out air strikes in Libya without authorisation from the UN Security Council, which is a violation of Libya’s sovereignty.
