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Analysis

BICOM Briefing: Qatar, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood

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Key points

  • In recent years Qatar has been an important financial and political supporter of Hamas, the radical, armed, Palestinian Islamist group which controls the Gaza Strip and is committed to Israel’s destruction.
  • This is one element of a highly active and complex regional policy, which includes support for Sunni Islamist forces, but also cordial relations with Iran, and hosting a large US airbase.
  • Its policies in support of Islamists in the context of recent regional unrest have increasingly put it at odds with other Western-allied Sunni Arab Gulf states.

What support does Qatar provide to Hamas?

  • In recent years the Qataris have had close relations with armed, Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, providing economic and political support. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has a home in Doha, and the former Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani was the first Arab leader to visit the Hamas run Gaza Strip in 2012. During his visit, Al-Thani promised $400m in aid to the Hamas administration. Qatar funds economic and infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip.
  • According to a report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, there are direct links between Qatari royals involved in the World Cup and the Hamas leadership. The report states that Sheikh Abdallah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani – who served as Chairman of the Qatar 2022 [World Cup] Supreme Committee’s Security Committee as well as Minister of State for Internal Affairs – promised training and equipment for Hamas’s “security apparatus” to Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad. According to the same report, in April 2013, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al Thani – a Qatari Royal who is President of the Qatar Football Association – met with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to discuss Qatar-Hamas relations.
  • Qatar has reportedly been helping facilitate recent reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Iran. Their relations had soured after Hamas failed to back the Iranian-allied Assad regime in the Syrian civil war. Iran had previously been an important source of military and financial aid for Hamas.
  • Qatar has a more tense relationship with the relatively moderate Fatah faction under Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank (though Qatar recently pledged aid to the PA). The Al Jazeera TV channel, owned by Qatar, played a central role in the publication of the Palestine Papers in 2011 – which were used to try and discredit the PA and its negotiations with Israel.

Who are Hamas?

  • Hamas is an armed, radical Islamist organisation which grew out of the  Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its goal is Israel’s destruction and the creation of an Islamic state in its place.
  • Hamas took sole control of the Gaza strip in 2007, violently expelling forces loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. They have used it as a base to fire thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians. Though Hamas recently agreed to a unity government under Abbas’s leadership, they have stressed that they will retain their effective control of the Gaza Strip.
  • Hamas caused the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians in suicide bombings, especially during the Second Intifada.
  • Hamas has recently been outlawed by Egyptian authorities for supporting the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

What is Qatar’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood?

  • Qatar, along with Turkey, has been one of the key supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in recent years. Qatar committed billions of dollars in aid to the government of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, before it was overthrown. Support was also reflected in the critical position taken by the Qatari news network Al Jazeera towards the overthrow of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood led government by the Egyptian military.
  • Qatar is the current base for the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual guide, Egyptian-born Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, who has a highly popular TV show on Al Jazeera.
  • Similarly, Qatar has been a strong supporter of the Syrian rebel movement, and it is widely believed that much of its aid is reaching radical Jihadist elements within the Syrian opposition.

What are Qatar’s relations like with other states in the region?

  • At the beginning of March 2014, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recalled their ambassadors from Qatar, with Egypt then following suit. The Gulf countries accused Qatar of failing to fulfil an agreement not to, “support any party aiming to threaten the security and stability of any Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member”, which was seen as code for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
  • The UAE had previously summoned Qatar’s ambassador over Youssef al-Qaradawi’s statements against the UAE.
  • There have also been disagreements amongst GCC) partners over relations with Iran. Qatar, along with Oman, was involved in facilitating back-channel discussions between Iran and the US, which aided November 2013’s interim nuclear agreement between the P5+1 and Iran, to Saudi Arabia’s dissatisfaction.
  • Qatar’s foreign policy overall balances a complex set of relationships with conflicting parties in the region. It hosts an enormous US airbase on its territory, but also keeps cordial ties with Iran, with whom it shares the world’s largest off-shore gas field.
  • Another reflection of this unusual stance is that Qatar is one of the few Arab countries to have had relations with Israel. In the wake of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation), Israel was allowed to open a trade office in Qatar. In 2007, then Deputy Prime Minister, now Israeli President, Shimon Peres visited Doha. However Qatar closed the trade office in response to Operation Cast Lead, which began at the end of 2008.

Qatar key facts

  • Population: Qatar has a population of just over two million, only 278,000 of whom are Qatari citizens. Qatar’s large immigrant population make up the bulk of its workforce.
  • Economy: This tiny country enjoys vast oil and gas resources, with proven oil reserves of 15 billion barrels, and five per cent of the world’s gas reserves. Qatar is trying to use its vast wealth to develop regional and global influence and to develop itself as a cultural, economic and tourism centre. In 2013 it surprisingly won a bid to host the 2022 World Cup, a decision which has since been surrounded by allegations of corruption and bribery.
  • Political system: Power in Qatar is held by the Al-Thani family. In June 2013, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani succeeded his father as Emir of Qatar. The Emir holds ultimate power, and policy making is restricted to a small circle.
  • Regional influence: In 1996 Qatar established the Al-Jazeera news network, the most influential Arabic language news channel, which in 2006 opened an English channel. Al Jazeera’s coverage of regional politics is heavily influenced by the political agenda of the ruling Al-Thani family.