Al Jazeera: Why Arab States Want The Qatari News Chael Shut Down

Four Arab states have issued an ultimatum to Qatar to shut down Al Jazeera television among other things or risk losing economic, diplomatic and travel ties with its neighbors.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates sent Qatar a 13-point list of demands which they say would dismantle the tiny country’s two-decade-old interventionist foreign policy. The four Arab states accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, fomenting regional unrest and supporting their enemy, Iran. Qatar has 10 days to comply with the demands.

Other key demands made include:

• Halt the development of a Turkish military base in the country.
• Reduce diplomatic ties with Iran.
• Cut ties to extremist organizations.
• Stop interfering in the four countries’ affairs.
• Stop the practice of giving Qatari nationality to citizens of the four countries.

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Al Jazeera Shut Down Demand

The Qatari-owned network has found itself at the center of the Middle-eastern diplomatic crisis over its mandate to tackle and produce journalism on a wide range of issues.

These issues of which some are regarded as taboo, comes with a broader range of opinions unlike other media in the region, due to control. This makes it the most popular chael in the Arab world with more than 75 percent of Arabs calling the network their favorite or second-favorite news source. That has, in turn, attracted a lot of enemies.

Saudi Arabian and Egyptian rulers dislike the network’s broad reach and willingness to rile up the opposition. They don’t like its Islamist bent and are angry that their populations are exposed to critical reporting against their regimes.

For years, they have called for the network’s shutdown or evolution. Both countries along with Jordan have made huge strides in achieving that by kicking out Al Jazeera bureaus from their countries. Saudi Arabia has gone a step further in baing hotels in its country from offering the chael.

Now that Qatar is embroiled in a diplomatic row with the countries, shutting down Al Jazeera appears to be one key demand.

Qatar’s Response And Reactions

Qatar confirmed that it had received the list and was studying the demands. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would give its official response to Kuwait, the mediator between Qatar and its neighbors.

The director of Qatar’s Government Communication Office, Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al-Thani, rubbished the claims saying:

“The illegal siege has nothing to do with combating terrorism. It is about limiting Qatar’s sovereignty and outsourcing our foreign policy.”

Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee said some of the demands violate international human rights conventions. It raised concerns about the closure of Al Jazeera, citizenship rights and extraditions.

“NHRC noted that Qatar’s acceptance of these demands and conditions would subject the country to international accountability and violate its obligations under human rights conventions. In this context, NHRC urged the state of Qatar not to accept those demands.”

Conflict Resolution Professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Ibrahim Fraihat, forecasts a prolonged stand-off. He said Qatar would reject the demands as a non-starter and that its neighbors had already maxed out leverage.

“Military action remains unlikely at the moment so the outcome after the deadline would be a political stalemate.”

The dispute is a big test for the United States because its Middle East air power headquarters and some 11,000 troops occupy a large base in Qatar. It also is a close military ally of some of the other countries in the dispute.

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for a resolution and asked Qatar’s neighbors to make their demands “reasonable and actionable”.

President Donald Trump, on the other hand, has backed the sanctions. He contradicts the neutrality of his Defense and State Departments and has called Qatar a “funder of terrorism at a very high level”.