Qatar Won’t Back Down in Face of Pressure: Minister

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani attends the 4th Summit of Arab States an
FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty

Doha (AFP) – Far from backing down in the face of unprecedented pressure from Gulf rivals, Qatar’s foreign minister said Thursday that no other country could determine its policies.

In an interview with AFP, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani described as an attempt at “collective punishment” a decision by Saudi Arabia and its allies to cut ties with Qatar over alleged financing of extremist groups.

Qatar would not yield to it, he said.

“We are an independent country with sovereignty and we refuse any custody over Qatar,” he said, speaking at the ministry of foreign affairs.

Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar was willing to discuss with its neighbours “anything related to the collective security of Gulf countries”.

If Doha had done anything wrong “let them prove it” and “we are willing to correct it”.

But when it comes to Qatar’s foreign policy, “no one has the right to intervene”, said Sheikh Mohammed.

The Qatari foreign minister said he still did not understand what the accusations against Doha were all about.

“We don’t know, all these measures, why they are being taken,” he said.

He said no proof of any wrongdoing “has been presented to Qatar yet.”

“Whatever we know about, we are hearing from the media.”

A top United Arab Emirates official on Wednesday told AFP that the unprecedented measures were aimed at pressuring Doha into making drastic policy changes.

“This is not about regime change — this is about change of policy, change of approach,” said Anwar Gargash, the UAE state minister for foreign affairs.

– Row over Hamas –

Sheikh Mohammed was also dismissive of claims Qatar supports Islamist groups like the Palestinian movement Hamas, blacklisted as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.

Former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has lived in exile in Doha for years and key figures of the group visit Qatar often.

Sheikh Mohammed said the presence of Hamas in Doha was aimed at helping secure reconciliation between the different Palestinian factions.

Hamas, he said, “is not a terrorist-listed organisation in the Gulf”.

“Let them list them first before they ask me to expel them.”

And he was even tougher on media reports suggesting Qatar supports the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels fighting the internationally recognised government in Yemen.

“Why would I support Huthis when I am sending my soldiers” to back the Saudi-led coalition that is intervening in Yemen on the side of the government.

– ‘No one will break us’ –

But despite his defiance, the foreign minister was adamant the crisis would not evolve into a military conflict.

“We don’t believe in a military solution,” he said.

Later, in a roundtable discussion with a number of journalists, Sheikh Mohammed said his country would not be defeated.

“We are not ready to surrender, and will never be ready to surrender the independence of our foreign policy,” he said.

“We have been isolated because we are successful and progressive… We are a platform for peace, a platform for alternative policy in this region,” he added.

“No one will break us.”

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