DOHA, Qatar ― After months of uncertainty about whether the Palestinian militant group Hamas can maintain its strategically valuable political headquarters in the Qatari capital of Doha, a string of new developments suggests an answer may come soon: No.
The Wall Street Journal on Saturday earlier this year. Given Turkey’s record of stubbornness in dealing with its Western allies, such a move could seriously complicate matters for the U.S.
Meanwhile, success in dislodging Hamas from Qatar could ironically help the organization leverage complaints about aggressive steps by Israel and its advocates in future negotiations ― a tactic previewed in their interviews with HuffPost.
Advertisement
“The Israeli pressure [on Qatar] is for one main purpose: the continuation of the war, and to not create any horizon of solving through negotiations or to end this aggression,” Abu Marzouk argued to HuffPost earlier this month. “Netanyahu’s policy is to push in every way to continue the war so he will remain in his seat.”
It’s widely acknowledged that the U.S. will be dealing with Hamas for months and years to come, given its entrenchment in Gaza and concerns like the fate of the Israeli hostages.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate on April 10, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) blasted the idea that lawmakers should be working on punishing Qatar for hosting the Palestinian group’s leaders.
“The surest way to guarantee that those hostages never get released is to pass this resolution,” Murphy said, referring to a proposal from Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) to revoke Qatar’s status as a major American ally unless it unless it bears down on Hamas, including by expelling its leaders or extraditing them to the U.S.
“We may not like the fact that we have to be negotiating with a terrorist organization. We may not like the fact that someone in the region has to be the conduit for those talks. But we don’t live in a world of fantasy ― we live in a world of reality.”
Advertisement
