Qatar: Exponent of Instability “The Trilogy of the Brotherhood, Qatar and the Arab Spring (4)”

Cairo – Qatar’s relationship with the rising Islamic movements in general, and with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in particular before and after the Arab Spring, has always been surrounded with obscurity and confusion.

This essentially raises legitimate concerns about the nature, level and cost of that relationship in light of fears and speculations about a Qatari quest for control over Egypt’s resources and economy. Therefore, Egypt has been bearing the brunt of the burden to expose Qatari ambitions and to foil plans against the Egypt state and the region at large.

Qatar has been reacting to the events of the Arab Spring quite differently comparing to the rest of the Gulf States, which were galvanized into actions out of fears of a ‘revolutionary contagion’ that might reach their peoples.  Some Gulf States had the conviction and realization of existential threats and conspiracies that had been around then, while others had no intention of change since they hated it. Yet, Qatar has been the only Gulf state-let that sailed against the wind by adopting those calls for change by dint of its media apparatus espoused with materialistic and international support.

This has been evident in the relationship between Qatar and the then ruling regime in Tunisia, which was headed and dominated by the Tunisian Renaissance Party (Ennahda Party). For instance, Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafiq Abdulsalam had previously served as the Head of the Studies and Research Unit at Al Jazeera Center in Doha, the Qatari capital. His father-in-law was Rashid Ghannouchi, the President of Tunisia’s Ennahda party (also spelled An-Nahda), which is a close affiliate to Tunisia’s Brotherhood group.

What’s more, Qatar’s foreign policy has assumed major changes in terms of its position on the Libyan revolution, which Qatar had been supporting with funding and arming. It is said that the Qatari air force partook in [the] North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO’s air raids on Libya. Special Qatari troops were also deployed on Libyan soil, and led the Libyans in their fighting against Gaddafi’s armed forces.

This especially becomes more evident in the words of Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Head of Libya’s National Transitional Council, when he said that the success of the Libyan revolution is, for the most part, attributed to Qatar. Abdul Jalil noted that Qatar has spent nearly $2 billion dollars in support of the Revolution. He also added that Qatari investments in Libya had been estimated at $10 billion dollars. He also revealed that Qatar had signed new $8 billion worth agreements with Libya when the Libyan Civil War was still going on there.

On another note, Qatar had expended a lot of efforts and money so that Nationalist Liberal Mahmoud Jibril could be kept away from the presidency of the transitional government, despite the alliance, which Jibril had founded with a majority of seats in the General National Congress (GNC), had won the vote. Qatar had garnered all the other parties against Jibril.  According to him, the main reason—besides ensuring Qatari influence in Libya—was that Qatar wanted in power neither a government unaffiliated to political Islam, nor one that belongs to nationalists and liberals in such an oil-rich nation, i.e. Libya.  From the Qatari perspective, a Libyan nationalist and liberal government would definitely extend its support to the rest of the neighboring Arab spring countries, especially Egypt. Such a government will be an impediment to Qatari ambitions in the region as it will forcefully face off its Islamist allies, which might usher in a miserable failure of the U.S-Brotherhood strategies in the region.

As for Syria, Qatar has been keen to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which allows it to install another government headed by its allies, the Brotherhood of Syria—an effort supported by Turkey as well. By removing Al-Assad, Qatar will also be able to consolidate the power of extremist groups, such as the self-proclaimed ISIS group and An-Nusra Front, which have been in the vanguard of Qatar-sponsored proxy wars out there.

Egyptian Journalist and Member of Parliament, Dr. Abdel Rehim Ali is an expert on Islamist Movements and political Islam. This essay is adapted from his upcoming book “Qatar: The Destabilizer of the Middle East: The Full Story of Grand Conspiracy,” which will be published later this month.