Dispute with Qatar

What’s new in the dispute with Qatar this time is the collective punishment by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain when the three GCC countries decided to withdraw their envoys from Doha.

The conflict with Qatar has a long history and has been ongoing for about 20 years now. Qatar has been a source of disturbance and trouble. Before I draw an image of what’s happening, I want to summarize this in one sentence; the motives of Qatari quarrels are not directed against anyone. The new government in Doha wants to assert itself using the language of the new generation.

I remember that the first dispute Qatar stirred up was during the GCC summit in Doha in 1990. I was with a large group of journalists standing at the door of the conference hall. When the door was opened, the Saudi delegation headed by the late King Fahd walked out and the king appeared to be upset.

We immediately found out that Qatar’s former Emir, Sheikh Hamad, insisted on discussing the issue of disputed islands with Bahrain and rejected the king’s demand to dedicate the conference to discussing the occupation of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein. The emir only agreed to this demand after the heads of Gulf delegations threatened to walk out of the conference. Six years later, Qatar dedicated its new channel to attack Saudi Arabia for years.

A day after the American forces left Saudi Arabia, Qatar announced it welcomed them and built two military bases for the US Army. Later, Qatar allied with Saudi Arabia’s rivals: Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. Even after their horrible crimes such as assassinating Rafik Hariri and Hezbollah’s occupation of West Beirut, the Qatari leadership continued to finance the activities of this axis. Later there was the alliance with Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi.

In its attempt to hijack revolutions, Qatar suffered massive political and financial losses in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, as parties it invested in did not seize authority in these countries. This is why Qatar altered its policy and began to finance the civil and armed opposition. The most dangerous Qatari adventure is its persistence in funding the Muslim Brotherhood against the new regime in Egypt.

Qatar, which previously squandered billions by supporting the Assad regime and Hezbollah against Saudi Arabia, is repeating the same scenario in Egypt. One of the analysts told me that he considers what’s happening is a chess game. I replied that it’s more of a videogame where you gain nothing and learn nothing.— By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed


The king’s call for tolerance

The crisis that Muslims face today is an intellectual one, which has given birth to many economic, political and social crises all over the Muslim world, except in a few countries.

How did Muslims transform their lives into a hell of crises? Apart from killing each other they suffer from poverty and diseases while other countries make progress. Addressing an international Islamic conference in Makkah recently, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has described the present Muslim situation as embarrassing.

When we go deep into the problem, we can understand that it was the wrong understanding of religion that brought Muslims to this pathetic situation. Since its arrival, Islam has been taking its followers to greater progress and prosperity but the present reality of Muslims shows that they have not understood their religion properly. Islam instructs them to lead a decent life, engage in constructive activities, establish justice and make life beautiful.

In his keynote speech, King Abdullah called on Muslim scholars and intellectuals to spread a culture of tolerance and moderation in their communities. These values no doubt are the crux of Islamic teachings, which call for respecting all human beings.

But just preaching or advice cannot achieve the desired results, as there have been a lot of misconceptions that need to be corrected in order to change the present situation of Muslims.

We see some Muslim youths in Syria killing others in the name of Islam and this gives a bad impression about our religion. Islam is a religion of mercy not violence and a religion of justice and not injustice. But how can we convince the world about the reality of our religion when some of its followers commit such horrendous crimes.

— By Qainan Al-Ghamdi

The right to equality

Our love and friendship with others will not be complete without giving them equal treatment. Inequality has been rampant among various communities and ethnic groups as well as between men and women since the beginning of history. Men have been establishing their supremacy over women exploiting their weaknesses. There were efforts to demean women and prevent her from taking part in the decision making process and some communities wanted to keep them in the prisons of ignorance and backwardness. Millions of women around the world suffer from torture and domestic violence and the young amongst them face early marriage.

The divorcees as well as those who could not win divorce from their husbands suffer from mental and physical torture from their men, who have lost their chivalry and nobility. In the meantime, there were calls for the establishment of women-only shopping centers and hospitals in a bid to isolate them further socially and culturally. Women also face a lot of difficulties at workplaces. I don’t think we can solve this problem by just enacting laws. We have to provide our women equal rights and it will be a great gift we can give them on the occasion of the Women’s Day, which was marked on March 8.

— By Zaki Abu Alsaud

Transportation in Kingdom

There are some criteria to measure the success of every sector. These include training and employment of Saudis, its added value and contribution to the GDP, services being extended to citizens, investment opportunities for businessmen and businesswomen, especially for smaller ones, by setting up companies.

We have found that the banking, telecom and basic industries sectors have succeeded in fulfilling the criteria of success. But when we talk about the transport sector in the Kingdom, we can say it is a suitable example of failure. Saudis are not satisfied with its services and the job and investment opportunities if offers.

There is not a single joint stock company in the aviation and railway sectors. There are some small and weak companies in some transport sectors. The new railway expansion projects including the metro systems are a good beginning and my question is whether it would meet the criteria mentioned above to make it a successful sector.

There is no use of crying about lost opportunities in the past. At the same time, we must do more to strengthen the sector to become a major driving force in our country’s social and economic progress.

— By Khaled Al-Firyan

Fight against fraud

We have been accustomed to forgery and fraudulent practices, as they have become very common in our societies. We have lost the strength to resist such immoral and destructive activities and their viruses have killed the cells that protect our immunity.

Everyday we read reports about famous restaurants using expired meat without giving any value to their customers and their health, while small restaurants are engaged in cooking food in unhygienic conditions.

Fraudulent and corrupt practices are also taking place while carrying out various development projects in the country and they are often ignored as if these are considered acceptable. Nobody will denounce such practices except those who came from Sweden or another planet.

For every fraudulent practice there is a beneficiary. There are people who sell fake tires, which a pose big danger to road safety. Many people use substandard auto spare parts just to pass the periodic motor vehicle inspection without being bothered about its long-term consequences.

Fraud and forgery have been part and parcel of our lives as we see a variety of such practices taking place around us. Joint efforts must be made to protect the society from fraud to make their lives safer and healthier and to strengthen the country and its reputation.

— By Dr. Salim bin Ahmed Sahab