Relations between Egypt and Qatar could get worse before they get better, Dina Ezzat reports from Doha What is to become of the Egyptian-Qatari feud at a time when most Arab disputes are being contained or remedied? This was a recurrent question in press briefings and sideline discussions during the Doha Arab summit this week. The regular Arab summit that convened Monday in the capital of Qatar, under the presidency of Emir Hamad Al-Khalifa, was the highest attended summit since the annual convocation of Arab summit meetings in 2000. With the exception of Algeria, whose President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika is campaigning for upcoming presidential elections, and Egypt, whose President Hosni Mubarak purposely downgraded his country's representation, all other Arab countries were represented at the highest level. "They were practically all here. The heads of state of Oman, Iraq and Morocco do not usually attend summits; they [usually] just delegate their number two men," commented a Qatari diplomat. The fact that President Mubarak had already absented himself from last year's Arab summit in Damascus, due to a dispute with Syria, was clearly cited by Arab diplomats in Qatar who argued that irrespective of its bilateral disagreements, Egypt, in its capacity as "a leading" Arab country, should always be present at the highest level at Arab summits. "We would have liked President Mubarak to be here with us to contribute his genuine ideas that would have enriched our debates, but that was the decision of the Egyptian government and we respect their decision," Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said repeatedly to reporters. Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab headed a low-level Egyptian delegation to the Arab summit. Shehab had headed the Egyptian delegation to the Damascus summit last year, albeit at the head of a higher level delegation that included Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit. The latter boycotted all Doha meetings and deputised an undersecretary and a spokesman to attend all ministerial deliberations in a move that one Qatari official dubbed "an affront of no consequence". In public statements, neither Egyptian nor Qatari officials spoke much about the causes of the "sore dispute" between Cairo and Doha. Privately, however, each side has severe complaints to make about the other. Egyptian officials complain that Qatar has crossed its limits by encouraging Iranian intervention in Arab affairs. Qatar, they add, is playing a political game that is tailored to undermine Egypt's role. "The Qataris try to subvert reconciliation efforts on the Palestinian front and in Sudan. They are attacking us through Al-Jazeera [satellite channel] and they are insulting Egypt in an overt manner," complained one Egyptian diplomat who asked for his name to be withheld. He added that Qatar is deliberately trying to antagonise the Egyptian regime by supporting its adversaries, including Saadeddin Ibrahim and Ayman Nour. "This is totally unacceptable. Egypt as the leading Arab country cannot accept such attitudes," he said. Qatari officials, for their part, are not short on complaints. The very few who agreed to speak to Al-Ahram Weekly complained about exaggerated Egyptian charges of Qatari association with Iran and support to political opponents of the Egyptian regime. They complained that Egypt does not want to come to terms with the fact that the times of single-handed Egyptian leadership of the Arab world are gone and that Egypt should not expect all Arab countries to succumb to its wish to monopolise the administration of the Palestinian file or the file of Sudan. In public press statements, Bin Jassim said that Qatar "will not pursue permits from anyone" on Doha-Tehran relations. He also said that complaints about Al-Jazeera attacks on Egypt cannot be accommodated in view of the explicit and implicit criticism that Qatar faces in Egyptian media and press. Judging by such statements that were made publicly and privately in the halls and corridors of the Doha summit this week, the Egyptian- Qatari feud is unlikely to be settled soon, despite -- or maybe because of -- Bin Jassim's statement that it "should not be made into such a big deal". The Qataris do not seem to feel particularly obliged to reach out to Egypt, not only because they are determined to contest what they qualify as a bygone Egyptian monopoly of Arab leadership, but also because they feel they are doing well on the Arab scene. Prior to the Doha summit, Qatar managed to mend other Arab differences, especially with Saudi Arabia. During the summit, Qatar, by sheer luck, managed to deliver an otherwise hard to achieve reconciliation between Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Saudi Monarch Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz. Meanwhile, Qatari diplomacy is using cash and contacts to stay closely involved in the management of several key Arab problems, including civil disputes in Palestine, Sudan, Somalia and elsewhere. And with its declared relations with Israel, Qatar is also trying to position itself as a potential broker of a prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Egypt, for its part, will not turn a blind eye to, or act as if it could accommodate what Cairo sees as clear Qatari attempts to hijack the Arab world to serve the narrow interests of Doha. According to a statement that Shehab delivered on behalf of President Mubarak during the Doha summit, reconciliation with Egypt can only be attained if the "mistakes" of the past are acknowledged and if those who made these mistakes repent and refrain from "antagonising Egypt or attempting to insult it overtly or covertly," especially through the media, "whether state-run or private". In addition, Shehab affirmed, any "interference in internal affairs... under the name of [promoting] democracy" would block reconciliation with Egypt and could actually take relations to a point of more acute tension. Judging by off-the-record accounts shared by Arab diplomats informed on attempted mediation between Egypt and Qatar, there is much determination on both sides to not accommodate the other. Meanwhile, there is much anxiety among Egyptian labourers in Qatar about the influence of this political dispute on them. Some complained to the Weekly that they have been subject to employer harassment since Foreign Minister Abul-Gheit publicly stated that Egypt acted to fudge an Arab emergency summit that Qatar assembled in January in reaction to Israeli attacks on Gaza. There are some 100,000 Egyptian labourers in Qatar. In Mubarak's statement delivered to the conference by Shehab, the Egyptian president said that Egypt "keeps an open door" for all possible Arab reconciliation. Senior Arab officials in Doha say there are attempts to "encourage" the emir of Qatar to visit President Mubarak, or to send a high- level envoy to Cairo. The Qatari position has so far been reluctant to accommodate such attempts. As one Arab official said, what counts is not a visit, but for both sides to agree on the terms of managing their differences, "and this is unlikely because Egypt and Qatar are engaged in a classical case of diplomatic competition that entails
