Qatar and Mauritania froze their relations with Israel in the Doha meeting on Gaza. Perhaps the freezing was due to the cold winter. Or perhaps the word freeze here really meant strengthening these relations. I go with the second interpretation because the prime minister of Qatar said he told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the phone that he can get him a travel authorization (from the Israelis of course) if that was a problem.
It is clear that the hidden relations between Qatar and Israel are quite strong, although the Qatari Prime Minister said he was joking when the BBC correspondent asked him to clarify that point. At any rate, I do not think that Israel will be affected by such freezing (whatever the word means) of relations with trivial Arab countries. Qatar launched a campaign against Egypt as regards the Gaza war. It seems Qatar wants to take after President Nasser as a model for Arab leadership.
Qatar believed that it was the Voice of the Arabs radio station that gave Nasser leadership and so thought her TV station would do the same for her. But Qatar forgot that Voice of the Arabs was a result of Nasser's leadership, and that his leadership was because he was the president of Egypt, the strong country that has been around for 7,000 years. Had Nasser come from Mauritania or Qatar, no Voice of the Arabs or any other voice for that matter would have made him a national hero.
Let us be realistic. The unilateral cease-fire happened when the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called on Israel to stop the fighting. President Mubarak is talking, with modern and strong armed forces and with 80 million people behind him. Irrespective of their ideological differences, all the 80 million belong to their country and will stand by it. Israel accepted the cease-fire because Egypt has firmly requested so. Olmert himself admitted it. Had Mubarak been president of any other trivial Arab country, no one would have listened to him, even if he had 20 TV stations propagating him. In 24 hours, Egypt summoned in Sharm El-Sheikh the leaders of two countries that have the Veto in the Security Council, namely Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown. And with them, Egypt brought Germany, Italy, Turkey and the Secretary-General of the United Nations. No other trivial country could do that even in a month. The world only recognizes the capable countries. And a state must have a capital and a geographical location, not an Internet website or a satellite channel. The Egyptians have sacrificed a lot for Palestine and for many Arab causes without expecting anything in return. Now the countries that have done nothing for the Palestinian cause want us to follow them only because they shout loud on satellite channels. God said: Think not that those who exult in what they have given, and love to be praised for what they have not done - Think not, they are in safety from the doom. A painful doom is theirs. (Al-Imran:Verse 188)
