Why is Qatar being targeted by its Arab surroundings?

I was taking part in a live interview with the BBC and the programme was about the arms deal brokered in March with American and European arms companies. The main focus of the programme was why Qatar chose to make this deal at the present time? Who is the enemy Qatar is arming itself against? Does this deal have anything to do with the American president’s visit to Saudi Arabia and does it have any relation to the Saudi-Emirati-Qatari dispute? I am sure these questions are not asked innocently and have some purpose, but I will sum it up in the following way:

Qatar was not the only country to make an arms deal amounting to $7.55 billion, not $27 billion as said by the programme presenter. Instead, it was 27 billion Qatari riyals, which is equivalent to$7.55 billion. This deal also includes attack helicopters according to Arab reports.

Kuwait made an arms deal in 2012-2013 amounting to $7 billion and the UAE’s arms purchases over the past two years are valued at $36 billion, in addition to $3.6 billion spent on interceptor missiles. Oman also did the same and purchased $18 billion worth of weapons.

According to sources from the US State Department, GCC states have purchased $115 billion worth of weapons, as reported by the US Congress, and during the period between 2011 and 2012, the total amount of arms purchases by the GCC reached $200 billion, excluding the purchases of Qatar. Over the past 10 years, the GCC has spent $500 billion on weapons. (See Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s report on international arms for further information).

My point is that Qatar is not the only Gulf state that is armed and, as far as I know, Qatar hasn’t made any arms deals in the last five years.

In terms of timing, the fourth Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition (DIMDEX) was held in March and it was at the exhibition that the Qatar arms deal was brokered, while some other Gulf states were present and made similar deals. So, why is the Arab media focusing on Qatar’s purchases of weapons, as well as other purchases? It has nothing to do with the American president’s visit to Saudi Arabia, or the holding of the exhibition in Doha, or any state’s purchase of weapons. This is proved by the fact that the exhibition was scheduled before the announcement of Obama’s visit to Riyadh.

I was asked by the BBC radio presenter: “Who are Qatar’s enemies that it needs to arm itself against?”

I say all the Arab Gulf states are being targeted by forces that either have their eyes on the Gulf’s oil and natural gas wealth or who envy the good that has come to the Gulf and the goals it has achieved. These states must prepare to face the day when their independence, sovereignty and security is threatened by other parties and such sovereign states should not wait for the last moment to start the process of armament and training to use the arms to deter any aggression against them.

Some Arab media outlets exaggerated the political dispute that occurred between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates which led to the recall of ambassadors from Doha last month. The media even aggravated the dispute between the countries concerned and I am certain that the media believed that by fuelling these differences, they were satisfying some of the leaders in these countries. However, the truth is that those promoting incitement are not pleasing anyone, neither the political leaders nor the popular masses, solely because they do not know the truth.

Some have said that Qatar is conspiring with several other parties to divide Saudi Arabia and promote sedition in the country.

Hence, I say they do not know the truth. Qatar’s security comes from Saudi Arabia’s security and any evil inflicted on Saudi Arabia, God forbid, also affects Qatar. Didn’t they see what happened to the Gulf states when Iraq was occupied, leaving these countries without a cover and causing sectarian strife to spread across the GCC countries?

Isn’t it time for the pens of the incitement and the evil voices to be silenced for the sake of the region’s safety and security? Our leaders are able to resolve their differences amongst themselves and it is our duty to help them by spreading the truth.

There is no doubt that any wise person in the Gulf would be confused by the negativity being reported in the Arab media with regards Qatar. I will cite some, not all, examples of such reports. The Arab media reported that foreign workers in Qatar are being oppressed and that there is a high death rate amongst them, and also that Qatar violates their human rights and subjects them to the sponsorship system; this was leaked to the West, along with other reports. They have all been fabricated in an attempt to undermine the country because it will host the 2022 World Cup.

In this context, some GCC countries experienced labour strikes demanding better working conditions, while this did not occur on the same scale in Qatar. Also, the sponsorship system is being executed in all GCC countries and is not limited to Qatar, while the death rate amongst foreign workers is high in all Gulf countries due to the fact they outnumber the citizens.

Delegations from the International Labour Organisation and FIFA visited Qatar in order to determine whether the rumours in the media regarding the oppression of foreign workers in Qatar was true, they determined that the information reported in the media was false.

I do not claim that the lives of the workers in Qatar is perfect and that they are living in paradise, but they live under better working conditions than their fellow workers in other GCC countries.

The bottom line is Qatar is an Arab country and the fact that it will be hosting the 2022 World Cup is a source of pride for all Arabs. I had hoped that the Arabs would work together to make this experience a success because a success in Qatar would be a success for all the Arabs. So, let us, the people with the pens, come together and agree to serve our nation and not only one country in the greater Arab homeland.

Translated from Al Sharq newspaper, 1 April, 2014

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.