A source on politics, war, the Middle East, Arabic poetry, and art.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Saudi media love to highlight news of Israeli contacts with Qatar. Qatar, of course, loves to normalize relations with Israel to appease the US. When I met with the Amir of Qatar three years ago, I asked him about those contacts, and he downplayed them to me. But he did not deny that he is pushed by the US Congress to elevate relations with Israel. I salute New TV for criticizing the Amir of Qatar for meeting with Shimon Peres; they reminded him of Qana I massacre. I saw the footage of the meeting between the Amir and Peres and realized that he sat on the same chair that I sat on. (New TV's owner, Tahsin Khayyat has many business connections in Qatar).