Qatar's normalization with Israel

A source (I know) in Qatar sent me this (he/she only wants to be identified as "O"): " I am writing to you about Daniel Barenboim's orchestra which held a private concert last night attended by the Emir and the upper echelons of Qatar: Just two days ago in a press conference, Qatar's Minister of Culture introduced the events for Doha Arab Cultural Capital 2010. He stressed that Palestine, Jerusalem and Gaza will all be important themes in this year's events in Doha, yet they kicked-off the year by hosting Barenboim in Doha! There was no public announcement about this beforehand but there were many rumors going around about "Israeli musicians performing in Doha." Not a word of protest has been published in any newspaper.

In my opinion, this is purely an attempt of cultural normalization between elite Arabs and soft Zionists who equate the victim with the aggressor (like Seeds of Peace, Tikkun and others) and Edward Said is now flipping in his grave. I vividly recall exactly one year ago when Qatar decided to shutdown the Israeli trade office and Sheikha Mozah made some public criticisms of Israel assault on Gaza schools, while Barenboim was claiming that both Israel and Hamas are equally at fault. Also, note that all Qatari Arabic dailies did not dare to mention that there were Israeli musicians in the orchestra, they refer to them as "Western musicians:""