Ali Shihabi speaks about the implications of the GCC rift at the Middle East Policy Council

Ali Shihabi, Founder and Executive Director of The Arabia Foundation, discusses the regional and global implications of the GCC rift at the Middle East Policy Council. Shihabi posits that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain failed to effectively communicate the political and diplomatic history behind the Qatar boycott. As a result of Gulf States’ opposition to Sheikh Hamad’s 1995 coup against his father, Qatar reoriented its foreign policy to systematically subvert the domestic security of its neighboring countries over the next twenty-plus years. With Kuwait’s mediation, GCC countries pursued quiet diplomacy to end Qatar’s policies of “intrigue and subversion” and imposed the boycott only after Doha’s repeated violation of multiple international agreements.

Middle East,Saudi Arabia,Qatar,Al Jazeera,The Arabia Foundation,Ali Shihabi,Middle East Policy Council,