Dr. Khalid bin Mubarak Al-Shafi, Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula.
Despite low-level representation from the siege countries at the GCC summit in Kuwait, the meeting itself was a success.
“Holding the summit was a success in itself despite the fact that people in GCC had attached more hopes with it and it failed to achieve them. But it showed Qatar’s sincerity with the GCC unity. The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani attended it,” said Dr. Khalid bin Mubarak Al-Shafi, Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula.
He said while talking at a Qatar TV talk show Al Haqiqa “The Truth” recently that there were talks suggesting a high representation from Saudi Arabia and finally only the foreign minister represented the country in the summit. “As per expectations King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud had to attend it.”
The important part of the summit was that it discussed finding a mechanism to resolve disputes among GCC countries, he added.
He said that the GCC was established due to foreign threats and now one of the Gulf countries - Qatar - is under the siege and the GCC summit did not discuss that issue then what the summit would discuss?
“The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, didn’t make any effort since the beginning of the siege six months ago and he is the one who is supposed to do this because the GCC is the only umbrella which gather all GCC countries,” Dr. Al-Shafi said.
“After all this period of silence, Al Zayani came to criticise Qatar’s media and the Qatari media has the right to criticise the GCC because it did not make any effort to solve the crisis,” Dr Al Shafi said, adding that finally Al Zayani congratulated Emir of Kuwait H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah for his efforts and mediation to resolve Gulf crisis.
“If Al Zayani can’t do anything then it is better to resign in front of all people. Now Emir of Kuwait said that he will continue his mediation to find solution to this dispute and we appreciate his efforts,” he explained.
Dr. Al-Shafi also noted that Qatar did not want support of the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) “but he should at least do his job”. He revealed that recently some Qataris who were working at the General Secretariat of GCC were banned to enter Saudi Arabia and Al Zayani didn’t say anything about it.
Regarding the US move to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he said that the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani had warned of the serious repercussions of this step, which would further complicate the situation in the Middle East and negatively affect the security and stability of the region.
