Editorial: Qatar should honor pledges

It is extremely sad that the Kingdom, the UAE and Bahrain feel they have had to recall their ambassadors in Qatar but it is clear that they had little alternative.
Qatar is a member of the GCC. As such it is supposed to do its utmost to ensure the security and safety of its fellow members.
It is not doing so.
On Nov. 23, last year, the GCC countries signed a joint security agreement in Riyadh calling for all six member states to abide by the principles that there should be no direct or indirect meddling in regional affairs, or backing of any party that threatens regional security and stability, whether they are organizations or individuals, and whether that meddling was through direct security operations or through attempts for political influence. It also said no member should back hostile media outlets.
Having signed the agreement, Qatar refuses to implement it. Instead it continues to allow its media, especially Al-Jazeera, to air attacks on the UAE, and criticism of Saudi Arabia as well.
For all the claims otherwise, everyone knows that Al-Jazeera operates by the grace and favor of Doha. If the authorities there do not want something said, it does not say it. If they do, it does.
The situation have been difficult enough if the country were a far-off place with no special links to the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. But Qatar is not only a neighbor of all three with the closest cultural and social bonds, it is also, as pointed out, a member of the GCC. It is intolerable and wholly unacceptable for it to behave the way it has done. It ignores its duties and responsibilities as a Council member. It ignores the pledges it made last November.
Faced with the withdrawal, Qatar now ignores the issues involved. Its Council of Minister says the Saudi-Bahraini-Emirati decision has nothing to do with the interests or the security and stability of the Gulf nations, but due to differences of opinion taken on issues outside the Gulf states.
It is certainly true that Qatar is marching out of step with the rest of the GCC in relation to events in Egypt and Syria, busily backing the Muslim Brotherhood. But this response is nothing less than deliberate fantasy. The UAE has made abundantly clear to Qatar its position over the attacks against it by Egyptian-born cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. It formally protested a month ago. Doha has done nothing to address the issue.
It clearly could not continue. That is why the three neighbors took the decision to pull the ambassadors.
It is no knee-jerk reaction and is done with the greatest reluctance. But it sends a necessary message to Doha that it cannot ride roughshod over its partners’ concerns.
The issue is in fact bigger than Qatar’s reneging on the November joint security agreement, crucial though it is. The question for Doha is this: Where do its loyalties lie? To its neighbors and partners who are also its extended family and friends? Or to foreign policy adventures in Egypt and Syria?
Sadly, this is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador to Qatar, which, of course, is not the same as breaking relations. In 2002, Riyadh did because, in what outwardly appears a similar case, there had been anti-Saudi comments by dissidents on Al Jazeera. But it is more serious this time. It is not about a bilateral matter, it is about Qatar’s relationship with its allies and Qatar not sticking to its promises.
The hope has to be that having ignored behind-the-scenes diplomacy, this sad but necessary statement of exasperation with its refusal to implement the Riyadh agreement will change hearts and minds in Doha. The agreement has to be honored in the letter and in spirit.
A continued refusal to do so will inevitably bring into question Qatar’s commitment to the GCC. That would be disastrous for all involved, Qatar as well as the other five. No one wants that to happen. Not Saudi Arabia, not the UAE, not Bahrain, not Kuwait, which is trying to see if it can mediate a solution, not Oman, and almost certainly not Qatar. But that is the reality. Qatar has to understand that in continuing on its present political course it damages the GCC’s unity and, in damaging that, damages the organization’s development and the interests of all member states, its own included.