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By Atul Aneja
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday took exception to the meeting which the Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem, held with his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, in Paris. According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid-reza Assefi, this meeting violated the OIC resolutions on isolating Israel. This sort of contact merely satisfied the wishes of the Zionist regime, he added. The Qatari Opposition has also denounced the Paris meeting, which it felt undermined inter-Arab and inter-Islamic relations. The Qatari side, however, has pointed out that Sheikh Hamad, during his talks with Mr. Peres, had only emphasised that Israel must stand by the commitments it made to the Palestinians under the 1993 Oslo peace accords. Qatar, on the eve of accepting the chairmanship of the OIC in November 2000, had also closed an Israeli trade office in Doha. Saudi Arabia is apparently unhappy with Doha on another count. The Saudi kingdom, according to observers, is not amused by the portrayals of the Saudi royalty by the Qatar based al-Jazeera television channel. Sheikh Hamad, at a recent press conference in Kuwait, said Qatar was seeking a meeting with Saudi Arabia to clear this misunderstanding. Analysts here point out that the Iranian and Saudi criticism of Qatar goes beyond a few events and may reflect their deeper concern about the overall recent orientation of the latter's foreign policy. According to observers, Qatar has over the years developed a special security relationship with the United States. The U.S., for instance, has quietly developed Al-Udeid in Qatar as a huge air base. Its 15,0000 feet runway is reportedly the biggest in the region and is large enough to operate any of the U.S. heavy-lift cargo and passenger planes. While the Saudis may not have a problem with the development of a new base, their concerns may have been activated on another count. The U.S. has so far been using Saudi Arabia's sprawling Prince Sultan air base as its main communication and surveillance command post in the region. This was evident during the Gulf War as well as during the counter-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan. But U.S. Central Command officials have recently acknowledged that they are replicating some of their facilities that currently exist only at the Prince Sultan air base to Qatar. Analysts point out that if this happens soon, the U.S. will acquire more flexibility for launching operations in the region, thereby undermining Saudi Arabia's key strategic importance in the region. The development of the Al-Udeid base may acquire special importance in the event of the U.S. deciding on air strikes against Iraq, as Saudi Arabia has already expressed its reservations about a military strike on Baghdad. The cause of Iran's discomfort with the Qatari Government is fairly obvious, given its poor state of relations with Washington. Diplomatic sources here point out that Qatar is single-mindedly converting its relationship with the U.S. to draw economic benefits, especially in developing its huge natural gas reserves. The U.S. energy giant, Exxon, for instance, is a major player in developing Qatar's giant North Dome gas field. Qatar has also spotted India as a big market for natural gas and has already signed its largest-ever 25-year deal for shipping 7.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually to terminals in Dahej in Gujarat and in Kochi.
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