US President Donald Trump is now trying to resolve a major Middle East crisis that he helped create at last month's Arab-Muslim-American summit, setting a divisive agenda that has led to Riyadh and its allies imposing isolation on Qatar for its apparent refusal to fall in line. Last Monday Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, also cutting air, sea and land links with the tiny but oil and gas rich country and ordering its citizens to leave within two weeks. Although Qatar insists that it can defend its economy and currency against tough sanctions imposed by neighbouring Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations, the boycott has already started to hurt, causing food shortages as Qatar imports half of its food supplies from Saudi Arabia. And with the closing of airspace, Qatar Airways, one of the world's biggest airlines, has to make long detours to fly to and from foreign destinations, which of course means more fuel consumption, longer flying hours for passengers, and ultimately fewer passengers and high revenue losses. The rest of world worries about the crisis creating instability in the region, which could lead to an unpredictable rise in oil prices. Meanwhile, the sea blockade could affect vital LNG supplies to Pakistan.

President Trump having happily extolled Gulf States' unity against Iran just two weeks earlier faces his first major foreign policy challenge. Qatar is an important US ally and home to its largest military base in the Middle East. In a call to Qatari ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Trump offered to help the parties involved find a solution, if necessary, through a meeting at the White House, to keep the Gulf region stable. Kuwaiti ruler, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, also visited the UAE and Saudi Arabia before arriving in Doha to resolve the crisis. So far these efforts seem to have had no effect. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir reacted by saying "we have not asked for mediation, we believe this issue can be dealt with among the states of Gulf Cooperation Council."

The stated cause of Riyadh and its allies' anger is Qatar's alleged support for extremist groups, and conciliatory attitude towards Iran-both denied by Qatar. The real issue of contention is hardly the emirate's alleged support for violent extremists. As a matter of fact, Saudi Arabia together with Qatar and some other GCC countries have been backing extremist groups fighting the Assad regime in Syria. Riyadh and others, though, are irked by Qatar's support of the relatively moderate Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood. It may be recalled that when Egypt's elected president Mohammed Morsi, who belonged to the Brotherhood, was deposed in a military coup the first congratulatory call to the new military ruler came from the then Saudi monarch Abdullah. What also does not sit well with the GCC countries' sensitivities is Sheikh Thani's pursuit of independent policies at odds with their own, as well as his modernization effort. Yet another thing bothering them is the non-conformist Doha-based media outlet, Al Jazeera, Gulf region's most influential TV channel. According to a report, Qatar has been presented with a list of ten demands, including the shutting down of Al Jazeera. Clearly, there is a lot more to the crisis than meets the eye. It won't settle easily.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017