Israel carried out a strike on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday. The Gulf state is trying to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. What makes Qatar so effective in diplomatic negotiations?Qatar has a history of helping to resolve global conflicts. The small, resource-rich Gulf state has helped negotiate deals to release United States citizens held in Iran, Afghanistan and Venezuela, and return Ukrainian children to their families after they were taken to Russia.Qatar has also presided over diplomatic breakthroughs between Sudan and Chad, and Eritrea and Djibouti, as well as the 2011 Darfur peace deal. In 2020, Qatar helped negotiate the US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan with the extremist Taliban group. Most recently it brokered the Doha Declaration of Principles between Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Middle East mediator
Since the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas militants, which killed 1,200 people in Israel and saw around 250 more taken hostage, Qatar has played a key role in facilitating negotiations between Israel and Hamas. In January 2025 Qatari negotiators helped reach a temporary ceasefire agreement and arranged the release of hostages from Gaza in exchange for the return of hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel. Prior to the Israeli attack on Tuesday, senior Hamas officials including the militant group’s ceasefire negotiating team were reportedly meeting in Doha to discuss a proposal from the US towards reaching a comprehensive ceasefire. Under the proposal, Israel and Hamas would start immediate negotiations to end the war and not resume fighting as long as talks continued. The coming days were considered crucial for moving ahead on the proposal.Responding to Israel’s attack on Doha, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said “We are just learning about the Israeli attacks in Qatar, a country that has been playing a very positive role to achieve a ceasefire and release of all hostages. I condemn this flagrant violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity.”This is the second time this year Qatar has been hit with a strike as it steps in as the intermediary in the region’s geopolitical conflicts. In June, Iran fired missiles at a US military base in Qataras retaliation after Israel conducted strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.
‘Partner for peace’
The reasons why Qatar has set itself up as the world’s mediator have been well-documented. By punching above its weight in diplomatic terms, Qatar wants to independently establish its own security in an unstable region, analysts say.Forging its own foreign policy — by, for example, harboring dissidents and aiding revolutionary and militant groups — is also a way of competing with its traditional rival, the United Arab Emirates, and refusing to take orders from larger neighbor Saudi Arabia, researcher Ali Abo Rezeg wrote in a 2021 paper in the academic journal Insight Turkey.”Qatar’s emergence as a key mediator has elevated its diplomatic standing, transforming it from a regional outlier into a critical player on the world stage,” Burcu Ozcelik, a senior research fellow at the British think tank Royal United Services Institute, told DW in January 2025. “This newfound role enhances Doha’s influence… and positions it as an indispensable ‘partner for peace’ within the global community.”
Why are the Qataris so good at mediating?
Relationships are key, and Qatar is known for its wide and varied network of contacts. It has supported several very different groups by providing a base, weapons or funding. That includes the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Libyan militias and anti-government revolutionaries in Syria, Tunisia and Yemen during what became known as the Arab Spring.In 2012, the US government, led by Barack Obama, asked Qatar to host the political wing of the militant Hamas group instead of seeing it move from Syria to Iran, where it would have been far less accessible.Qatar also maintains better relations, including economic ties, with Iran than its neighbors, many of whom consider the country their enemy. And Qatar has hosted the US at the al-Udeid Air Base since 2001. The biggest US base in the Middle East, with about 10,000 troops, was targeted by Iran during its war with Israel in June.”Qatar definitely benefits from [its position as negotiator] because governments in the West, and the East to some extent, think of them as very useful friends to have,” said Cinzia Bianco, an expert on Gulf states at the European Council on Foreign Relations.For example, early in 2022, President Joe Biden named Qatar a “major non-NATO ally” partially because of the country’s role in negotiating the US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.Biden’s successor, Donald Trump, also views Qatar as an ally in the region. The country also gifted Trump a plane to serve as the president’s primary aircraft, Air Force One.Being able to empathize with all parties also helps. Analysts say that, even as officials work closely with the US, Qatar has also been more pragmatic about Islamist organizations in the region, seeing these as part of popular political movements that cannot be erased or avoided. In some cases, this has helped. Apparently, Taliban members said they felt more comfortable in Qatar, which they believed understood all sides.
Neutrality the priority
Qatari negotiators don’t necessarily have special skills, Bianco said. They train for the job. “But I wouldn’t say it’s any more than diplomats working for other governments, including in Europe, do,” she said. “So I think it’s more about an attitude of trying to be as neutral as possible. For them it is so fundamentally important to play this role, and that means they put it above anything else, including internal and regional politics.”It’s also about Qatari wealth, Bianco said. The country’s resources allow the government to host participants and work on several crises at once. It may also have to do with a shorter chain of command. “[The Qatari] Foreign Ministry’s ability to take decisions without being questioned or scrutinized by the public has meant that it can act decisively,” Sultan Barakat, a professor of public policy at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, wrote in a February analysis in Accord, a publication that regularly reviews international peace initiatives.
Dangerous balancing act
Israeli politicians have accused Qatar of being a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and funding terrorism. The Qataris have repeatedly said they have no power over Hamas. “When you interact with non-state armed militias who do bad things, you obviously risk having fingers pointed at you and people saying that, in some ways, you are validating these groups and have given them more legitimacy or access to resources,” Bianco said.She said the Qataris’ argument was: “Yes, we have these ties, but we use them for good.” No matter how imperfect the country , experts argue that Qatar is playing an essential role at the moment.”Humanity has paid the heavy price for not sitting down and talking to each other before, during two world wars,” Rabih El-Haddad, director of the Multilateral Diplomacy Division at the UN Institute for Training and Research in Switzerland, told DW in January 2025.”Today, we need parties who enable those who are in conflict to talk to one another and solve their differences through negotiation, diplomacy, and according to international law,” he said.DW’s Jennifer Holleis and Kristin Zeier contributed to this report. This article was originally published on August 20, 2024, and updated following Israel’s attack on Qatar on September 9, 2025 Go to Source
