Qatar Ready To Betray Hamas To Save Their Own Necks

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 Recall this news which I uploaded just a few days ago.
 
Qatar wants Hamas to leave. This is happening after Donald Trump won the elections. But now there is a new development. 
President-elect Donald Trump's transition team have written a letter to US Secretary of State Tony Blinkin and US Attorney General Merrick Garland making specific requests that two Hamas leaders living in Qatar namely Khaled Meshal and Khalil al Hayya be arrested and extradited to the United States of America. 
Here is the letter that has been written to the US Secretary of State and the Attorney General:





What is to be noted is this line :  "Qatari officials have said repeatedly that they would change their policy towards Hamas if the Biden-Harris administration asked it to do so" 

In other words all the Americans have to do is tell Qatar to arrest and extradite Khaled Meshal and Khalil al Hayya and the Qataris would obey the instructions.  Putting it another way Qatar can sell out Hamas at any time.

I have said this many times before - this is typical Middle East -  the Arabs can betray, backstab and sell each other out at the drop of a keffiyeh.Anything to guarantee their own survival first.
Of course Qatar's survival depends on the American security umbrella. Qatar is home to the Al Udeid Airbase, the largest American military base in the Middle East.
Al Udeid Air Base houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force, United States Air Force, Royal Air Force, and other foreign forces. It is host to a forward headquarters of United States Central Command, headquarters of the United States Air Forces Central Command, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF.

In 1999, the then Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad, told U.S. officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 U.S. servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid. According to media reports in June 2017, the base hosted over 11,000 U.S. forces and over 100 operational aircraft.  It is the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East.

            American protection. The massive Al Udeid Airbase. All paid for by Qatar.



Qatar pays for the airbase as well.  In 2017 then President Donald Trump did "threaten" to vacate the Al Udeid Base and move somewhere else. This was during the crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE.

 Official US statements about the possibility of relocating the American base at Al-Udeid

On July 12, 2017 the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) aired an interview with President Donald Trump in which the Qatar crisis was discussed. In response to a question about the future of the Al-Udeid base, he said, on the one hand, “We are going to have a good relationship with Qatar. We are not going to have problems with the military base.” On the other hand, he said, “If we ever needed another military base, you have other countries that would gladly build it. … If we ever have to leave, we would have ten countries willing to build us another one, believe me, and they will pay for it.”


This is what President Trump said in 2017. Now in 2024 Donald Trump is back as president again. That is why the Qataris are suddenly being very cooperative. 
Their own survival is at stake. Hamas can be sacrificed.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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