Hamas negotiators ‘not in Doha’ but political office not closed: Qatar

Kathmandu: Hamas negotiators are not in Doha but their office has not been permanently closed, Qatar said on Tuesday following speculation that the Palestinian group had been ordered out of the Qatari capital.

‘The leaders of Hamas that are within the negotiating team are now not in Doha,’ foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said, adding: ‘The decision to… close down the office permanently, is a decision that you will hear about from us directly.’

Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, had led months of fruitless negotiations for a truce in the Gaza war but the Gulf state announced earlier this month it was pausing its mediation efforts.

The announcement followed reports Qatar had warned Hamas that its political bureau, which the Gulf state has hosted since 2012 with the blessing of the United States, was no longer welcome. ‘The mediation process right now… is suspended unless we decide to reverse that which is based on the positions of both sides,’ Ansari said on Tuesday.

‘The office of Hamas in Doha was created for the sake of the mediation process. When there is no mediation process, the office itself doesn’t have any function,’ he added, declining to confirm whether Qatar had asked Hamas officials to leave.

A senior Hamas leader told AFP on Monday “no one has asked us to leave” and rebuffed reports that members had relocated to Turkey saying “leaders from different levels in the political echelon in Hamas make coordinated visits to Turkey from time to time”.

Since a one-week pause in fighting last year brokered by Qatar, during which scores of hostages were released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, successive rounds of negotiations have made no headway.

Earlier in November, Hamas rejected a proposal from Egypt and Qatar for a short-term truce, as it did not offer a lasting ceasefire. Israel has repeatedly vowed it will not stop fighting until it achieves its war objectives — to crush Hamas and bring the hostages home.

In April, Qatar said it was re-evaluating its mediation role during an impasse in negotiations, prompting several group members to leave for Turkey — only to return two weeks later at the request of the United States and Israel, when negotiations proved unworkable.

RSS/AFP