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Tribune News Network
Doha
Qatar is ready for dialogue to resolve the ongoing Gulf crisis, but the blockading countries are avoiding coming to the negotiating table, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani has said.
"We count on the Kuwaiti mediation to end the ongoing Gulf crisis and maintain the unity of GCC," Shiekh Mohammed told Al Jazeera TV on Thursday.
He said the Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani attended the Gulf summit so that Qatar won't be part of the drive to dismantle the GCC.
"The convening of the GCC summit in Kuwait was an achievement in itself, the level of representation was disappointing," the FM said.
"Our information about the level of attendance in the summit was that it would be high but it changed on the morning of the summit day," he said.
"The reason for th low level of representation of the blockading countries has nothing to do with a statement about Iran," he said.
On Yemen, the FM said,"We supported the political process in Yemen despite our reservations about the Gulf initiative in 2011. Coalition operations in Yemen have nothing to do with the goals for which they were launched."
He stressed that there is only a political solution to the crisis in Yemen and dialogue is the only way out.
The FM said Qatar's participation in Operation Decisive Storm"was to protect Saudi Arabia first and then restore legitimacy of the Yemeni government."
"We tried for a political solution at the beginning of the Yemeni revolution but Ali Abdullah Saleh (the assassinated former president of Yemen) asked us to move away," Sheikh Mohammed added.
US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was a dangerous escalation, he said, adding that the Palestinian issue affects all Arab people and has a special place in the Arab and Islamic world.
"Jerusalem was part of the Arab peace initiative, which is based on the two-state solution, and was supported by all the Arab countries," the FM said.
Such a decision by the US president was a death sentence for all who seek peace.
"The US has a role in the peace process and this role requires it to remain neutral until the settlement is complete," Sheikh Mohammed added.
The FM said Qatar was prepared itself for any military intervention immediately after the outbreak of the Gulf crisis, stressing that this was possible.
He said this (military intervention) is no longer possible today.
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08/12/2017
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