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Malek Helali
Doha
AL Jazeera's 12th Annual Forum will focus on the Gulf crisis as a dynamic and pivotal topic affecting the regional alliances, the Arab region's issues including the Arab spring uprisings and the counter revolutions, and the international outcomes of the crisis, according to Mohamad al Mokhtar al Khalil, director of Al Jazeera Center for Studies.
Addressing a press conference at Al Jazeera Center for Studies in Doha on Sunday, Al Khalil noted that the forum will feature 50 guest speakers from outside Qatar, and 200 speakers from Qatar including government officials, researchers and media figures. He added that the Gulf nationals' presence will be significant during this year's forum compared to previous years.
Furthermore, AJCS director explained that while the main interest of the forums' sessions will revolve around the Gulf crisis and the blockade on Qatar, there will also be sessions dedicated to regional issues that are directly related to the crisis such as the issue of Palestine and the"deal of the century", the conflicts in Syria and the war on Yemen. Al Khalil noted that since the Gulf crisis started with a media crisis through the hacking of Qatar News Agency's website, one of the main sessions of the forum will discuss the role of media in such transitional phases.
The objective of the first session is to review the outcomes of the Gulf crisis and forecast developments in light of efforts to resolve it and the challenges hindering these efforts as the crisis between the Arab Gulf countries has affected the entire regional situation and has resulted in the formation of alignments and alliances of differing objectives and opposite agendas.
The second session will discuss the troubled relations between Iran and its Arab neighbours which remain an essential factor of instability and a source of threat to the region's security, development and prosperity.
The fourth session will address the crises and conflicts that erupted during the past number of years with the Gulf crisis being the most recent covering almost the entire Middle East and creating a high level of political and strategic liquidity thus reshaping the features of the general scene and forming new regional and global alliances.
As the Palestinian cause has always been the central cause for Arabs and has dominated Arab policies and shaped Arab relations with others for decades, the fifth session explores the seemingly deteriorating interest in this cause amid the Arab Spring and the various regional crises and its emergence under the title"the deal of the century".
Manager of Research at AJCS Dr Ezzeddine Abdelmoula said that the Gulf crisis could not have been predicted by the center or any other center internationally since there were no indicators leading to the crisis. He added that, on the contrary, all the available information indicated the improbability of such a crisis occurring.
Dr Abdelmoula noted that since the start of the blockade on Qatar, AJCS produced more than 30 papers on the crisis including reports, policy briefs, and a book. He added that the center is currently in the process of preparing another book to be released on the occasion of one year passing after the start of the blockade. (Photograph by Hanson K Joseph)
