Al Jazeera Documentaries

The Siege Of Qatar (2018x7)

Data di messa in onda: Giu 05, 2018

On June 5, 2017, Bahrain, followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off all diplomatic ties with the state of Qatar. Accusing it of funding terrorism and fermenting regional instability, all land, air and sea links to the country were severed. National carriers declared they would be suspending flights to and from Qatar the following day, and those from Qatar were banned from even transiting through their countries. With the exception of Egypt, the blockading states recalled their own citizens and gave the Qataris residing and working in their countries 14 days to leave their territories. The bloc of four also closed their airspace to Qatari aircraft, leaving only a small corridor, funnelling all their planes in and out of the Arabian Gulf. At 1.30 pm the only land border was closed and Saudi Arabia stopped all movement of vehicles from its side. Trucks carrying food, raw materials, equipment and medicines could no longer cross into Qatar. All vessels destined to, or carrying the flag of Qatar would not be allowed to call at ports in the UAE. In less than 24 hours, Qatar was effectively cut off. The coordinated move by the four countries has caused the greatest rift in years, between some of the most powerful Arab states. And the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was unable to deescalate the situation. "The GCC was never intended to deal with an act of aggression between one of the constituent GCC members. This is unprecedented in the extent of it, the scope of it, how it took everybody by surprise," says Rory Miller, PH.D. Professor of Government, Georgetown University, Qatar. However, he says, in recent history there were many signs that Qatar was being targeted. "This current crisis is not an isolated incident. From 1995 up to the present day the dominant team in relations between Saudi Arabia the UAE and Qatar has been one where Saudi Arabia and the UAE has viewed Qatar as definitely the subordinate actor and the Qataris have refus