Despite Its Affiliation With Riyadh and Abu Dhabi; Why Did Bahrain Delay Normalization With Qatar?

Despite the easing of the Gulf crisis and the return of relations between Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries after the “Al-Ula summit” that was held in Saudi Arabia on January 5, 2021, differences still exist between Doha and Manama, and the two countries did not hold any bilateral meetings.

In the absence of Manama, the rapprochement that took place between Doha, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi was clear, especially after a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Emirati National Security Adviser Tahnoun bin Zayed on September 17, 2021.

 

Renewed Tension

Perhaps the last picture of tension that appeared was “Bahrain’s accusation of the State of Qatar, through a statement of the Ministry of Interior on September 27, 2021, inciting it by its systematic media, and work to recruit a number of Bahraini military and security citizens in its favor.”

The Bahraini Ministry of Interior said that “the Qatari smear campaigns hostile to the Kingdom of Bahrain, by the inciting platform (Al-Jazeera channel) among them is what it broadcast of an alleged conversation between a Bahraini youth and a member of the security services, in addition to its regular repetition of allegations of torture and the ban on visits to inmates, and what you call imprisoned children, it comes in a systematic framework and at a deliberate time.”

“The weight of this incitement increases every year, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the World Council for Human Rights in Geneva,” it added.

The Bahraini Ministry of Interior pointed out that “it is not strange this targeting by Al-Jazeera, which is sponsored by Qatar, against Bahrain and what it has achieved in terms of national gains and civilized achievements, among them is the Alternative Sanctions Program, which is an ambitious civilized and humanitarian project, which was launched by Manama and is appreciated by a large number of countries, organizations and experts working in the field of human rights.”

“It would have been more useful for Qatar to seek to develop its laws and programs that preserve human rights, instead of challenging others' successes,” it added.

It pointed out that “it became clear and open to all the methodology of Al-Jazeera channel, which is based on incitement and buying slanders in the framework of the campaign against Bahrain and its people.”

The Bahraini Ministry of Interior concluded, saying: “It became known as well, those hostile practices that contradict all covenants, including what was broadcast by that channel, that it was an attempt to recruit a young Bahraini, while it is proven by evidence, Qatar targeted the recruitment of a number of Bahraini military and security citizens.”

The “Zero Distance” program on Qatar's Al-Jazeera channel revealed in an investigation entitled “Dry Dock” about at least 607 children in Bahrain were subjected to various forms of torture between 2011 and 2021, according to judicial and legal data obtained by the program.

The film, which was broadcast by the Qatari channel on September 26, 2021, also showed documents of the Bahraini Public Prosecution; it reveals that “the investigations with the detained children were conducted without the presence of their parents and without lawyers.”

Sources in the Bahrain Prosecution revealed to the channel that “there are more than 150 children in Bahraini prisons.”

 

Late Meeting

Concerning the initiatives to end the differences between the two countries, on June 22, 2021, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani said that “the Kingdom sent two official invitations to Qatar to send a delegation in order to hold bilateral talks in Manama to settle outstanding issues between the two sides, in implementation of what was stipulated in the statement of the Al-Ula summit, but Doha did not respond.”

Bahrain had announced, in February 2021, that it had sent a first invitation in the preceding month to Qatar in order to hold talks but had not received a response.

But the Qatari academic, Ali al-Hail, said that “after the summit that was held in Saudi Arabia on January 5, 2021, Qatari diplomats met in a neutral country, Kuwait, as the mediator alongside the United States in the Gulf reconciliation, with their counterparts from the UAE on February 22, then with diplomats from Egypt on the 23rd of the same month.”

The Bahrainis did not express their desire to meet with Qatari diplomats, according to what al-Hail said during press statements on July 16, 2021.

He indicated that “the two Bahraini invitations were inappropriate, adding: “I have never heard of such a political norm before, for the Bahraini Foreign Ministry to tell Qatar to send us a Qatari delegation so that we can negotiate with it on the outstanding points. This is very funny.”

“Qatar believes that Bahrain is not qualified politically and diplomatically to engage in dialogue with it, or what Manama calls the sticking points, where there are no longer stuck points; These points are outdated, and are no longer of any political or popular benefit,” he said.

“Although the reconciliation is fragile, at least Egypt and Saudi Arabia have opened their embassies and returned their ambassadors to Doha, so why does Bahrain not follow suit,” al-Hail added

“If Bahrain wants a serious meeting and a real discussion that reflects what its Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa signed at the Al-Ula summit, it should respond with Qatar to meet at least in a neutral country, and to formulate the invitation in a different form from the previous two invitations,” the Qatari academic said.

 

Historical Crisis

But there is another reason that some observers believe may be behind the delay in the normalization of the relations between Doha and Manama, this is the dispute over the historic city of al-Zubarah in the west of the State of Qatar, the Bahraini media promotes the Kingdom's right to it.

Analyst al-Hail saw during other press statements on September 14, 2021, that “the consequences of the media campaigns regarding the entitlement of Manama to the historic city of al-Zubarah led to the freezing of relations.”

Al-Hail explained in his statements that “the allegations from the Bahraini side are being circulated by the media about the kingdom's right to the land of the city of al-Zubarah, west of Qatar, which was legally decided in the International Court of Justice a long time ago (2001).”

In the absence of positive results between the two sides, the al-Zubarah city file came to the fore again, where the Bahraini newspaper Al-Watan dealt with a series of episodes and articles on Bahrain's entitlement to the city of al-Zubarah.

The city of al-Zubarah was called by this name due to the high altitude of its land, it is also indicated that the name is attributed to the people of “Al-Zubayr” who came to it from southern Iraq as well.

On his part, Amjad Taha, Regional President of the British Center for Middle East Studies and Research, explains the slowdown in restoring relations between Doha and Manama to what he described as “the historical sensitivity of the Qatari regime towards Bahrain.”

Taha said during a press statement on July 16, 2021, that: “This sensitivity is not a product of the moment or of the Al-Ula agreement or what came before; Therefore, Doha deals with Manama differently from the rest of the four countries.”

“Differences related to territorial waters and air borders between the two countries, and according to history, Qatar was an integral part of Bahrain,” Taha explained.

In July 2018, the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, raised the controversy by claiming that Qatar belonged to the Bahraini kingdom.

The Bahraini newspaper Akhbar Al-Khaleej published the headline “The King confirms the rule and sovereignty of the Al Khalifa family over Qatar since 1762.”

“We will remain with our people on the Qatar peninsula as one people, united by lineage and history. It will not be erased from our national memory what our people in al-Zubarah were subjected to from the aggression in 1937,” the newspaper said.