JEDDAH: A second member of Qatar’s ruling family has joined calls for a national meeting of Qataris to resolve the dispute with its Gulf neighbors.
Appearing on Sky News Arabia, Sheikh Sultan bin Suhaim Al-Thani repeated the plea made on Sunday by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani.
“Since the crisis started I have been living in Paris after I could no longer tolerate seeing strangers roaming our country and interfering in our affairs under the pretext of protecting us from our brothers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states,” Sheikh Sultan said.
“It is our national duty now to unite and stand together to purge the country of them.”
Because of mistakes made by the Qatari government, he said, “I have all fears that the Qatari identity will be linked to terrorism.”
The sheikh is the son of Qatar’s foreign minister from 1972 to 1985, Sheikh Suhaim bin Hamad Al-Thani, a noted reformer who helped Qatar resolve many disputes.
Sheikh Sultan said he was saddened to see the Qatari government incubating terrorist organizations and giving them shelter and a platform for their deviant and evil intentions.
“And in that regard I am totally supportive of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani’s call for a Qatari national meeting, and I hope that the rest of the ruling family and the country’s dignitaries will follow suit in order to immunize our country against the hateful.”
The dispute began in June, when the Anti-Terror Quartet comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relations and imposed a trade and travel boycott over Qatar’s financing of terrorist groups and interference in its neighbors’ internal affairs.
On Sunday, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani urged the people of Qatar to be “the messengers of peace” in the crisis.
He said he felt pain at seeing the dispute going from bad to worse, and called for a meeting at Qatari national level to discuss a crisis “which we can no longer remain silent in.”
Sheikh Abdullah has been active in trying to resolve the crisis, and has met King Salman twice since it began. He obtained Saudi support to open borders during Hajj.