Qatar rejects Arab states’ demands

DUBAI/WASHINGTON: Qatar on Saturday denounced a sweeping list of demands from Saudi Arabia and its allies in an escalating Gulf diplomatic crisis as unreasonable and an impingement on the emirate´s sovereignty.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt want Qatar to meet the 13-point ultimatum in return for an end to a nearly three-week-old diplomatic and trade "blockade" of the emirate. Qatar was warned by one of its most hawkish critics in the region that unless it meets the list of demands, Doha faces ‘divorce’ from its Gulf neighbours.

A senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) official said on Saturday that if Qatar did not accept an ultimatum issued by fellow Arab states which imposed a boycott this month on the tiny Gulf Arab nation, there would be a "parting of ways".

The 13-point list of demands from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE include closing the Al Jazeera satellite television network, curbing relations with Iran, shutting a Turkish base in Doha and paying reparations. The demands are apparently aimed at dismantling Qatar´s two-decade-old interventionist foreign policy, which has reflected the clout generated by its vast natural gas and oil wealth but incensed conservative Arab peers over its alleged support for Islamists they regard as mortal threats to their dynastic rule.

Doha said it is reviewing the list of demands and that a formal response will be made by the foreign ministry and delivered to Kuwait, but added that the demands are not reasonable or actionable.

"The alternative is not escalation, the alternative is parting of ways, because it is very difficult for us to maintain a collective grouping," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told reporters.

"The mediators´ ability to shuttle between the parties and try and reach a common ground has been compromised by this leak," he said. "Their success is very dependent on their ability to move but not in the public space."

Gargash said that if Qatar fails to comply within the 10-day timeline set out in the ultimatum, it will be isolated.

But he did not make clear what more could be done since the four Arab nations have already cut diplomatic relations with Doha and severed most commercial ties.

Gargash said the Turkish deployment was a "meaningless escalation" and he hoped Ankara would act in a "reasonable way". "We hope that Turkey prioritises the interest of the Turkish state and not partisan ideology," Gargash said.

Kuwait is helping mediate the dispute as is the United States, for which it has posed a challenging test since Qatar hosts a base housing the headquarters of US air power in the Middle East as well as 11,000 troops. 

The Sunni Muslim Arab group that imposed the sanctions on Qatar accuses it of funding terrorism, fomenting regional unrest and drawing too close to their Shiite Muslim enemy Iran.

Qatar rejects those accusations and says it is being punished for straying from its neighbours´ backing for authoritarian rulers.

Meanwhile, the White House said Friday it considers the deepening crisis in the Gulf to be primarily "a family issue," urging regional leaders to chart a way out while offering US help in enabling talks.

When asked about a list of demands placed on Doha by Saudi Arabia and its allies as the price for lifting an almost three-week "blockade" on Qatar, press secretary Sean Spicer declined to comment directly. "We believe it´s a family issue," he said.

"If we can help facilitate those discussions then so be it, but this is something they want to and should work out for themselves.