Qatar's Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulraham Al-Thani, has stated that his country "does not have a war with Israel," as reported by Israeli media outlets. His remarks

came after a speech in Singapore last week. However, while speculation suggests the possibility of a Saudi-Israel accord, Al-Thani mentioned that Qatar had not received any official information about such talks.

Qatar is a member of the Gulf Co-operation Council, and although it lacks diplomatic relations with Israel, it permitted Israeli soccer fans to travel from Tel Aviv for the World Cup hosted in Qatar last year. The nation has played a vital role in the region by providing significant economic assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

Al-Thani emphasized, "At the end of the day, we don't have a war with Israel, the Israelis have an occupation over the Palestinians." He expressed support for the 2002 Saudi-led Arab Peace Initiative as the ideal framework for achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This initiative proposes diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab states in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from territories acquired during the Six-Day War and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Meanwhile, in the preceding week, United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken conveyed that Israel would need to make concessions to the Palestinians to facilitate a deal with Saudi Arabia. He advised that Israel might misjudge the situation if it believed it could avoid making concessions. Photo by Chatham House, Wikimedia commons.