MPs expect Qatar not to agree to Arab countries’ demands

CAIRO – 4 July 2017: The Qatari side has not decided yet although Kuwait received on Monday a message from Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani including Qatar's response to a list of demands from four Arab Countries, handed over to Doha through Kuwait late last month.

After Arab countries boycotted Qatar, it agreed to extend the deadline for Qatar to reply to the demands, for more 48 hours. But till now the Qatari’s reply has not been announced yet.

A number of parliamentarians expect Qatar to not agree to the demands, saying that “The deadline extension is procrastination, and Kuwaiti’s mediation aims to prevent expected escalations if Qatar continued its rejection of the demands.”

“Deadline extension was meant to give Qatar a complete chance, even though it didn’t show any sign of accepting the demands. But we know it’s just part of the Qatari’s procrastination,” said Secretary of Parliament Foreign Affairs committee Tarek el-Kholy.
Ambassador Mohamed Orabi, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee said “If Qatar insists on rejecting the demands, there will be escalations by the League of Arab States, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the United Nations Security Council. Ambassador Orabi added that there could be other economic sanctions that shall have minimal effect because of the Qatari investments in different parts of the world.”

Head of the Parliament Arab Affairs Committee Saad Gamal said that the committee postponed a meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday, after the quadruple meeting of foreign ministers, to discuss the outcome of the meeting and any updates.

Arab foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain will meet in Cairo on Wednesday.

“The meeting comes within the framework of coordination among the four countries on future steps to deal with Qatar,” Egyptian FM statement
Arab and Gulf countries severed their ties with Qatar over accusations of supporting terrorist groups.

They later sent Doha a list of 13 demands to be met by Monday in order to end the standoff.

The demands include shutting down Al Jazeera channels, and stop funding terrorist groups, Close Turkish military base under construction in Qatar and cutting ties with Iran.