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By : Sawsan Al Shaer

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:: They are shocked, and not only because of the firm stand by the boycotting countries, but also because of the wide reaction of the Gulf people which supported the boycott, if one goes by what is being said and written and published through the mainstream media and through social media.

What the brothers in Qatar say is that this is “jealousy and hatred” of the ruling families in the Gulf over the al-Thani family because of the success in development they achieved in Qatar and that there is a desire to bring down Qatar’s “ambition” in “leadership” and “independence”.

The Qataris believe that those who mobilize Arab, international and Gulf public opinion are a media group that has been pushed by the regimes to launch a campaign of “false fabrications” against Qatar.

The shock pushed them to line up behind their leadership and defend them out of a sense of threat of security and stability that the people of Qatar have never experienced before.

The sense of fear for the state and its fall, which they feel now, was a sense inherent to the peoples of the boycotting countries. It was not a feeling of authority confined to the Gulf leaders and regimes. It was a feeling experienced by the peoples of the boycotted countries. Its daily meal, especially in recent years, and the reason is the leadership of Qatar and specifically the Father Prince.

Horror perpetrated in Bahrain

In 2011, in Bahrain people formed groups to protect homes, families, children and women, because our security forces were restricted in using their legal powers under intense US pressure at that time. The horror pushed people to close their doors and make sure everyone was at home. What happened to us at Salmaniya Hospital and at the Bahrain University was like a horror film for the extent of violence perpetrated by terrorists against students and patients.

At this time, the Qatari leadership was spraying salt on our wounds and opening Al-Jazeera channel to the terrorists, calling them “opposition” and calling our sons who defended our doorstep “thugs”, under the instructions of the Prince’s consultant, al-Attiyah. What was broadcast on Al-Jazeera channel was not going to be aired without the consent of the leadership, whether we heard the call or not !

Even the Arab peoples hoped that this day would never come, when they have to face Qatar as a country and this confrontation would harm the people who are also responsible for what their leadership is doing. But we have had enough, and the perils that have risen due to the continuation of the Qatari project to bring down the Arab countries. We wish our Qatari brothers to excuse us. We have only just started!

Sawsan Al Shaer

What happened was not between a ruling family and other ruling families. Let us put the politics aside and pray for the best. What happened was a ruling family that threatened our security as Gulf, Arab, Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan people who tasted fear, lost security and safety because of the practices of your ruling family.

If you are shocked by the intense and overwhelming resolve of the Arab people today. You should realize the following. After being restricted, they are allowed to express the feelings that they had held for 22 years. A media restriction that they understood and for years contained their anger in the hope that the brother would stop killing his brother and raise his hand, over 8,000 days – non-stop for 22 years – we reluctantly endured it and you did not have to bear it even for one month.

Even the Arab peoples hoped that this day would never come, when they have to face Qatar as a country and this confrontation would harm the people who are also responsible for what their leadership is doing. But we have had enough, and the perils that have risen due to the continuation of the Qatari project to bring down the Arab countries. We wish our Qatari brothers to excuse us. We have only just started!

We ask the Qatari people to open the files that are with us by themselves, to go back in time to see what Al Jazeera has been broadcasting over the past 20 years. It is still available, and links these reports, meetings, news headlines, and the terms used then on Al Jazeera. We ask them to link the number of victims of violence from security forces in the boycotting countries, to know the cause of this anger now. Al Jazeera’s reports have made the victims of the state just numbers “according to the official sources”. The terrorists were martyrs for Al Jazeera, but it seems that our brothers in Qatar were not watching the channel!

‘Hosting’ file in Qatar

What we are asking the brothers in Qatar to open the ‘Hosting’ file in Qatar to ask who are those that Qatar has been opening the door for, two decades ago? Who are these Afghans, Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, Algerians and Bahrainis who are only responsible for supporting sabotage and terrorism in their countries? They will find their names strange to his ears and probably it is the first time to hear it, they might even know nothing of their presence in his country, only few of them that they might deal with, as these people do not appear on the Qatari TV! Qatari people should link these names with the terrorism and violence, not only in the Arab countries but also recently in Europe and USA. They will find that the threads extend between these names, those organizations that carry weapons and Qatar.

Today, the Qatari leadership will not only bear the responsibility of hosting, empowering and financing them. But also, it will bear the shock of the Qatari people and its practices that the Qatari people may now deny out of the shock. However, as evidence mounts, the Qatari people will know that any crime committed by their leadership is not only against us but against them too, which has led to this separation between brothers.

This entitlement to the Gulf, Arab and international security will make the opening of these files the task of the Western, the Arab and Gulf media – files that condemn Qatar is stacked high, and only some have come out. Qataris themselves will have the biggest shock once the secrets behind these files come to light, beyond the reaction of the people in the boycotting countries.

Finally, we all hope that we will not be forced to have that confrontation and the hearts of the people of the Gulf are waiting for the day when Qatar itself closes these files after they give up their project, and return back to their home.

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:: Sawsan Al Shaer is a Bahraini writer and journalist. She tweets under the handle @sawsanalshaer

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:: Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in the Column section are their own and do not reflect RiyadhVision’s point-of-view.

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