In an age when the vocabulary of war has become louder than the language of peace, Qatar has risen as an unlikely but steadfast dove of diplomacy.

This small Gulf state, long dismissed by some as too minor to shape history, has time and again proven that size is not the measure of influence, nor geography the limit of responsibility. It has chosen the noblest of callings; to mediate, to reconcile, and to heal. Yet, in an act that defies reason and mocks decency, Israel chose to strike at Doha, a city that has been the lantern of dialogue in the darkness of conflict. This was not merely an assault on a place, but on the very idea of mediation.

Qatar’s record in global diplomacy is neither a matter of chance nor charity. It is the result of deliberate vision; to remain neutral where others take sides, to speak to all when others refuse, and to spend its resources not in fueling war but in softening its edges. In Lebanon, when the specter of civil war loomed in 2008, Doha opened its halls to bitter rivals. The result was the Doha Agreement—a formula of power-sharing that brought quiet to the streets of Beirut and earned applause from Washington and Tehran alike, two capitals........

© Pakistan Observer