Qatar repeats call for lifting of ‘unjust, unlawful’ Saudi-led blockade

Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani (Photo via Twitter)

Qatar has reiterated its call for the lifting of a land, air and sea blockade, which Saudi Arabia and some of its regional allies imposed on Doha more than two years ago, amid little prospect of an end to the conflict.

    “Ending the illegal and unjust blockade of the State of Qatar has become more urgent.  The blockade of Qatar Airways from the airspace of the blockading countries (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt) is a violation of the international law and provisions of the Chicago Convention,” on International Civil Aviation, Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations, Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani said in a statement released on Saturday.

She noted that Saudi Arabia and its allies have failed in their calculations to deliver the desired blow to Qatar and its sovereignty.

    “The crisis that the blockading countries created with the State of Qatar is one of the crises that has further complicated the situation in the region, and cast a shadow on its security and stability,” Al Thani pointed out.
The Qatari diplomat also reiterated Doha’s “readiness to settle the crisis peacefully through constructive and unconditional dialogue, and based on mutual respect.”

She then praised efforts by Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al Sabah to resolve the crisis.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar on June 5, 2017, after the quartet officially accused Doha of meddling in regional affairs and supporting terrorism.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry condemned the decision to cut diplomatic ties as unjustified and based on false claims and assumptions.
On June 9, 2017, Saudi Arabia and its allies issued a 13-point list of demands, including the closure of al-Jazeera television news network and downgrade of relations with Iran, in return for the reconciliation.

The document also asked Qatar to cut all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement. Qatar rebuffed the demands as "unreasonable."