Qatari activists criticize World Cup flights between Tel Aviv and Doha
A group of Qatari activists opposed to normalizing relations with Israel say they are shocked after the government allowed direct flights between Tel Aviv and Doha during the World Cup soccer tournament.
The protest, organized by the 24-member Qatar Youth Against Normalization group, most of them Qatari, was small but takes on particular importance in a country where citizens rarely speak against the authorities.
“We are shocked that in the days leading up to the World Cup Qatar entered new zones of normalization with the announcement of direct flights now between the apartheid regime in Israel and Doha,” the group said late Thursday night.
No response was immediately received from the Qatari Government Liaison Office or the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (Qatar 22), which organized the tournament, or FIFA.
FIFA said on Thursday that it had brokered a deal between Qatar and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, to facilitate the attendance of Israeli and Palestinian fans eligible for the tournament, which runs from November 20th to December 18th.
A Qatari official told Reuters on Thursday that the air travel agreement does not change his country’s position on Israel.
While Qatar’s two Gulf neighbors, the UAE and Bahrain, established relations with Israel under US-brokered agreements in 2020, Qatar said normalization with Israel was linked to the creation of a Palestinian state.
The official said that the flight agreement is part of Qatar’s commitment to FIFA’s requirements to host the tournament and should not be politicized.
The Qatari official explained that the agreement applies to all Palestinians, including those living in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and that they will be able to travel on flights to Doha from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken late Thursday described the aviation agreement as “a historic development and an important step that also carries great expectations for strengthening people-to-people and economic relations.”
Observers noted that Doha allowed thousands of foreign workers to march in Doha on Friday wearing national team shirts, including those from Argentina, Brazil and England, to celebrate the World Cup nine days before its launch.
This is a rare event in the small Gulf emirate that generally does not tolerate gatherings, especially in the center of the capital.
“The police were notified in advance,” one of the rally organizers told AFP on condition of anonymity. Police officers informed the crowd of the crowd. The procession passed in front of the Amiri Diwan where it is usually forbidden to take pictures.
Foreigners make up more than 80 percent of Qatar’s 2.8 million population, mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal but also from the Philippines and African countries such as Kenya and Uganda.
Gas-rich state has been consistently criticized by NGOs for the treatment of hundreds of thousands of foreign workers at key World Cup construction sites (20 November-18 December), who have been subjected to human rights abuses that have led to legal reforms since 2018.
“Foreign workers in Qatar love football and have bought a lot of tickets” for the World Cup, said one of the organizers.
“It’s not about politics, we’ll just sing for football, especially for Lionel Messi,” said Rajesh, who participated in the procession.
This is our freedom of expression,” said Aju, another fan of the Argentine team. “The working conditions are difficult, of course, but the World Cup is a unique event.
At the end of August, Qatari authorities expelled dozens of foreign workers who stopped traffic in front of the company where they work to demand payment of their unpaid wages after charging them with “violating public security”.
