Can Qatar be friends with everyone?

Qatar's Sheikh Hamad during his visit to Gaza

Today the BBC reported on the Qatari Emir's controversial visit to the Gaza Strip. Qatar's leader, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, visited a number of sites in Gaza and used the visit to call for unity between the geographically and politically divided Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. 

Unsurprisingly the Emir's visit was not seen as positive by all. Fatah, the political party recognised by the international community as the official representatives of the Palestinian people, seemed affronted that the Qatari Emir chose to visit Gaza, the HQ of Fatah's rival party Hamas. (Hamas is viewed as a terrorist organisation by many western governments despite receiving a majority vote in the last Palestinian election). Israel were also angry, accusing Qatar's Emir of throwing "peace under a bus" by visiting Gaza.

In some respects Qatar's bold step deserves credit. I have previously criticised certain countries from the Arabian Peninsula for vociferously pledging support to fellow Arab countries in need whilst failing to legitimise their words with solid action. In this instance Qatar has pledged to provide £250million to support building projects in Gaza, already acts as a beneficiary to Hamas and has taken this latest bold step of visiting Gaza.

In other respects Qatar may have taken a step too far by sending the Emir into Gaza. As mentioned above Hamas is widely viewed as a terrorist organisation rather than a legitimate political party. The Emir should think carefully before aligning to such a party, especially given his previous efforts to woo the west. I wonder how long the Emir of Qatar can sustain hosting rubbing shoulders with international organisations such as the IOC whilst simultaneously building a new Hamas HQ. 

If Mitt beats Barak in a fortnight's time things could get even trickier for Qatar and its attempts to be friends with everyone.