For all the power available to an American president, Joe Biden made a special plea on June 3 to the leader of a tiny Arab sheikhdom. In a phone call, Mr. Biden urged the Emir of Qatar to press Hamas officials in the Gulf state to accept a U.S. proposal for ending the war in Gaza. It was perhaps an urging too far.
Qatar, like several other Arab states that often serve as go-betweens in conflicts, has relied mainly on nurturing trust and understanding between adversaries, such as Hamas and Israel, to achieve an agreement rather than on deploying carrot-and-stick tactics.
Qatar, for example, mediated a 2020 deal between the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Oman often plays the role of a bridge-builder between the U.S. and Iran, while the United Arab Emirates recently facilitated a prisoner-of-war exchange between Russia and Ukraine. Iraq has been a key mediator between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
These Arab “interlocutors” bring an approach that is deeply rooted in Middle East culture and “emphasizes reconciliation and restoration of relationships,” according to Nickolay Mladenov, a former United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.
“In contrast to the more Western focus on swiftly identifying problems and executing interventions, the Gulf approach significantly emphasizes the slow and careful building of trust and rapport,” he wrote in a paper for the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development. Quiet, in-depth discussions between rivals rely on a mutual recognition of inherent dignity and honor, allowing exchanges from the heart.
“Their fresh perspectives on conflict resolution in an increasingly complex world are invaluable,” he stated. “Traditional powerhouses in mediation, such as the United States and European nations, sometimes find their tried-and-tested methods ill-suited to the specifics of new conflicts, deeply rooted in local contexts and regional power dynamics.”
In much of the Middle East, this approach is second nature. It comes from the pre-Islamic Arabic word sulh, which signifies the maintenance of harmony arranged by a third party. Whether the intangible practice of sulh can bring a sustainable peace to the people of Israel and Gaza remains to be seen. The leaders of those two places do not even accept each other’s existence.
Yet after so many wars in Gaza, the time may be ripe for Qatar or a similar Arab state to win the day with a patient and neutral approach that assumes each side seeks harmony and stability. Sometimes urgent disputes first need moments of peace to find a resolution.
Mark Sappenfield
