Qatar to participate in Herzliya Conference on the Arab Spring

Palestine Press Agency and a number of other Arab publications are concerned that Qatar intends to participate in a Tel Aviv conference entitled "In the eye of storm ... Israel and the Middle East," about the challenges facing Israel regionally.

The Qatar representative, Salman Shaikh, will present a paper on the Arab revolutions and the rise of political Islam in the region, calls "Arab Spring or Islamist Winter? The Rise of Political Islam." He will also participate in a strategy roundtable.

Shaikh is the director of the Brookings Institute in Doha.

He is indeed listed in the preliminary program for the Herzliya Conference scheduled from January 30-February 2.

Other participants come from Jordan and Egypt, as well as many other well-known experts and analysts from Israel and worldwide.

Saeb Erekat is also speaking. I have not yet seen any complaints about that, though.