Over the weekend, the the head of the Qatar National Committee for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Al-Emadi, criticized PA president Mahmoud Abbas over his collective punishment of Gazans to pressure Hamas, which includes withholding medicines, fuel and salaries.
Al Emadi told reporters, "I've said to President Abbas before: You are the president of the Palestinian people in full, give something to your children, leave the politics aside and do not give anything to Hamas or anything else; just give something to your people."
He warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is on the verge of "total collapse...where the citizens have no one to help them.. There is a government that does not fulfill its duty, ... and only the people pay the price."
"We told Israel that the situation in Gaza is intolerable. You have to find a solution to this. You have the key and you are the jailers. There is also blame for the Palestinian Authority and blame for Egypt, which does not open the Rafah crossing," he said.
The head of the Fatah media office Mounir Jagoub responded that "Qatar's statements themselves deny the human character, and reflect incomprehensible positions that are abusive to the Palestinian leadership."
Jagoub continued, "Al-Emadi's political statements before the news agencies against Brother Abu Mazen is an attempt to exploit the tragic situation in Gaza, disguising what we offer our people there under our duty of support as we share with them money and medicine. " He called on Al-Emadi to "retreat from his positions, which are consistent with the campaigns aimed at perpetuating division and spreading division among our people."
Qatar has been boycotted by other Gulf states for its refusal to cut ties with Iran, and the country has been on a charm offensive centered on right wing American Jewish leaders, who have surprisingly allowed themselves to be used in this cynical way to provide cover for the country.
Qatar has been trying for years to position itself as an honest broker in the Middle East, talking with anyone - including Israel - presumably to increase its own prestige as a power player. And it has done the same in Gaza, cooperating with Hamas in providing aid to Gazans.
And yet, the impression I've gotten from watching its actions in Gaza is that despite its political ambitions and its current setbacks, Qatar is the only Arab country that seems to care about actual Gazans and their welfare. Much of its help has been towards purely humanitarian projects - housing, medicine and the like. It is true that when Hamas had full control over Gaza, Qatar's funding made it easier for Hamas to abdicate its own responsibility as the de facto government there, and instead put its money into building a terror infrastructure. Still, Qatar's willingness to put hundreds of millions into Gaza has shows that the other Arab nations' pro-Palestinian rhetoric is hollow.
Hamas is willing to use Gazans as human shields. The PA is willing to hurt them in its attempt to retake Gaza. Egypt has nothing against Gazans themselves but it will not risk its own security just to help them out. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states consider Hamas to be the enemy both because of its Muslim Brotherhood origins and its friendliness with Iran, so they only pay lip service to Gaza.
Qatar is no paradigm of morality, but it seems to care more about Gaza than the rest of the Palestinians themselves do, let alone the rest of the Arab world and the many supposedly "pro-Palestinian" NGOs that will never say a word against anyone besides Israel.