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Follow up the death of the Qatari Emir’s father Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani on Sunday, his cooperation with the Palestinian people remains one of the most prominent features of his leadership. He is remembered not only as a regional leader, but also as a staunch ally of the Palestinian people and the only Arab leader physically breaking the crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.
In October 2012, Sheikh Hamad visited the troubled Gaza Strip, six years after Israel closed its borders to the rest of the world, following the 2006 Palestinian elections.
Accompanied by his wife, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, and high-level delegations, the Emir went through the political isolation imposed by Western powers and actors, which led to a great reception and popular reception.
The head of the Hamas office, Khaled Meshaal, told Al Jazeera that the trip to the Strip means that “Jerusalem, Gaza and Palestine are crying.”
“He was the first Arab and Muslim leader to go to Gaza, standing by his side with dignity and respect, as if announcing the end of the city in the dark,” Meshaal told Al Jazeera. “He was smart, brave and smart.”
Ahmed al-Sheikh, a senior journalist, Arab commentator and former news director at Al Jazeera Arabic Channel, said Mr. Emir had a “special love for Palestine”.
“Is there any leader in the Arab world who has done this (to visit Gaza), except Hamad bin Khalifa?” al-Sheikh appeared in recent interview.
“Why did he go to Gaza? Because he saw that everyone around Gaza was ignoring him”, he added.
During this famous visit, Sheikh Hamad announced an increase in Qatar’s reconstruction funds from $254m to $400m, laying the groundwork for important housing, infrastructure and health projects that benefited thousands of Palestinians.
Speaking to the crowd at the Islamic University of Gaza – which awarded him and Sheikha Moza honorary doctorates for their humanitarian work – he praised the courage of the Palestinian people, while criticizing the two world practices.
Personal suffering is the ‘head’ of liberation
His commitment to Palestine preceded the closure of Gaza. In 1999, Sheikh Hamad became the first Gulf leader to visit the Palestinian territories since 1967, meeting with former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat during the political crisis.
According to al-Sheikh, the emir saw the Palestinian war through his eyes. When the former Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon surrounded Arafat At the headquarters in Ramallah, the emir felt great pain. He told his aides that Sharon had attacked Muqata’ait was as if they were attacking Qatar itself.
His connection to Palestine was sad that he had not visited Jerusalem before its capture in 1967, According to al-Sheikh, which led him to send many three-hour documentaries on the city to capture its history and history.
Instead of relying on international intervention, they believed in the Palestinian people’s organization and that they were the leaders of their movement. “You will act first and without doing this there will be no freedom,” the emir told al-Sheikh.
Opposition to regional cooperation
This often puts him at odds with regional unity. During the 2008-2009 Israeli war in Gaza, deep divisions emerged among the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on how to respond to the crisis.
Sheikh Hamad called an emergency Arab meeting in Doha, asking for a $250m reconstruction fund and a sea route to cross the border. He expressed his disappointment on television about the lack of an Arab quorum for the emergency meeting. “God is sufficient for us and he is a good steward.”
Some of the most important infrastructure projects in Gaza before Israel’s civil war began in October 2023 were due to the financial promises made by Sheikh Hamad.
Qatar funded the rehabilitation of key roads and the landmark Sheikh Hamad City in Khan Younis – a $58m housing project with 53 modern homes for thousands of low-income families.
In addition, the Sheikh Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, which it was officially opened in April 2019it became the best place for amputees and hearing impaired children in the area.
Israel’s war on terror in Gaza has systematically ended many of the Qatari financial contributions to Sheikh Hamad’s leadership. Satellite images since May of this year it confirms that Hamad City and other areas in southern Gaza have been wiped off the map.
Sheikh Hamad Hospital succeeded resuming its important duties last December, despite the direct persecution, the severe shortage and collapse of the health system in Gaza. Using a CT scanner in northern Gaza, the hospital has opened a new branch in the south to deal with a 225 percent increase in amputation cases.
The Sheikh Hamad hospital which continues to operate during the ongoing conflict in Gaza remains a remnant of the Emir’s unprecedented actions in the besieged areas. His support for Gaza will be there for generations.
