THE rift between Qatar and Saudi Arabia has been widening with each passing day. The Saudis, who have the backing of the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, accuse Qatar of backing terrorist organisations and funding insurgents and Hamas, which Doha has denied vehemently.

Recently, Israel has entered the fray and revoked the media credentials of Al Jazeera journalists and closed the network’s offices in Jerusalem. This has added another player to the Middle East game. It seems Tel Aviv was biding its time and waiting for the appropriate moment to close down Al Jazeera as it has always been critical of the Zionist state’s oppressive policies and its occupation of Palestinian lands.

This is obvious from the announcement of Ayoob Kara, Israel’s communication minister, who said: “We have based our decision on the move by Sunni Arab states,” — referring to Saudi Arabia and its allies — to close all Al Jazeera offices and prohibiting their work.

Perhaps this is the latest example of a Thucydides Trap as suggested by Professor Graham Alison, a political scientist and professor at Harvard University. To paraphrase the learned professor’s explanation of Thucydides’ philosophy: “War is inevitable when a rising power causes fear in an established power when its actions challenge the status and prestige of the ruling power.”

Izhar Hussain

Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2017