Qatar slowly opened up to the democratic system. In 1963, the Qatari Sheikh made some concessions and allowed Municipal Council to be elected by all Qatari males. However, it appears to have faded from view without any noticeable impact. After the independence, Sheikh Khalifa believed that elections were neither necessary nor useful and his son, Sheikh Hamad, began to reform the country in this area. In April 2003, Qatari citizens voted on a constitution that included an election. Until 2021, Doha postponed plans for a partially elected Shura Council. Instead, members of the body, the top advisory body for the government, have been appointed by the Emir. On October 2, 2011, Qataris began voting in the Emirate’s first legislative election. The results were an example of the conservative view of the Qatari population. The conservative atmosphere also appeared in the sessions of another elected advisory council, the Central Municipal Council (CMC) and every reform or change can be initiated only by the leadership, specifically the Emir. The conservative atmosphere and the significant role of the Emir in the change appeared especially in the question of the women in the democratic process. However, during the years, the Al-Thani continued to closely monitor the implementation of the elections and make sure things would not go out of hand. Moreover, political participation limited different factions of the Al-Thani family and prominent families in the Emirate, sometimes connected through marriages to the ruling family.
The normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain had a major impact on other entities in the Middle East. One of the important players was the Al Thani administration in Qatar. This was the third time Doha needed to respond to a peace treaty with Israel. Every time, Qatar has chosen a different way. In the cases of both the Egypt–Israel peace treaty and the Abraham Accords, Doha objected. In the 1990s, however, the Al Thani regime supported rapprochement with Israel, for two reasons. The first was the opinion of the Palestinian community. The second was due to the objectives of the foreign policy of the emirate. In 1979, Qatar had to suit the norm in the Arab arena, in particular, Saudi Arabia. In 1990, it had to externalize Qatar's status in international affairs. In 2020, it had to ally itself with other Islamic states and organizations that opposed Israel, like Turkey. In order to understand Doha's point of view on the peace agreements, this article examines each one separately, as each has its unique features, causes, and consequences for the negotiations and the way they affected the years that followed. The article then identifies the recurring characteristics of the two earlier processes and their relevance to contemporary politics in the Persian Gulf.
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