By Paul Nicholson
June 17 – In a region split by political division and posturing, the Qatar 2022 World Cup has forged a significant alliance, at least of outlook, within the country’s closest neighbours.
Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Abdullatif al-Zayani, blasted what he called a “biased media campaign”. A powerful show of support from the Gulf states who have politically been at loggerheads with Qatar in recent months.
The GCC statement said: “The Secretary General affirmed the GCC’s … complete support in the face of all doubters and haters and everyone who is attempting to lessen (Qatar’s) right to host this historic sporting event’.
The Secretary General said that Qatar won its bid through ‘honest competition’.
A World Cup in Qatar in 2022 would be the first time the tournament has been held in the region. The significance and the potential it brings for an understanding of, and potentially change in, the region and globally, has not been lost by the politicians.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain all withdrew ambassadors from Qatar in March. A move that the Qatar said it treated with “regret and surprise” but which it did not respond to with similar diplomatic withdrawals.
The statement from the GCC shows an Arab unity that has been previously misunderstood in the west, but more significantly demonstrates the depth of Arab feeling towards the west over the “biased” (many believe racially biased, or at the least racially stereotyped) treatment of Qatar and its preparations to host a World Cup in 2022.
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