International Muslim scholars urge Gulf reconciliation

By Ahmed Khalifa

ISTANBUL (AA) – Six months after the outbreak of the Qatar crisis, a group of global Muslim scholars on Monday appealed to Gulf leaders to “shoulder their responsibilities before Allah and their people in achieving comprehensive reconciliation and overcoming disputes".

The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) statement comes on the eve of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Kuwait, amid a crisis in the region.

"Almighty God has ordered people in dispute to move to just reconciliation because they are brothers in faith,” said the statement, in reference to the Gulf crisis which erupted in early June.

The statement warned that the suffering of the fragmented Arab and Islamic nations and disputes within the Gulf encourage greedy people, saying they “even threatened to make Jerusalem the capital of the occupation state," Israel, referring to rumored plans to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem.

The U.S. media has reported that President Donald Trump is mulling relocating the embassy as well as formal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.

The four threatened to impose further sanctions on Doha if it failed to accept a long list of demands, including the closure of the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera television.

Qatar denies the accusations, describing attempts to diplomatically isolate it as a violation of international law and its national sovereignty.

Kuwait has been leading mediation efforts to resolve the crisis, dispatching a number of high-level emissaries to relay messages between Qatar and the blockade states.