The director of the Al-Jazeera office in Kuwait, Saad Al-Saeedi, posted a tweet on his Twitter account, in which he said that a statement will be issued on Friday regarding the Gulf crisis.
A statement shortly after ... # the Gulf crisis
- Saad Saidi (@salsaeedi) December 4, 2020
Al-Jazeera Net has learned from informed Gulf sources that there are new developments regarding ending the Gulf crisis.
The sources confirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that an expected statement will be issued later on Friday, which may constitute a breakthrough in the crisis, which began when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain imposed a blockade on Qatar in mid-2017.
On Friday, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said, "Qatar is optimistic about resolving the Gulf crisis."
He added, in a videoconference with the session of the Sixth Rome Forum for Mediterranean Dialogue, that any kind of settlement to the crisis must be comprehensive and preserve the unity of the Gulf.
"We hope that things will move in the right direction, but we cannot predict whether the move is imminent or the conflict will be completely resolved, and we cannot say that all problems will be solved in one day," he said.
He stressed that the Gulf crisis has nothing to do with the Abraham agreements or any normalization with Israel, stressing that normalization with Israel at the present time will not add any value to the Palestinian people.
The United States and Kuwait are working to end the dispute that prompted Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to impose a diplomatic and economic blockade on Qatar since mid-2017.
The US agency "Bloomberg" said on Thursday that "Saudi Arabia and Qatar are close to reaching a preliminary agreement to end the dispute that has lasted for more than 3 years, under pressure from the administration of the outgoing US President Donald Trump."
The agency added, citing 3 sources (whose identity has not been revealed), that the initial agreement will not include the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
The US agency quoted two sources as saying that the rapprochement is likely to include reopening the airspace and the land borders between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, putting an end to the media war between them, and taking more steps to build confidence, as part of a detailed plan to gradually restore relations.