A senior Saudi official has appeared to confirm Riyadh's plans to dig a canal separating Qatar from the mainland, turning it into an island. Qatar has been diplomatically isolated from its neighbors for over a year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Zumapress
Advertisement
A senior adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appeared to confirm that the kingdom is considering digging a canal along the border with the Qatari peninsula, effectively turning it into an island.
"I am impatiently waiting for details on the implementation of the Salwa island project, a great, historic project that will change the geography of the region," Saud al-Qahtani posted on Twitter Friday.
Reports of the canal first emerged back in April on Sabq, a news website with close links to the Saudi royal family. However, al-Qahtani's remarks were the clearest reference yet that the Saudi regime is serious about the initiative.
Qatar 'ready for dialogue'
04:47
This browser does not support the video element.
The original report suggested that the canal would stretch some 60 kilometers (37 miles) along the Qatari border and measure around 200 meters (650 feet) in width. The cost of the project is expected to reach up to 2.8 billion riyals (€645 million, $750 million). Part of the canal is expected to host a nuclear waste facility.
Further reports in the Makkah newspaper suggested that five unnamed construction companies had been invited to bid on the project, with a winner set to be announced in September.
Saudi Arabia's canal project marks the latest stress point between the two oil-rich nations. The Saudi kingdom and its regional allies — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt — cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of harboring close ties to Iran and supporting various terrorist groups.
Doha denies the charges and claims the boycott is an attempt to encroach its sovereignty.
Since the dispute erupted last year, Qatar has seen its only land border closed and residents expelled from the boycotting countries. Its state-owned airline Qatar Airways is also barred from flying over its neighbors' airspaces.
Mediation efforts by the US and Kuwait have so far failed to resolve the diplomatic row.
Qatar - Gulf Cooperation Council disputes over the years
The current diplomatic crisis engulfing Qatar is not the first time that wealthy Gulf neighbors have been through rough patches. DW takes a look at the history of Middle Eastern regional discord.
Severed ties, broken trust
Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt cut ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of backing extremism and fostering ties with their Shiite rival, Iran. Doha denies the claim. SA and its allies also imposed sanctions against Doha and presented Qatar with a list of demands. Kuwait has been trying to mediate, and several Western diplomats have toured the region to defuse the row.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/STRINGER
Instability haunts Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
Back on March 5, 2014, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain suspended ties with Qatar over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that has been labelled a terrorist organization. Qatar was accused of breaching the 2013 GCC security agreement. Later in November that year, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain agreed to return their ambassadors to Doha after eight months of tension and frozen relations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Elfiqi
Arab Spring and the GCC
The Arab Spring in 2011 did not lead to uprisings in GCC member states, apart from Bahrain, which crushed Shiite protests with Saudi military support. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have long been concerned Iran could cause unrest among their Shiite populations.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Al-Shaikh
Pipeline disputes
Relations between Saudi Arab and Qatar hit a low spot in 2006 after Riyadh withdrew its approval for Qatar’s plans to build a gas pipeline to Kuwait. In the same year, Saudi Arabia also protested against a planned pipeline for taking Qatari gas to the UAE and Oman. In 2005 there had also been Saudi protests against a plan to build a bridge linking Qatar to the UAE.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Brakemeier
Border clash
In 1992, three people were killed in a border clash between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Qatar claimed that Saudi Arabia had attacked the border post at Khafus. Saudi Arabia responded that the clash had taken place on Saudi territory.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Border dispute
In 1965 an agreement was reached on where the border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia would lie. But the issue was not completely settled until decades later. After three years of wrangling, the two countries signed a border demarcation agreement in 1996. It took more than a decade after this for it to be fully implemented.
Territorial disputes
In 1991, Doha took a border dispute with Bahrain over the Hawar Islands to the United Nations International Court of Justice. Armed confrontation between the two countries had been narrowly avoided in 1986 due to timely Saudi intervention. Later, the ICJ ruled in favor of Bahrain. Qatar was awarded the Janan Islands.
