Al Jazeera given 48 hr extension
Four Arab states extend a deadline for Qatar to agree to 13 demands, including the closure of Al Jazeera TV.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Qatar has been given another 48 hours to respond to a list of demands, including the closure of Al Jazeera TV, by four Arab states.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have raised the possibility of further sanctions against Qatar if it does not comply with 13 demands.
The four countries agreed to a request by Kuwait, acting as a mediator state, to extend Sunday’s deadline by 48 hours.
The four states cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar on June 5th, accusing it of supporting terrorism, meddling in their internal affairs and advancing the agenda of regional foe Iran, all of which Qatar denies.
Qatar’s Gulf critics accuse Al Jazeera of being a platform for extremists and an agent of interference in their affairs.
They have not specified what further sanctions they could impose on Doha, but commercial bankers in the region believe that Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini banks might receive official guidance to pull deposits and interbank loans from Qatar.
Qatar says it is interested in negotiating a fair and just solution to ‘any legitimate issues’ but says the demands are so strict that the four countries never seriously intended them as a negotiating position.
A US State Department official said the United States encourages “all parties to exercise restraint to allow for productive diplomatic discussions.”
Gulf countries have insisted the demands are non-negotiable.
Al Jazeera screens in Australia via ABC, SBS and Foxtel.
Source: Reuters
8 Responses
A few years back while in Indonesia a local I new showed me a story on Al Jazeera about President Obama introducing dignitaries to each other. The President used an open hand to point and introduce people to each other. The story according according to Al Jazeera was that the dignitaries were refusing to shake the President’s hand. The local asked me if what Al Jazeera was saying was true. She wasn’t sure, which made me wonder how many ‘untruths’ do they put up each day and even worse how many locals believe it!
Al Jazeera is more moderate than much of what the Sky News channel puts out.
I think there is quite a difference between the domestic Al Jazeera and the global Al Jazeera English in terms of editorial line.
I like Al Jazeera English
“Al Jazeera screens in Australia via ABC, SBS and Foxtel.”
… and Fetch
I get David’s response as to why he doesn’t credit Fetch (they don’t respond to him), but to me it doesn’t lend credibility to the tvtonight site if you aren’t given all of the information as to what is available on paytv in Aus. I mean, there are stories on the foxtelnow streaming, so why not fetch???
I have done Fetch stories, including a full review of a SpikeTV show recently and a few business stories over the years. It’s disappointing they didn’t respond to my reaching out. In this post my missing out on naming Fetch is not really much different to forgetting to mention that a Seven show was on UKTV or vice versa.
Yes, fair enough. Been following tvt for years and thinks it’s pretty good, so just interested if/why things get missed. I guess we are human.