Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making an official visit to Washington, where the issue of normalization with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on the agenda, among other things, but recently there has been an interesting shift for events with another bay country: Qatar. For the first time ever, an Israeli delegation participated last week at the International International Diamond and Jewelry Conference in Qatar, the capital, Doha, could reveal “Globes”.
The delegation, which entered Qatar with Israeli passports, included Nissim Zorzz, the head of the Israeli diamond exchange in Ramat Gan, and the CEO of Iran Zini, and was called by the Minister of Trade and Industry Vical Al Thani. Although the event opened about ten days after the ceasefire with Hamas, the invitation was extended from the second one month ago. During the event at the Nid Doha Hotel, the country and other participants did not attempt to hide the Israeli presence.
In the first row, visitors sat with the Minister of International Trade for International Trade Dr. Ahmed Al -Saad and the President of the Tourism Authority Saad Al -Kharji. Qatari’s largest figures in the event was Prime Minister Mohamed Al Thani, who opened the exhibition. The President of the Dubai Multi -commodity Center (DMCC), Ahmed bin Salim, expressed his satisfaction with the invitation that was extended to the Israelis.
Zuarezz said: “We are at the beginning of an operation with the Qataris for many commercial opportunities, not only in the field of diamonds. Qatar will become an important center. Just as it started with Dubai, where today’s trips from Israel to Israel are never stopping Dubai, and the UAE and investment in Israel have been today. . The strategy with them.
During this event, the participants discussed the future of the global diamond industry, new technologies and international cooperation. Israel has already been reflected as a prominent diamond center in relations with Qatar over the years.
In 2021, Israel and Qatar reached an agreement that allows Qatar to join the list of countries qualifying for diamonds in light of the Kimberley Operation Countries of Petroleum (KPCS), which is Israel as a founding member. Doha has pledged to allow Israeli merchants to enter the country, but today trade with the Gulf is focusing on the DMCC Stock Exchange in Dubai, which also allows to communicate with merchants from countries that Israel does not have diplomatic relations.
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Reconciliation with neighbors
In the same year when the diamond agreement was signed with Israel, it also witnessed the end of the Qatar crisis with its neighbors in the Gulf. Under the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, it has interrupted it for four years due to allegations of support for terrorism. However, Qatar Al -Saghir (a population of three million, of whom only 12 % of Qataris) have been leading them since 2013 by Prince Tarim bin Hamad Al Thani, an international player who is difficult to ignore. In the military field, the major US Air Force base near Doha is located. In the political field, the deep family in the West is generally seen and the Trump administration in particular as an effective mediator, as shown in negotiations with Hamas while in the economic field, Qatar is the country with the highest level of natural gas reserves for the individual in the world.
Natural gas is a decisive factor in the reason for the high GDP of the individual in Qatar (about $ 80,200 in 2023, according to the World Bank) is particularly high, even according to the Gulf terms. For comparison, the GDP of the individual in the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is about $ 49,000 and $ 21,000, respectively. Israel is located somewhere between these countries, as the GDP of the individual reached about $ 52,600.
Diamond industry is one of the oldest industries and exports in Israel. It started during the British mandate period more than 80 years ago, and is intertwined with the local economy. In the fifties of the last century, when Israel had a significant deficiency in the foreign currency, it was the diamond industry that generated the foreign exchange flow to the state’s tanks. Since then, the United Arab Emirates has established a free trade zone in Dubai, and has become important players in the diamond market. Partially due to the new competition, total diamond exports have decreased from Israel over the past decade. Partially due to the war, exports decreased by 33.1 % to $ 2.5 billion in 2024.
Zaini said: “The competition between us, Dubai and Qatar, which decided to enter the diamond sector strongly, is not a competition between companies, but between governments. They understood how important the jewelry and diamond sector is, while Israel is not Israel is not the attention and loss of its relative advantage.
With the end of the war, cooperation with Qatar may be useful in the diamond sector. The Qataris have significant financial and logistical capabilities on an international scale that can harm Israel’s position on the market, especially with the impact of the United Arab Emirates, but at the same time, Israel is recognized that it has the greatest knowledge and experience in industry and all parties can generate mutual success.
Relationships have been frozen
Diamond connection may increase Qatari interest in strengthening economic relations with Israel, and perhaps on the way to normalization in the expected future. In the case of the United Arab Emirates, the relations of diamonds between countries preceded the Ibrahim agreements. “Even before Ibrahim’s agreements, there were diamond agreements with Dubai,” he said. “The global market realizes that if you want to be an important player, you must have a connection to Israel.”
Qatar has a longer “contact” for Israel from most of the Gulf countries. In the aftermath of the Madrid conference in 1991, relations between the two countries were formed, when following the Oslo agreement, then the author of the author Shimon Peres met his Qatari counterpart. Immediately after that, Israel studied the possibility of buying natural gas from Doha, and in 1996, Qatar and Israel established diplomatic ties at the level of commercial attachments.
The outbreak of the second intifada led to the closure of the Qatari mission in 2000, but Doha, led by the father of the current prince, Hamad Thani, quickly renewed relations. Three years later, then the Katari Foreign Minister, Hamad Ann Thani, stated that if the peace agreement with Israel will benefit the interests of Doha, they will consider this step. This step was not achieved. During the work in 2009, the Israeli mission was closed again and after that, Prime Minister Netanyahu refused to renew relations in the same way.
Since then, especially after Prince Tlem’s arrival in power in 2013, Israel has been distinguished by a train with no confidence and suspicion. It was appropriate for Jerusalem to use Doha’s relations with Hamas to mediate, and even transfer a monthly grant worth 30 million dollars to Gaza from the process of protecting a process in 2014 to October 7, 2023. At the same time, security ties between the two parties have been tightened since the United States decision to transfer lands Israeli to the Judicial Judicial Region of the Central Command (CENTCOM) about four years ago. In this context, in 2022, the Saudi Elaf website informed that the former Israeli Defense Army Chief of Staff, Abif Kochfi, met the Qatari Chief of Staff Salem bin Hamad Al -Aqeel at the Fifth Fleet headquarters in the United States in Bahrain.
Posted by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – on February 5, 2025.
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