Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Are Bahrain and Qatar really on the path to achieve reconciliation? Why are there no positive initiatives to resolve the crisis? Does the seizure of Qataris properties in Bahrain serve this path?

Information suggested that the Ministry of Interior has begun new construction opposite to Al-Seef Bridge in Al-Daih, on lands owned by Qatari citizens.

The seizure of these properties dates back to January 2021, when the government announced that it had acquired (seized) 130 properties in the vicinity of Al-Seef area under the guise of public benefit. 

It was later revealed, according to information, that the expropriated properties belong to the cousins of the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

According to data published in the Official Gazette, the owners are Mohammed, Sarah and Aldana, sons of Khalid bin Nasser Abdullah Al-Misnad, half-brother of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad, mother of the Emir.

A decision issued by the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning said that the expropriation decision came at the request of the Ministry of Interior, and asked the owners to check with the ministry via email for more information.

Ironically, this decision, to encroach on the property of Qataris in Bahrain, came days after the Gulf summit statement in Al-Ula in which GCC leaders stressed the end of the Gulf crisis. 

Qatar settled its dispute with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt and ignored Bahrain, which was the spearhead in the dispute with Qatar.

Although Doha agreed, two years later, to repeated requests by the ruling family to schedule a bilateral meeting at the foreign level of the two countries to discuss the outstanding issues, it seems that reconciliation is not taking place.

The seizure of Khalid Al-Misnad's sons property may not mean much to the Qatari side, which is accustomed to the financial corruption practiced by Bahrain's ruling family, but it does not give a positive indication of the desire for reconciliation. 

This is not the first case between the two countries in which the Al Khalifa family has tried to rob Qataris, as the family has registered lands on which the Qatar-Bahrain Bridge passes in the names of public figures so that Qatar can pay for their acquisition. However, Qatar made a decision not to pay financial compensation for the acquisition of those lands, which led to a delay in the implementation of the bridge project between the two countries, until last year it closed the bridge office in Doha permanently.

The government is trying to create a positive atmosphere about its desire to reconcile with Qatar, but its provocative acts against the Qatari side have not stopped.

Bahrain continues its harassment in the media and claim that Zubarah belongs to Al Khalifa, and that Qatar submitted forged documents to the International Court on the border dispute between the two countries, along with the continued imprisonment of opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman on charges of spying for Qatar, and finally the seizure of properties of Qataris.

There is no information on progress on the level of reconciliation, after the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, agreed to meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, Abdullatif Al-Zayani, at the headquarters of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, but the start of construction on the property of Qataris does not indicate a desire for reconciliation to begin with. 

Arabic Version