Yearbook 2006
Qatar. The TV channel al-Jazira, which has its
headquarters in Qatar, began broadcasting in English on
November 15. It happened ten years after the premiere in
Arabic. In 2007, the channel planned to broadcast around the
clock. Initially, they were sent twelve hours a day.
According to
CountryAAH, Qatar's relations with Jordan and Tunisia were strained
during the year. Tunisia closed its embassy in Doha in
October in protest of al-Jazira sending two interviews with
an opposition leader calling for civil disobedience against
Tunisian President Zayn al-Abidin Ben Ali. Saudi Arabia
protested similarly in 2002 to al-Jazira since the channel
aired a TV debate on a Saudi peace plan for the Middle East.
Jordan was annoyed that Qatar, which had a seat on the UN
Security Council during the year, did not back Jordan's
candidate for the post of UN Secretary General, Prince Zeid
bin Ra'ad, in a test vote in October. Qatar is said to have
voted for South Korea's foreign minister Ban Ki Moon, who
was eventually appointed to succeed Kofi Annan.
Qatar was one of the Arab countries trying to support the
Palestinian Authority (Palestinian National Authority) when
the outside world decided to withdraw its support for the
PNA since the Hamas terrorist stamp won the Palestinian
elections in January. In December, the United States
objected to Qatar offering to pay teacher salaries for
40,000 PNA staff teachers.
Qatar also worked on constructing a 36-mile-long gas
pipeline on the bottom of the Gulf of Persia to the United
Arab Emirates.
|
