Western sources: talks between Saudi Arabia and Qatar collapse

Four Western diplomats in the Gulf and two informed sources told Reuters that the priority for Qatar in the talks was to restore freedom of movement of its citizens to other countries, open airspace in these countries to its planes, and reopen Qatar's only land borders, which are with Saudi Arabia.

However, three of the diplomats said that Riyadh wanted Qatar to first show a fundamental change in its conduct, especially in its foreign policy, in which Doha supported anti-Riyadh parties in several regional conflicts.

A diplomat said that Saudi Arabia wanted a new arrangement with Qatar that includes Doha’s commitment to new pledges it takes on itself.

One of the diplomats added that this: "An aborted idea from the start for Qatar, because there are many differences in foreign policy."

Two other Gulf sources familiar with the developments of the talks said that Saudi Arabia, which represents the rest of the countries boycotting Qatar, ended the talks after the annual Gulf Summit held in Riyadh in December and the Emir of Qatar did not participate.

Three of the Western diplomats emphasized that Riyadh wanted to achieve a victory in foreign policy before hosting the G20 summit in 2020, after its reputation was damaged due to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The Gulf countries accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and getting closer to its regional rivals Iran and Turkey.

J.O