Saudi Arabia hints at plan to turn Qatar into an island

[Abdullah719]

A Saudi official hinted Friday the kingdom was moving forward with a plan to dig a canal that would turn the neighbouring Qatari peninsula into an island, amid a diplomatic feud between the Gulf nations.

“I am impatiently waiting for details on the implementation of the Salwa island project, a great, historic project that will change the geography of the region,” Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.

The plan, which would physically separate the Qatari peninsula from the Saudi mainland, is the latest stress point in a highly fractious 14 month long dispute between the two states.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and being too close to Riyadh’s archival, Iran charges that Doha denied.

In April, the pro-government Sabq news website reported government plans to build a channel, 38 miles long and 200 meters wide stretching across the kingdom’s border with Qatar.

Part of the canal, which would cost up to $750 million, would be reserved for a planned nuclear waste facility, it said.

Five unnamed companies that specialise in digging canals had been invited to bid for the project and the winner will be announced in September, Makkah newspaper reported in June.

Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment and there was no immediate reaction on the plan from Qatar.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1792666/3-saudi-arabia-hints-plan-turn-qatar-island/

 

[Pakistanian]

Lol this sounds funny, I wanna see this happen.

 

[Nostalgic]

Medieval princelings used to have moats around their castles, sometimes filled with the castle sewage. Their modern-era Gulf counterparts plan to fill it with nuclear waste. The inspiration is obvious.

 

[Varun]

Loving the Muslim brotherhood here.

I wonder if they had a stand on the Dutch contest? Perhaps not.

Learn from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia!

 

[slipcatch]

And what will this achieve?

 

[Nostalgic]

And what will this achieve?

Well, for one thing, Al-Jazeera will finally be based on an actual jazeera.

 

[from_da_lost_dim3nsion]

Well, for one thing, Al-Jazeera will finally be based on an actual jazeera.

Too funny !! actually lol'd

 

[slipcatch]

Well, for one thing, Al-Jazeera will finally be based on an actual jazeera.

Hahaha

so Saudi are trying to correct the mistake of Al-Jazeera, Saudis are kind people.

 

[moghul]

This Saudi regime needs to be toppled , the worst people anywhere.

 

[JaDed]

Well, for one thing, Al-Jazeera will finally be based on an actual jazeera.

) Wb

 

[Bewal Express]

Millions of muslims live in poverty but these idiots couldnt give a a monkey's, instead they play these ludicrous rich man games.

 

[Syed1]

Well, for one thing, Al-Jazeera will finally be based on an actual jazeera.

Hahahahaha amazing

 

[Nostalgic]

I’m glad you guys like the Al-Jazeera quip, but in all seriousness, it is something that has always bothered me. Why name it that, when you’re not based on an island? Perhaps they were basing it on the old Jazeerat-al-Arab (Arabian Island) term one finds in older publications, but that term relied on the premise that the intersection of the Tigris and Eupherates rivers formed one water boundary of the island. That, in my book, was always a tenuous claim: I prefer islands to be surrounded by seas and oceans on all sides, not seas and oceans on three sides and rivers on one side.

Maybe [MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] could shed some much needed light on this conundrum. Also what’s the Arabic for peninsula, which is what Qatar and also Arabia really are? In Urdu it’s Jazeera-Numa, i.e. island-like. Is it something similar in Arabic?

 

[DeadBall]

I’m glad you guys like the Al-Jazeera quip, but in all seriousness, it is something that has always bothered me. Why name it that, when you’re not based on an island? Perhaps they were basing it on the old Jazeerat-al-Arab (Arabian Island) term one finds in older publications, but that term relied on the premise that the intersection of the Tigris and Eupherates rivers formed one water boundary of the island. That, in my book, was always a tenuous claim: I prefer islands to be surrounded by seas and oceans on all sides, not seas and oceans on three sides and rivers on one side.

Maybe [MENTION=146530]DeadBall[/MENTION] could shed some much needed light on this conundrum. Also what’s the Arabic for peninsula, which is what Qatar and also Arabia really are? In Urdu it’s Jazeera-Numa, i.e. island-like. Is it something similar in Arabic?

You should have won the internet for the day on the third of September aka 9/3 to you.

Coming on the topic of Jazeeras, Jazeera basically means an island, that is why Algeria is called Al Jazaa'ir (plural of Jazeera) in Arabic. Not sure about the etymology here but it does come from the root jazr which could mean the ebb of the water from the sea and also is a plural for carrots (Jazarah being the singular) so I am as lost as you here. Not sure about peninsula as Geography wasn't my forte, their did I see any mention of it in our textbooks at the time.

A google search does translate it to Shabah Jazeera which basically translates to a Ghost Island or something similar to an island, in this case I think the latter would be more applicable. Arabic is a very complex language.

 

[Nostalgic]

You should have won the internet for the day on the third of September aka 9/3 to you.

Coming on the topic of Jazeeras, Jazeera basically means an island, that is why Algeria is called Al Jazaa'ir (plural of Jazeera) in Arabic. Not sure about the etymology here but it does come from the root jazr which could mean the ebb of the water from the sea and also is a plural for carrots (Jazarah being the singular) so I am as lost as you here. Not sure about peninsula as Geography wasn't my forte, their did I see any mention of it in our textbooks at the time.

A google search does translate it to Shabah Jazeera which basically translates to a Ghost Island or something similar to an island, in this case I think the latter would be more applicable. Arabic is a very complex language.

The jazr root for the ebb and flow of water exists in Urdu as well, probably via Farsi. The most famous example is perhaps Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali’s magnum opus, Madd-o-Jazr-e-Islam, literally The Ebb and Flow of Islam, although a more correct translation would be the Rise and Fall of Islam. Radio stations used to have it recited in its entirety during Ramzan. Hali had based it on Ferdosi’s famous Shahnameh, so Hali’s work was also called Shahnameh-e-Islam, and since each stanza was five lines, it also went by Musaddas-e-Hali.

But I digress. Shabah Jazeera suggests something that can be mistaken for an island, so I guess it isn’t too dissimilar from the Urdu Jazeera Numa.

 

[MenInG]

Seems all forgotten due to love of football, or not?

==

DOHA, Qatar — In the stands at the World Cup, the fraternal bond between host Qatar and its neighbor Saudi Arabia has been clear. Fans have arrived to games dressed in the colors of both nations, and the countries’ rulers have made a show of publicly supporting one another.

Even so, the nations appear to be locked in a curious dispute about broadcasting that has made a majority of the World Cup’s games unavailable to viewers in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi-based customers of Tod TV, a streaming service launched in January by Qatar’s beIN Media Group, which owns rights to the tournament across the Middle East, were suddenly blocked from the platform an hour before the tournament’s opening game last Sunday. That meant they were not watching when their country’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, wearing a Qatar scarf, was given a seat next to the FIFA president Gianni Infantino, one removed from Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the emir of Qatar.

The sight of Prince Mohammed being afforded such a prominent role at the World Cup would have been unthinkable only two years ago, when he led a regional boycott against Qatar, or when a yearslong effort by a Saudi-backed pirate network effectively stole billions of dollars worth of beIN’s sports content. Since the thaw, relations had improved to such an extent that Saudi Arabia is considering buying a stake in beIN; it already has signed a $130 million marketing agreement with the Qatari company.

With that backdrop, beIN officials have been stunned to find their streaming platform suspended by Saudi Arabia’s media regulators. BeIN has lobbied FIFA, Saudi Arabia’s sports minister and even the United States and British government to find a way to get their services unlocked but have so far struck out and remain unclear why the action has been taken in a country where soccer is fervently followed by millions and that has sent thousands of soccer fans flooding across the border. Qatar’s emir even wore a Saudi Arabia scarf during Saudi Arabia’s shock victory over powerhouse Argentina Monday.

What is the World Cup? The quadrennial event pits the best national soccer teams against each other for the title of world champion. Here’s a primer to the 2022 men’s tournament:

Where is it being held? This year’s host is Qatar, which in 2010 beat the United States and Japan to win the right to hold the tournament. Whether that was an honest competition remains in dispute.

When is it? The tournament opened on Nov. 20, when Qatar played Ecuador. Over the two weeks that follow, four games will be played on most days. The tournament ends with the final on Dec. 18.

Is a winter World Cup normal? No. The World Cup usually takes place in July. But in 2015, FIFA concluded that the summer temperatures in Qatar might have unpleasant consequences and agreed to move the tournament to the relatively bearable months of November and December.

The only official message so far has been one from the media ministry, telling subscribers attempting to log into their accounts that the network has been suspended for an unspecified violation of regulations.

Saudi subscribers have flooded social media with complaints about their lack of access to the site, while electronics companies that carry Tod TV on their equipment have also sought answers from beIN’s Tod subsidiary. The network has been unable to provide much clarity and is unsure why the action has been taken. Just this week Prince Salman directed all state institutions to support Qatar in its efforts to host the World Cup.

Sign up for the World Cup Briefing. The world’s greatest sporting spectacle returns in November. Get our daily analysis of every match and the stories from Qatar that you won’t see on TV. Get it sent to your inbox.
“Due to matters beyond our control, we are experiencing an outage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is currently impacting TOD.tv, the official streaming partner of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Additional information will be provided as soon as it is available,” Tod wrote to its partners.

Saudi Arabia’s media ministry did not reply to an email for comment. FIFA, which has become close to Saudi Arabia, and has encouraged the Gulf kingdom to bid for the 2030 World Cup, also did not reply to a request for comment.

The Saudi Arabia Media Ministry is headed by Majid Al Qasabi, who is also a board member of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, the entity that is currently engaged in talks to buy a stake in beIN.

FIFA had joined dozens of sports federations and leagues to demand Saudi Arabia take action against the Saudi-backed pirate network, named BeOUTQ, which flourished during the blockade, which peaked in 2018, when the last World Cup was held in Russia, and pirated in its entirety.

Until the sudden suspension, Tod has grown to become the largest streaming service in Saudi Arabia, surpassing subscription numbers for popular international services like Netflix and Disney Plus.

Under its agreement with FIFA, beIN is broadcasting 22 World Cup games on free television in Saudi Arabia, including the opening game, the final and all of Saudi Arabia’s games. The remaining 42 are only available on Tod. The suspension has infuriated millions of soccer loving Saudis whose fervor has only grown after the defeat of Argentina.

The ban on the streaming site comes amid a push by Saudi Arabia to become a global sports player. The country has rapidly become one of the biggest investors in the sector, scooping up a panoply of rights and events, including the high profile purchase of Premier League soccer team Newcastle and launching LIV Golf, a series backed by billions of dollars with pretensions to usurp established competitions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/sports/soccer/saudi-arabia-qatar-world-cup-dispute.html