As this week’s issue of the Guardian Weekly went to press, a UN-backed monitor said famine was now unfolding in Gaza. That statement came less than 24 hours after Donald Trump acknowledged for the first time that there was “real starvation” and told Israel to allow “every ounce of food” into Gaza. This week’s big story, led by on-the-ground reporting by Gaza-based journalist Malak A Tantash, focuses on the limited pause in fighting by Israel to allow aid deliveries.
The pictures of malnourished Palestinians that prompted Trump to speak out, along with this week’s UN conference on a peace settlement to end the war, will hopefully lead back to a negotiating table in Qatar. For our cover story, Nesrine Malik examines how this tiny Gulf state managed to position itself as the key player on the chessboard of international relations. Her in-depth essay goes back to the setting up of Al Jazeera in Doha in 1996 and its role in 2011’s Arab spring, the discovery of vast offshore gas deposits and how the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, has leveraged his contacts and Qatar’s position in the Gulf to bolster the country’s own security.
