The agreement between Israel and Qatar, mediated by the world football association FIFA, on the opening of a temporary representation in Doha during the World Cup, is close to completion. According to political sources in Israel, the agreement is to be signed in front of FIFA only at the request of the Qataris, in order to avoid a direct agreement with Israel, but its details are with the knowledge and consent of Qatar.
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According to the agreement, the government in Doha will allocate space and allow the establishment of a temporary consular representation, and the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be stationed in the representation, whose role will be to provide consular assistance to the thousands of Israelis who are expected to come to the soccer World Cup games, the World Cup, which will begin in Qatar on Sunday in about a week and a half and end on December 18. The assistance at the temporary consulate will be intended mainly for those who lost their passports, or got into problems with the authorities or the residents.
In addition, Israelis will be able to come to Qatar without requiring a visa apart from the special registration for all World Cup tourists from any country in the world. Every tourist will receive a numbered identification card with which he must identify himself at the entrances to the games for which he purchased a ticket.
There is still no exact number of Israelis who will arrive in Qatar, but according to estimates it is about 3,000-5,000 Israelis. Some of them have foreign passports in addition to the Israeli passport.
About a year ago, it was published in Globes that Qatar agreed to the opening of an Israeli commercial representative office for the diamond industry, in exchange for Israel’s consent to its inclusion in the list of countries eligible to trade in diamonds. This agreement by Doha is intended, among other things, to signal to the world its openness to countries with which it does not maintain relations, in preparation for the World Cup.
However, the temporary consular representation is not expected to remain after the World Cup, even though Israel has groped about this possibility. Let us remind you that Israel had a representative office in Doha, but it was closed after Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in 2009. Qatar is also involved in what is happening in the Gaza Strip by transferring financial aid to the needy, purchasing fuel for the Strip’s power plant and restoring buildings destroyed in the clashes with Israel.