of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait”. These developments led to the collapse of many norms and sacred tenets. It can be said that many realities previously covered up by hypocrisy were now unveiled. Among these sacred tenets was the absolute rejection of rapprochement with Israel. Al Jazeera was born into this uncertain environment, which foretold major revolutions; and one of this stage’s most noticeable features was the belief in America’s divine status and reliance on it by its protectors who saw that aligning with America was an opportunity to “settle old scores” (1) . Origin of the Idea Reforming the media sector in Qatar and establishing Al Jazeera was one of the pillars of the Father Emir’s reformist vision. As research- ers Muhammad El-Nawawi and Adel Iskandar explain it, “Al Jazeera is one of several satellite channels launched by Arab governments and businessmen over the past few years [of the 1990s]. A number of Arab governments realised, as they watched CNN’s impact on an internation- al scale during the Gulf War in 1991 and beyond, the strategic impor- tance of satellite television during times of conflict” (2) . In an interview, Adnan al-Sharif, Al Jazeera’s first Director, said that when he met Qatar’s Emir for a 1995 interview with BBC Arabic , the Emir was thinking at the time of establishing a satellite channel. Hussein Jafar, manager of Al Jazeera’s Engineering Department and a former board member, confirms that plans to transform Qatar Tele- vision to a satellite channel were already in place before the Emir met with Adnan al-Sharif, based on directions that emerged after a meeting at the Emir’s palace which included Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasim Al Thani, Qatar’s Foreign Minister at the time, and Saad al-Rumaihi, Director of Qatar Television. However, a week or two after the Emir’s interview with Adnan al-Sharif, the team working on the project was invited to a (1) Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Liquidating Al Jazeera to Return the Arab World to Its Natural Path, al-Quds al-Arabi , Issue 4172, (15 October 2002), p. 19. (2) Mohammed El-Nawawi and Adel Iskandar, Al-Jazeera: The Story of The Network That Is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism , (Westview Press: 2003), p. 38.
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