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Qatar has been a key player in brokering long-running negotiations between the warring sides but the country's prime minister has now cast doubt on whether its role in this can continue. Qatar has had a key role - along with Egypt and America - in trying to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of Israeli hostages. But Qatar's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani says Doha had been exploited and abused and was being undermined by those trying to score political points. He also said the current peace talks were in a "delicate phase". So could mediated peace talks between Hamas and Israel be in jeopardy? Newsday asked a former White House official who served as a senior advisor to the Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations: David Makovsky. "I thinks there's frustration all round. The reason Qatar was centre-stage on this crisis was because of the assumption that they had influence. But there's no success." (Pic: Portraits stuck to a wall of hostages held by militants in Gaza; Credit: Reuters)