Qatar is the first country in the world to breach Israel's blockade of Lebanon.

They sent a civilian flight into Beirut International Airport without seeking Israeli permission. Just two days ago Lebanon asked all Arab countries to send their ships and planes to Lebanon to break the Israeli bloackade. So far, only Qatar has replied.

Qatar is proving to be something of a close friend of Lebanon. It was sending in aid teams to the south of Lebanon on the first day of the ceasefire, before the Lebanese Government had even managed to get there.

And today it has announced it will be the only Arab country to send troops to join the UN peacekeeping force - 300 soldiers will join the team.

The country is of course the home to Arabist channel Al Jazeera. But depite all this Qatar is the only Arab country to have low level ties with Israel (apart from Jordan and Egypt of course), and the tiny country is littered with US military bases.

Is Qatar the future of Arabism - standing up for Arab rights while forging close links with the West.

Where is the rest of the Arab world?