visit to England. Controversy over the Camp David Accords After the news of the paper's first big scoop (regarding the formation of the U.S. Central Command for the Middle East), the still new newspaper made its name through the controversy surrounding the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. In the face of widespread criticism from contributors and staff toward the Camp David Accords and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Cairo bureau chief Salah al Din Hafez resigned. Then, Sadat held a press conference with the new Asharq Al Awsat bureau chief by his side in which the Egyptian president attacked the newspaper and its stance toward the peace process in general, citing his suspicions of the bureau chief's "high" salary, and accusing Prince Fahd of using the newspaper as a weapon against Egypt and the Egyptian president personally. Khazen later reminisced about the events, saying: "I think that this press conference was worth a million dollars (in its value at the time) of free publicity for the newspaper, which since became the subject of interest for many foreign governments and the foreign media." Debated reporting 2004-08 Ex-editor Alhomayed is widely criticised for publishing a series of vindictive articles about the State of Qatar between 2004 and 2008, a period that witnessed a disturbance in Saudi/Qatari official relations. The highlight of that phase was when the paper published three reports about the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani's trip to an Arab foreign ministers' conference in Beirut during the Lebanon conflict in August 2006. Asharq Al Awsat claimed in August 2006 that he had held discussions with Israeli ministers en route to the conference, briefing them on the Arab position. Sheikh Hamad denied the allegations and Asharq Al Awsat printed a second article, accusing him of lying. A third piece in March 2007, an opinion piece written by Alhomayed himself, repeated the claims. However, in July 2008, Alhomayed stated that the allegations were untrue and apologized at the High Court in London "for any embarrassment" caused. In its apology, which the newspaper also published in its print and web edition, Alhomayed said that "Sheikh Hamad did not hold secret discussions with the Israeli government en route to the Beirut Conference". Sheikh Hamad's solicitor, Cameron Doley, said: "It is an unequivocal victory. Allegations of that nature at that time could have been damaging to him and Qatar. The paper has accepted that it got