Strange, I had a friend join there a couple of years back without a Boeing rating, have things changed recently?
It changes on a regular basis. Policies change regularly, recruitment staff come and go.
What you read on the website regarding requirements should be taken with a pinch of salt. I know a guy who got employed here on the A320 and he had a King Air rating!
the aviation authority in Qatar does require you to have 500 hours on type in order to convert it back to a Qatari license
If you don't have 500hrs on type they'll make you do the type rating all over again after you join.
I'm guessing that things change quite a lot overthere.
Yes.
Is it easy to convert the qatari license back to an easa one? Or is it best to keep the JAR/EASA one current?
Keep your EASA license current. Transferring a type rating from Qatar to EASA depends on various factors including whether you are P1, P2 and how many hours you have. I have a friend who did it, but he had to go through a huge amount of bureaucracy and faffing around at the UK CAA to get it sorted out.