The King of Bahrain: The country stills engaged to Palestinian issue
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared on Sunday that his country remained engaged to the Palestinian issue and that peace in the region was reliant on reactivating the Arab initiative.
The King affirmed that the coronavirus pandemic and its economic consequences on the Gulf country would not perturb its responsibilities to regional issues and international relationships.
According to state news agency BNA, the King related in a speech initiating third-year sessions of the fifth legislative term: These emergency developments will not steer us away from pursuing our commitments to our regional issues and our international relations, and we will continue to maintain our security based on the principles of good neighborliness and to extend a hand of cooperation to immunize our societies from extremism and terrorism and thwart their threats to stability and prosperity.
He also said: We reaffirm that fixing the foundations of a comprehensive and just peace in the region depends on activating the Arab Initiative that we are working to support by all means with our brothers and allies, and this is a declared and clear position for us in the Kingdom of Bahrain towards the Palestinian cause to reach a two-state solution in order to enhance security and world peace.
In fact, the Saudi-led Arab initiative gives Israel normal ties with the Arab world in exchange for a Palestinian state constitution along borders that precede Israel’s capture of territory in the 1967 Middle East war. This initiative envisages a capital in East Jerusalem and refugees’ right of return.
Otherwise, Bahrain and the UAE became the first Arab nations to normalize ties with Israel since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Both Gulf countries have signed in mid-September US-brokered agreements to establish ties with Israel.
