King affirms full support for Palestine state

Manama : His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday affirmed Bahrain’s full support for the Palestinian resistance in a message on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. Extending support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue at all international gatherings, the King expressed Bahrain’s desire for a just and lasting peace that would bring prosperity, coexistence and tranquillity to the peoples of the region.

“The Palestinian cause has been the main issue of concern to the international community, but Israel’s repressive practices against the Palestinian people are still going on through continued arbitrary arrests and continuous settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in East Jerusalem, which has been occupied for 50 years now,” HM King said in a message to Ambassador Fodé Seck, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

His Majesty deplored Israel’s attempts to isolate the Arab neighbourhoods, dig tunnels under Al Aqsa Mosques, repetitively storm it without regard to its sanctity and continue imposing the unjust siege on the Gaza Strip for more than 10 years. 

“This indicates that such Israeli acts constitute systematic practices against the Palestinian people which is a major obstacle to the resumption of negotiations,” the King said. 

Expressing concern over the Israeli occupation’s continuous practices and policies and its on-going killing, siege and settlement crimes, HM said that these are flagrant challenges to the international community and a blatant breach of the resolutions of the United Nations and international covenants.

“The violations are committed in total ignorance of the painful human sufferings inflicted on the Palestinian people and threats posed to international peace and security. This will ultimately lead to more tension and insecurity in the Middle East as an attempt to impose a fait accompli by force would only lead to more tautness and violence,” HM King said.

“Israel’s policies are no more mere racist schemes based on imposing a new reality to change the demographic character of the occupied city of Jerusalem in order to obliterate its identity and features in an attempt to isolate it from the rest of the Palestinian territories, with recurrent storming of Al Aqsa Mosque becoming a daily systematic practice that prevents calls to prayer and its performance as well as religious rituals,” HM King said.

“Consequently, it is important for the international community and friendly countries to intensify their efforts and exert more pressure on Israel to force it to halt its violations on the Palestinian territories and abide by the terms of the peace process references, most notably the Arab initiative as the sole hope for a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue and establishment of an independent Palestinian State on the June 4, 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.”

The decisions recently taken by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) emphasizing the Islamic identity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the inclusion of the city of Hebron on the World Heritage List, are important decisions that were confirmed by the UNESCO Executive Council at its 204th meeting, held last month, and came to reaffirm the entrenched rights of the Palestinians to these holy places, HM King said.

“The Kingdom of Bahrain extends full support for the establishment of a Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital,” he said  calling upon the international community to assume their historic, humanitarian and moral responsibility by exerting further efforts to achieve the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and reach a just and comprehensive peace in accordance with the UN relevant resolutions, HM King said.