For their ‘right to return’

Bahrain has affirmed its full solidarity and support to the Palestinian’s “right to return and establish their independent and sovereign state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” These rights, a top Bahraini official explained, are their right to self-determination, right to return and to establish their independent and sovereign state. Ambassador Waheed Mubarak Sayyar, during a solidarity meeting held at the Palestinian Embassy in Manama, said: “Bahrain would remain supportive of its Palestinian brethren with all its capabilities and at various levels until the Palestinian demands are realized.”

The meeting was held in commemoration of the 71st Nakba Day, an annual day of commemoration of the displacement of Palestinians. In a statement, the Undersecretary said the Kingdom recognises the struggle of the brotherly Palestinian people and their right to self-determination and return to their territories. Ambassador Sayyar described 1948 as a catastrophic year, not only for the Palestinian people but also for Arab people who have lived together in pain after the aggression of 1967. 

He said: “The challenges increased, and the Palestinian brothers became divided between historic Palestine and the1948 Palestine while some of them remained in the territories occupied in 1967 - the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and those who were forced to live in exile, in various parts of the world.”  The Palestinians, the Undersecretary of Regional & GCC Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, have suffered a lot from racism and systematic discrimination policies.  The atrocities, he added, ranged from denial of their right to self-determination and equality in their homeland, which eventually made the Palestinians a minority on the land of their ancestors.

“They faced repeated aggressions, the spread of settlements on their lands and properties, the theft of their sanctities, the distortion of their history and even their culture and their Palestinian cities,” he told the meeting.  Nakab, Ambassador Wahid Mubarak Sayyar pointed out, should remind the international community of its political, legal and humanitarian responsibilities towards this historical injustice that is still happening.  Sayyar stressed that Bahrain would remain supportive of its Palestinian brethren until the Palestinian demands are realised. 

Meanwhile, in another development, the Palestinian Authority called yesterday for Jerusalem to be cut from videos promoting Eurovision, accusing Israel of “propaganda” ahead of Tel Aviv hosting the song contest. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN aired a clip Friday aimed at tourists travelling to the country for Eurovision, which features a shot of east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound. It also refers to Jerusalem as “our beloved capital”, despite Palestinians claiming the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

The PA’s foreign ministry said Israel was using the song competition to “entrench its colonial occupation by effectively normalising the global acceptance of its unlawful conduct.” “The promotional material published in the context of the Eurovision contest and approved by EBU is unacceptable,” the ministry said, in reference to the European Broadcasting Union.  Writing on Facebook, the ministry said it had contacted the EBU about what it termed Israeli “propaganda material” which “wipes... the State of Palestine from the map”.