Hamas decries Israel's participation in US-led Bahrain summit

Palestinian fundamentalist militant organization Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip, decried the participation of Israel in the US-led maritime security meeting in Bahrain. An Israeli news channel reported that a delegation visited Manama to attend the meeting which discussed ‘Iranian threat in the Persian Gulf’. The visit of the Israeli delegation, on October 21, bears greater significance as Israel and Bahrain don’t have diplomatic relations.

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'Contradiction with the consciousness of Arab nations'

Hamas condemned the visit of the Israeli delegation citing contradiction with the ‘consciousness of Arab nations’ as a reason. Hamas spokesperson Hazim Qasim, in a statement, blamed the sides who “normalise” relations with Israel for assault on Palestinian people.

Qasim said that the parties should be held partly responsible for “Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque by hordes of Israeli settlers.”  

Qasim stated that the attempts to integrate the “Israeli occupation in the Arab region are bound to fail.” He claimed that the Arab nations regard Israel as their arch-enemy and will not forgive its “ongoing crimes against all segments of the Arab world.”

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Palestinian authority at loggerheads with Trump Administration

Palestine’s aggression on such issues reflects from their actions, especially when they arrested a Palestinian man for participating in the White House-led Mideast peace conference in Bahrain in June. The Palestinian authority arrested Saleh Abu Mayala for interrogation as they had boycotted the conference accusing Trump administration of bias towards Israel. Palestine has been at loggerheads with the Trump administration since it recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and decided to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.

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Bahrain announced that it will host a high-level political meeting on maritime security in coordination with the US early next year.

“As an island nation in the Arabian Gulf, we understand the need to protect our waters and commerce from illegal shipments, and our countries from Weapons of Mass Destruction. That is why we support the PSI and why we plan to host a high-level political meeting in the first half of 2020 in coordination with our friends from the United States of America on ways to strengthen and promote this important initiative,” said Foreign Ministry in a statement.

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