HM King affirms Bahrain’s support for Palestinians

Manama, Nov. 30 (BNA): His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has affirmed Bahrain’s support for the Palestinian resistance at all international gatherings and full adoption of the Palestinian cause towards achievement of the two-state solution, out of the Kingdom’s keenness to promote a just peace for the sake of prosperity and peaceful co-existence for all the peoples of the region. The affirmation was stated in the message HM the King addressed to the Palestinians on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. Following is the full text: “Your Excellency Ambassador Fodé Seck, Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People We are pleased to extend our thanks and appreciation to you and to the distinguished Committee members for the continuous efforts you have exerted to support and highlight the just Palestinian cause at international forums as well as for the amount of effort you have put in preparing this session’s report. Since the General Assembly’s call went out in 1977, urging world states to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 29 November of each year, this event has been held annually to reflect the keenness and responsibility of the United Nations and the international community to remain firmly committed to the Palestinian cause and to achieving the legitimate ambitions and aspirations of the brotherly Palestinians to help them regain their rights and continue their struggle for self-determination and to establish an independent state of their own, like the rest of the world's peoples. 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. This is in addition to 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 and a major obstacle to the resumption of negotiations. We, in the Kingdom of Bahrain, support the struggle of the Palestinian people at all international forums and fully adopt the Palestinian cause to help achieve a two-state solution, out of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s desire for a just and lasting peace that would bring prosperity, coexistence and tranquillity to the peoples of the region. Meantime, we are deeply concerned with the accelerating developments due to the Israeli occupation’s continuous practices and policies and its on-going killing, siege and settlement crimes. These practices constitute a flagrant challenge to the international community and a blatant breach of the resolutions of the United Nations and international covenants, and are being 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 any attempt to impose a Fait Accompli by force would only lead to more tautness and violence. 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. 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. We always stress the Kingdom of Bahrain’s full support for the establishment of a Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital, and we call, from this podium, 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. These include UNSC resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 1397 (2002) and 1515 (2003) on the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative which all call for Israel's full pull-out from the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem and all the Arab territories occupied since 1967 and to restore the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you."