The Hamas resistance movement has condemned Bahrain’s recent move to allow the opening of the Israeli embassy in Manama as “a stab in the back” of the Palestinians.
Speaking to the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news website, Mousa Abu Marzook, the deputy head of Hamas' Political Bureau, warned that the move will endanger Bahrain’s security.
“We believe that the issue will harm the future and security of Bahrain. We also believe that the brotherly Bahraini nation is against it,” he said. “The measure by the Bahraini government is tantamount to a stab in the back of the Palestinian nation.”
Israel officially opened its diplomatic mission in Manama during a Monday ceremony attended by the regime’s foreign minister Eli Cohen and his Bahraini counterpart, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.
It came three years after both sides normalized ties as part of a deal brokered by former US President Donald Trump.
‘Normalization with Israel to tarnish Saudi image in Muslim world’
Also in his remarks, the Hamas official referred to latest reports concerning an agreement on the general outline of a US-mediated normalization pact between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Under the deal, Saudi Arabia would reportedly secure American backing for a civilian nuclear program, as well as access to advanced weapons. In exchange, the kingdom would take major steps to distance itself from China, and Israel would allow an independent Palestinian state.
Some reports say Saudi Arabia has offered to resume financial aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority (PA) in a bid to gain Ramallah’s support for the normalization agreement with Israel.
Abu Marzook urged Riyadh to stop normalization talks with Tel Aviv as they would tarnish the kingdom’s image in the Arab and Islamic world.
“The occupation is our main problem. The resistance will continue until the eradication of this cancerous tumor and the expulsion of the occupiers from Palestinian soil, as well as Lebanon and Syria,” he said.
“We have a strategic goal … to unite the entire Muslim Ummah to defend the occupied al-Quds and confront the occupying regime. The Zionist regime is our common enemy and has occupied three Arab countries.”
He also hailed a high level of coordination between the Palestinian resistance and other resistance groups, which has posed challenges to the Zionist enemy in the region.