Palestinians angered by Bahrainis’ ‘lovey-dovey’ interfaith delegation to disputed city
A delegation from Bahrain is visiting Jerusalem in a step towards development of relations between Israel and the Gulf kingdom, a move that is outraging Palestinians.
The visitors are a 25-strong interfaith group affiliated with the Bahraini NGO This is Bahrain, said the delegation’s leader, Betsy Mathieson.
About half of the group are native Bahrainis and the other half expatriates who became Bahraini citizens.
“We’re not here to interact with governments or politicians. We’re here to talk peace and coexistence,” she said.
This is Bahrain also clarified that the group “does not represent any official body in the kingdom”, in a statement carried by the official Bahrain News Agency.
Leaders of the PLO and Hamas condemned the visit, which came days after US president Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, touching off worldwide condemnation and protests.
“Our visit has been planned for many months. We can’t let our message of peaceful coexistence be derailed by anything happening in the political world,” Ms Mathieson said.
The group includes Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians, the leader of a Hindu temple and a Sikh, she said. “This is a true representative community of Bahrain.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an American Jewish NGO which has an Israel office and is hosting the delegation, said it was significant that the group had come despite the controversy over Mr Trump’s decision.
“We are extremely buoyed and will push for other delegations to come as soon as possible. Hopefully, this will lead to more good things.”
The visitors spent Saturday touring Jerusalem’s Old City, which contains sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Mr Cooper said they might meet the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, a strong supporter of Israeli settlement who dismisses the Palestinian demand that East Jerusalem should be the capital of their state.
The visit is a positive for the Israeli government, which believes that shared opposition to Iranian influence in the region will enable Israel to build ties with Sunni Arab states without ending its occupation of the Palestinian territories or conceding to their demands. Palestinians are furious.
“To come at this time when Trump has provoked everyone and given the Arab world a big slap in the face. To come in the name of inclusiveness and tolerance to a Jerusalem in which Palestinians who don’t have Jerusalem IDs have no access to Jerusalem or the holy sites or their institutions or families, to do that now is unbelievable,” said PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi.
“It’s the height of insensitivity. They either are totally clueless or are being deliberately provocative.”
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the visit “a crime against the rights of our people and against our issue and against our holy sites” and “an encouragement to the Zionist entity to heighten its crimes”.
Mr Cooper said the group’s arrival on Saturday for a fiveday visit fulfilled a pledge by King Hamad of Bahrain to allow his citizens to travel freely to Israel. Mr Cooper and Wiesenthal Centre dean Marvin Hier met the king in Manama in February, when he voiced opposition to boycotting Israel and emphasised that his subjects would be free to visit, according to the rabbis.
“This is not a government-to-government thing, but it is inspired by his statement,” Mr Cooper said. “He gave a clear signal and here they are.”
Ms Ashrawi said she did not believe “this whole lovey-dovey approach of ‘we’re here to show tolerance’. Then go home and show tolerance at home”.
In a sense, the trip follows up a visit by Bahrain’s Prince Nasser to the Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles in September to unveil the king’s Declaration of Worldwide Religious Tolerance.
The declaration says that governments should protect minorities.
It’s the height of insensitivity. They either are totally clueless or are being deliberately provocative HANAN ASHRAWI PLO executive committee member