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US Embassy in Jerusalem Located in Region Not Demanded by Arabs: Bahraini FM

2018-05-30 - 8:46 am

Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the American embassy has not been actually relocated to East Jerusalem and that the area where the embassy was opened is in the West side which is composed of small neighborhoods that were annexed in 1948 and haven't not been demanded by the Arabs.

Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa added in an interview with "Al-Sharq Al-Awsat" newspaper that the embassy is not actually located in Eastern Jerusalem nor is the land on which it is being built as a permanent headquarters.

"Speaking frankly, and while are not in agreement with the Israelis regarding this subject, Israel considers Jerusalem one united city while we do not. We continue to demand the things we have been holding on to in accordance with the United Nations decisions and the Arab Peace Initiative. We do not want to engage in vague speech regarding the fact that what happened was on Palestinian lands that we have demanded."

To be clear, East Jerusalem is Palestine's capital and there were some small neighborhoods that were taken in 1948, but after the agreement that took place, concerning the Arabs' demands for a solution, we are not speaking about the area where the embassy is located," the Bahraini diplomatic further stated.

He continued saying "we do not recognize this notion that Israel has about Jerusalem being one city, but we do wish that when the State of Palestine is established, the United States of America will open its embassy in East Jerusalem because it is Palestine's capital. The Jerusalem we are demanding is the Eastern one, which is Palestine's capital. We wish that the United States will take note of this subject and hope that our ideas will not be distorted in the future nor our diplomatic stances with other countries be affected."

In addition, he stated that the Arab Peace Initiative proposed by King Abdullah to the Beirut summit speaks about the 4 July borders and how East Jerusalem is the capital of an independent Palestinian state in addition to the refugee issue.

Arabic Version