There will be no peace in the Middle East until the Palestinians have their own state with Jerusalem for capital, the Emir of Bahrain warned Tuesday, calling on Washington to pursue peace efforts.
In a telephone call to US President Bill Clinton, the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa, underlined "the need for the United States to pursue their efforts in the peace process to consolidate security and stability in the region," the official GNA news agency said.
"We (the Arabs) are apostles of peace, but this peace would be unacceptable if it is not based on international resolutions and does not lead to an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as capital," the emir said in an interview published Tuesday in Al-Ayyam newspaper.
"Without a Palestinian state, there will be no stability in the Middle East," he said, welcoming a consensus among Arab leaders at their Cairo summit on the question of Jerusalem "heart of the Israel-Arab conflict".
The summit, which ended Sunday, "certainly did not meet all expectations, but it sent a clear message to the world on the capacity of our states to adopt a strong position."
"The Arabs, people and governments, are not looking for wars or tensions, but no Arab will agree to yield his rights, particularly in Jerusalem," Bahrain's head of state said.
The summit was a step on the road to restoring Arab solidarity, which was torn apart by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991, he said, voicing optimism about future joint Arab action.
The emir cited an accord in Cairo to hold regular summits, with the next one slated for March in Jordan.
"Bahrain will in 2003 stage an Arab summit, for the first time," he noted.
In the call to Clinton, made from Sharm el-Sheikh, where he met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday, the emir also offered his condolences over the deaths of 17 US seamen in a blast aboard the USS Cole in Aden on October 12.
Bahrain is home to the US Fifth Fleet.
The United States was Tuesday investigating reports of possible terrorist attacks against its military stationed abroad, after it put forces in the Middle East and the Gulf on a higher state of alert.
According to CNN, US forces in Bahrain, Qatar and the Incirlik base in southern Turkey, from where the planes that patrol the northern no-fly zone over Iraq take off, were placed on the highest possible state of alert.
The move was prompted by "terrorist threats" believed to have been made by associates of suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
The New York Times added Saudi Arabia to the list of countries where US forces have been placed on "delta" alert, meaning they must prepare for imminent attack – MANAMA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
