Bahraini royal family member secretly visits al-Aqsa

A Bahraini royal family member has secretly paid a visit to al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of East al-Quds amid Palestinian outrage over the normalization deal between Manama and Israel.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa, Chairman of the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence, prayed at al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds last Friday without revealing his identity, in defiance of a fatwa (religious decree) issued by a senior Palestinian cleric.

“It is unacceptable to prevent anyone from any religion from praying,” Khalifa, who was a member of a Bahraini delegation that arrived in Occupied Palestine last week and met with President Reuven Rivlin.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper on Sunday, Khalifa defended his move that came after Manama reached a controversial normalization deal with Tel Aviv.

The Grand Mufti of al-Quds Sheikh Muhammad Hussein issued a fatwa in August banning Muslims from praying at al-Aqsa Mosque within the framework of normalization deals between Israel and the Arab countries.

In October, Palestinians expelled a delegation from the United Arab Emirates whose members stormed the al-Aqsa under the protection of Israeli forces.

A source in the al-Quds Islamic Wakf (Endowment) organization, which is trusted with controlling and managing the Islamic edifices on and around the al-Aqsa Mosque’s compound, told The Jerusalem Post that he was unaware of a visit by any Bahraini citizens to the mosque last Friday.

On September 11, US President Donald Trump announced that Bahrain was following the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in normalizing ties with Israel.

Four days later, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed agreements with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani during an official ceremony hosted by Trump at the White House.

ME