Member of Hamas Political Bureau Mousa Abu Marzouq denounced Thursday Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa’s statements in which he called for recognising of Israeli occupation as a “country to stay.”

In a tweet, Abu Marzouq said that the Bahraini FM’s call for Arab states to recognise the Israeli occupation as a “country in the region… to stay” proved that the goal of the Manama summit is to abolish the Palestinian rights and normalise ties with the Israeli occupation.

The senior Hamas official reiterated his rejection of the Bahrain conference and the Bahraini FM’s suggestion to recognise the Israeli occupation as a ‘normal part’ of the region. 

The Bahraini FM said Wednesday that the Manama conference could be a “gamechanger”, just like the Camp David Accords between Egypt and the Israeli occupation.  

In an interview with an Israeli television channel on the sidelines of the Bahrain conference, Khalifa added that the Manama summit could be like Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to occupied Jerusalem in 1977, which paved the way for the Camp David Accords and normalisation of ties between Egypt and the Israeli occupation.

The Bahraini FM confirmed that his country recognises the Israeli occupation’s “right to exist” as “country in the region… and it’s there to stay” and wants “peace” with it. 

Hamas considered the remarks an odd and against the Palestinian constants.