Senior Cleric Calls for Referendum on Normalization of Ties with Israel
It came in response to a parliamentarian’s call for the participation of opposition groups in Bahrain’s elections.
MP Jamal Mohamed Al-Fakhro has said their participation in elections would be a precondition for them to be allowed to hold talks with the government.
He has been suggesting that the opposition is not popular and this would be made clear if the groups do not boycott the elections.
In a message on Twitter, Sheikh Qassim rejected the idea and said that in order to find out the weight and influence of the opposition, it would be enough to hold a free referendum on issues about which the people and the government do not see eye to eye.
The referendum could be held on the issue of normalization of ties with the Zionist regime for instance, he added.
The senior cleric went on to say that it would show how far apart the views of the people and rulers of Bahrain are.
In a move strongly condemned by the majority of Bahraini people, the ruling Al Khalifa regime signed a normalization agreement with the occupying Israeli regime last year.
Since 2011, Bahrain has been the scene of a popular uprising against the rulers’ constant discrimination against the island’s Shia Muslim majority.
The regime has been coming down hard on the protests, killing scores of people, wounding thousands of others, and stripping hundreds of their Bahraini nationality. It has also imprisoned hundreds of opposition figures.
