Bahrain hosts major conference to enhance Islamic unity

ISTANBUL

Bahrain hosted a major conference Wednesday to enhance Islamic unity and solidarity and unify perspectives on key issues.

The Intra-Islamic Dialogue Conference is being attended by Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Islamic world, along with more than 400 prominent scholars, thinkers and stakeholders from across the globe.

The two-day event is co-organized by Al-Azhar, Bahrain’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, and the Muslim Council of Elders.

Addressing the opening session, El-Tayeb hailed the Arab and Islamic rejection of US President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from their land.

"The intra-Islamic dialogue conference is convened to address what can be addressed to save this nation from the perils it is encountering,” he said.

"Palestine remains the guiding compass of the nation and its central cause, which stands as a witness to the importance of Islamic unity in the face of the dangers, especially in Palestine,” the grand imam said.

“We have now reached a point where some openly call for the displacement of an ancient people, uprooting them from their homeland to establish a tourist resort on the remains of the dead and the bodies of martyrs,” he added.

El-Tayeb called for an Arab-Islamic solidarity free of discord, saying: “I am sure you will agree with me that the time has come for a sincere, fraternal unity among Arabs and Muslims, free from all these divisions, if we truly seek the well-being of our nations and the future of our Ummah.”

Trump has announced a proposal to take over Gaza and resettle its Palestinian inhabitants to develop it into what he called “the Riviera of the Middle East,” an idea vehemently rejected by Palestinians, Arab countries and many Western nations, who say it amounts to ethnic cleansing.

The controversial idea came amid a ceasefire agreement that took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed nearly 48,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.