Iraqi coalition rejects calls for normalization with Israel

BAGHDAD

An Iraqi coalition on Saturday condemned calls for normalization with Israel made at a conference in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

"We condemn and reject the conferences, gatherings, and calls for normalization with the usurping Zionist entity that are held inside Iraq," Ammar al-Hakim, the head of the Shia National Wisdom Alliance, said in a statement.

The alliance holds 19 out of 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament.

Al-Hakim said the Palestinian cause is a top Arab and Muslim issue that his alliance will continue to support.

“We renew our full support for the Palestinian people and their just cause and their struggle to recover their usurped right,” al-Hakim said.

On Friday, a peace conference was held in Erbil by some Sunni and Shia tribal figures who called for the normalization of relations between Iraq and Israel.

"We are a gathering of Sunnis and Shias, comprising members of the Sunni Awakening Movement of the Sons of Iraq, as well as intellectuals, tribal leaders, and active youth from the protest movement of 2019-2021,” a statement by the conference participants said.

It added, “We call for Iraq to enter into relations with Israel and its people through agreements similar to the Arab countries that have normalized.”

The statement said that it continues to oppose all Sunni jihadists and Iranian-backed Shia extremists.

Authorities in Baghdad and Erbil have yet to comment on the conference statement.

Iraq does not have relations with Israel and the idea of normalization is widely rejected in the country.

Last year, four Arab nations – the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco – normalized their relations with Israel, a move denounced by Palestinians as a betrayal to its cause.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar