On Sunday, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine praised the Iraqi government’s position on the calls for normalization with Israel, and called on the proud peoples to “renounce and expose the printmakers.”
On Saturday, Baghdad announced its rejection of calls for normalization with Tel Aviv issued by a conference held in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
In a statement, the People’s Committee said: “We commend Iraq’s position rejecting normalization, and we call on the Arab peoples to renounce and expose the printing press.”
Out of 22 Arab countries, only 6, namely Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, maintain public official relations with Israel, which continues to occupy lands in more than one Arab country, rejects the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and commits daily violations against the Palestinian people.
She added, “The suspicious group that held these meetings represents only itself and is delusional away from the Iraqi people.”
The Front called for “the renunciation and exposing all those who fall into the illusions of normalization and liquidation solutions that harm the nation’s interest and its resistance project.”
The Popular Front is left-leaning, founded in 1967, and is the second largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
On Saturday, Baghdad confirmed its position in support of the Palestinian cause, in a statement issued by the office of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, in response to calls for normalization issued by the so-called “peace conference” in Erbil on Friday.
Sunni and Shiite tribal figures participated in the conference, and he called for public normalization of relations with Israel, in the first event of its kind in Iraq.
Al-Kazemi’s office statement stressed that “these meetings do not represent the people and residents of Iraqi cities, which these personalities are desperately trying to speak on behalf of their residents, but rather represent the positions of those who participated in them.”
And he added: “In addition to being an attempt to confuse the general situation and revive the abhorrent sectarian tone, in light of the readiness of all Iraqi cities to contest fair, fair and early (parliamentary) elections (on October 10).”
He stated that “the introduction of the concept of normalization is constitutionally, legally and politically rejected in the Iraqi state.”
On Sunday, the Iraqi judiciary issued arrest warrants against participants in the “peace” conference held in Erbil (the capital of the Kurdistan region), and called for normalization with Israel.
A statement issued by the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq said that “the Karkh First Investigation Court (based in Baghdad), based on information provided by the (government) National Security Adviser, issued an arrest warrant against the so-called Wissam Al-Hardan (the leader of the Awakening in Iraq), following the role he played in The call for normalization with Israel
The statement added: “An arrest warrant has also been issued against Mithal Al-Alusi (a former parliamentarian), and an employee in the Ministry of Culture, Sahar Karim Al-Tai (the conference’s custodian) for the same crime.”
He continued, “Legal measures will be taken against the rest of the participants as soon as their full names are known.”
On Friday, a “peace” conference was held in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, organized by Sunni and Shiite tribal figures, and called for the normalization of relations with and Israel publicly, in the first event of its kind in Iraq.
While Erbil disavowed the conference, the Iraqi judiciary issued, on Sunday, arrest warrants for participants in the conference.
Article 201 of the Iraqi Penal Code stipulates that “anyone who favors or promotes the principles of Zionism, including Freemasonry, or who is affiliated with any of its institutions, or helps them financially or morally, or works in any way to achieve its objectives, shall be punished with death.”
Baghdad does not have any relations with Tel Aviv, and the majority of Iraqi political forces reject normalization with Israel.
