A few days ago, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference was held in Russia. To Arab masses, it would not have gathered much attention and most likely dismissed as ‘just another of those meaningless get-togethers’. But this one has created a buzz on the Arab street.

At the conference, a Kuwaiti official told the Israeli delegation to leave. The Speaker of Kuwait’s National Assembly, Marzouq Al Ganem, told the Israeli delegation: “You should pack your bags and get out of the hall after you saw the reactions of the world’s honourable parliaments. Get out of the hall right now, if you have an atom of dignity ... You occupiers, child killers.” He continued: “I say to the brutal occupier, if you do not feel shame, then do as you please.” Al Ganem said the Israeli delegate “represents the most dangerous form of terrorism; state terrorism”.

Other Arab delegates added that “Al Ganem’s words in front of the delegates shine a light on the wounds that Palestinians have suffered. International parliaments have now been made aware of Palestinians’ sufferings in their quest for the right to self-determination, to end the Israeli occupation and to establish an independent Palestinian state.”

But it did not end there. In Kuwait, and across the Arab world, Al Ganem was treated as a hero for publicly standing up to the ongoing Israeli brutality. His sentiments reflected the true feelings of the people. If the Israelis were harbouring the notion that the Arab world was warming up to them and willing to accept them as partners with the status quo, then they had better go back to their cabinet for a rethink. In spite of what covert talks the Israelis may be conducting, the ground reality is that they are not trusted in the Arab world, given their continuing atrocities in Occupied Territories.

Israel should be made aware that the masses among the Arab world do not view them as ‘friends’ irrespective of what signals the Israelis believe they have been getting. Members of the Israeli army, a band of thugs in uniform, have been systematically targeting and killing innocent Palestinians, and more specifically women and children in recent years, which is approved and protected by Israel. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This is not something I’m spewing out from the top of my head. There are scores of documented incidents by independent witnesses to the effect.

Israelis have been burning, bulldozing and razing Palestinian homes and rendering their occupants homeless and helpless. Today, apartheid and Israel are being mentioned in the same breath. They defy every United Nations sanctions directed at them brazenly — and the world watches. They evict lawful owners and tenants off their property and turn them into illegal colonies for European and American Zionist imports. They have built walls on illegal property and parcelled off huge portions of what is Palestine towards their own personal ‘Zionist Dream’. And they have been doing this unchallenged for decades.

Between the unprovoked partition of Palestine in 1947 until January 1, 1949, Zionist militant forces employing terrorist means destroyed or depopulated 531 Palestinian towns and villages, driving two-thirds of the indigenous population into exile. Many Palestinians fled for their lives in the wake of the terror gangs of Zionist invaders, leaving behind all their material possessions. The unlucky ones never made it past their front doors as Zionist militants would strike in the middle of the night and slaughter all the occupants inside.

As I write, hundreds of Palestinian children languish in Israeli prisons, some as young as seven years old. The Apartheid Wall continues to snake its way through Occupied Territories, annexing ever more land and prohibiting Palestinians’ freedom of movement. Gaza is almost uninhabitable and more than 50 discriminatory laws in Israel deprive Palestinian citizens of Israel of their rights. Israeli occupation policies are choking Palestinians. Such actions do not augur well for gaining warmth or respect. And they expect the Arab world to be friendly and accepting?

By the hour, colonists from foreign lands brought to Israel have been targeting helpless Palestinian civilians and in particular, the old or the very young, with impunity. They shoot at them, they harass them and rob and steal their property in broad daylight without any censure from the authorities. Such acts do not warrant us to cosy up to them in any form.

If the Israelis genuinely want to be treated as partners and not adversaries, they should begin by recognising the rights of Palestinians to their own lands and adopt the terms offered in the Arab Peace Plan proposed back in 2002 by the late King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia. Only then will the Arab world begin to believe that the Israelis genuinely want peace.

But until such time, Israel should not expect us to be their friends or even have the slightest notion that we are warming up to them in any form.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah. You can follow him on Twitter @talmaeena.