Kuwaiti call to criminalise contact with Israelis

Manama: A Kuwaiti member of parliament has called for the enactment of a law that will criminalise contacts with Israelis.

"The law will be a first step to halt Zionist attacks on our Islamic sites in Palestine. It will also be a letter from Kuwait to the international community to apply international resolutions and agreements towards the Palestinian people, who have to face the Israeli military machine without any Arab or Islamic military or political cover," Jamaan Al Harbash, from the Islamic Constitutional Movement, said.

"Any form of normalisation with the Israelis is in fact a violation of Islamic precepts that refuse alliances with those who kill Muslims," the lawmaker, whose movement is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, said on Sunday.

Kuwait, like most Arab countries, has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Al Harbash's call came five days after Bahrain's lower house passed a bill that stipulates up to five years in prison and a fine for any Bahraini charged with having contacts under any form with any Israeli.

The bill will have to be passed by the upper house in its second approval stage.

According to Al Harbash, who has been a lawmaker since 2006, Muslims should put an end to their silence and react promptly and decisively against the attacks of Israelis on the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Last week, several Palestinians were wounded following clashes with Israeli police forces in the latest sign of tension in Occupied Jerusalem.

"If Arabs and Muslims fail to react, then there will be no one to stop the Zionists from demolishing all the sacred Muslim sites in [Occupied] Jerusalem," Al Harbash said. "We Arabs and Muslims have a sacred duty to protect our sites and heritage."