On Saturday, Hamas praised the Iraqi government’s rejection of calls for normalization with Israel .
Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the movement, told Anadolu Agency: “We appreciate the Iraqi biased position on the Palestinian cause, and the leadership and popular position that rejects normalization with the occupation (Israel).”
He added that “Iraq has always been on the side of the Palestinian cause and the just struggle of our people against the occupation.”
Qassem called on all countries in the region to “reject normalization and stand by our people and their just cause.”
And on Saturday, the Iraqi government announced its “categorical” rejection of the calls for normalization with Israel, confirming its historical position in support of the Palestinian cause.
This came in a statement issued by the office of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, in response to the calls for normalization issued by the so-called “peace conference”, which was organized on Friday in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.
This conference was held in Erbil, the capital of the region, with the participation of 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.
And the statement of Al-Kazemi’s office considered that “these meetings do not represent the people and residents of Iraqi cities, which these figures desperately try to speak on behalf of their residents, but rather represent the positions of those who participated in them only.”
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 run for fair, early and early elections (on October 10).”
He stated that “the introduction of the concept of normalization is constitutionally, legally and politically rejected in the Iraqi state.”
Iraq does not establish any relations with Israel, and the majority of political forces reject normalization with Tel Aviv.
