Maryam Alkhawaja: Bahraini people want Israeli 'normalisation deal to end'

A prominent Bahraini human rights campaigner and an exile has dismissed the announcement by the Bahraini parliament that the kingdom was recalling its ambassador to Israel, and severing economic ties with the country, as political theatre.

Maryam Alkhawaja, whose father Abdulhadi Alkhawaja has been jailed in Bahrain since 2011 over his pro-democracy activism, told Middle East Eye that the parliament's move was "being seen as an attempt to calm reactions inside Bahrain" and pointed out that the kingdom had already arrested a number of Bahrainis for their pro-Palestine activism in recent weeks.

"The demand of the people is for the normalisation deal to end and for the population to have a say in government and foreign policy," she said.

"Not these minuscule measures."

A spokesman for the Council of Representatives, the country's lower legislative house, said the ambassador to Israel had been withdrawn, while economic cooperation with the country would also be put on hold.

"This is a confirmation of the historic Bahraini position in support of the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the fraternal Palestinian people, which has been previously declared by His Majesty the King at conferences and events," the statement read, referring to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

On Thursday, Bahrain's government confirmed the kingdom's ambassador to Israel had returned home and the Israeli ambassador in Manama had left "a while ago".

The government statement did not, however, confirm that economic ties had been severed.