Bahrain awarded 'Architect of Peace' award by American Jewish Committee
Bahrain received the award for encouraging understanding and interfaith respect and cooperation.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIBahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (R) speaks to British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) during the first Gulf Cooporative Council's (GCC) " GCC British Summit", in Sakhir Palace Bahrain, December 7, 2016.(photo credit: HAMAD I MOHAMMED / REUTERS)
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) presented Bahrain with their annual Architect of Peace award in recognition of the role of the country in efforts to encourage understanding and interfaith respect and cooperation."For the 25 years that AJC has been initiating and nurturing relationships across the Arabian Gulf, no government has been more open and welcoming and forthcoming than that of the Kingdom of Bahrain," said AJC president Harriet Schleifer.Schleifer presented the award to Bahrain's Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa while he was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly."I am honored and humbled to receive this award on behalf of the Kingdom of Bahrain," Al Khalifa said. "We in Bahrain want to do our part in achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace. This is something that can be solved if we want to solve it.""You cannot trust [Iran] anymore," Al Khalifa later told AJC chief policy and public affairs officer Jason Isaacson, referring to the Saudi oil facility attack. "The theo-fascist regime in Tehran is gradually increasing its threats to destabilize us.“The US government has supported us in every possible way on the threats coming from Iran,” he later added.On the peace process, the foreign minister said it is important to learn the lessons of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and late Jordanian King Hussein, both of whom negotiated and signed peace treaties with Israel.Al Khalifa additionally expressed frustration with Palestinian leadership. “Sadat achieved a very successful peace agreement with Israel," he said. "It gave an opportunity for Yasser Arafat for five years of self-rule, but Arafat chose to not take it, to instead seek support from Saddam Hussein and Muammar Ghadaffi.”"It is impossible for the US to have a better partner in the cause of peace than Shaikh Khalid," said US special representative for Iran and senior policy adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Brian Hook. “Because of leaders like him I am more confident we are going to succeed.”
