As the afternoon light faded, a man with a megaphone stepped out in front of a crowd of about 200 people in Bahrain’s capital Manama and began shouting at the top of his lungs.
Demonstrators cheerfully repeated his words while waving Palestinian flags, calling on the US-allied authoritarian government to expel the Israeli ambassador, appointed two years ago after Bahrain established diplomatic relations with Israel. I begged.
“There is no Zionist embassy on Bahrain soil!” they chanted. “There are no US military bases in Bahrain!”
Less than six miles away, American and European men in full military uniform gathered for the Manama Dialogue. The Manama Dialogue is an annual conference that brings together senior officials from Western countries and the Middle East to discuss regional security. They wandered through the heavily guarded gilded ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton hotel just hours after the protest, little knowing it was even happening.
When Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa took to the stage, he condemned the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs Gaza and led the October 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. , which delighted many audiences. to the Israeli authorities.
The war in Gaza that followed this attack not only exposed the rift between many Arab leaders and their people. I expanded it.
Bahrain, a Gulf state of about 1.6 million people, has seen an outpouring of public support for the Palestinians and growing hostility toward Israel since the war began. Israeli forces responded to Hamas attacks in a military operation that bombed and besieged Gaza, killing more than 16,000 people, according to Gazan authorities.
There have long been rifts between many Arab countries and their peoples over their approach to the Palestinian cause, but the war has sharpened them most sharply in recent years. In many protests in the region, people not only condemn Israel, but also voice support for Hamas or criticize their own governments.
Thousands of people rallied in Morocco and Jordan to demand that their countries sever ties with Israel. In Cairo, pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather in Tahrir Square, where Egypt’s Arab Spring uprisings began. Revived A revolutionary cry for bread, freedom, and social justice.
And in Bahrain, protesters said that in addition to feeling a deep sense of common Arab-Islamic identity, they also saw a connection between the liberation of Palestinians and their own liberation from political oppression. Stated.
Fatima Jumuah, a 22-year-old Bahraini woman who participated in the protests in Manama, said: “I look forward to us becoming free people.” “Our existence and freedom are linked to the existence and freedom of Palestine,” she said.
For decades, most Arab governments have refused to establish relations with Israel before establishing a Palestinian state. But as authoritarian leaders weighed negative public opinion toward Israel against the economic and security benefits of the relationship and the concessions they might extract from Israel’s biggest ally, the United States, Calculations changed in the prewar years.
“The Bahraini government wants to be seen as a voice for moderates in the United States, and is using its new relationship with Israel to counter these challenges in Washington,” said Elham Fakhro, an associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank. “There is a growing tendency to form perceptions.” “But there are other effects at home.”
In 2020, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco joined Egypt and Jordan, which had peace deals with Israel for decades, to establish ties with Israel in a deal brokered by the Trump administration known as the Abraham Accords. .
The deal was celebrated by Western governments that have long supported the region’s royal families, and in September the Bahrain government signed a comprehensive security agreement with the Biden administration.
However, public opinion polls show that many ordinary Arab citizens view the establishment of relations with Israel increasingly dimly.
In Bahrain, which has a Sunni Muslim monarchy and a majority Shiite Muslim population, officials declared the deal would promote tolerance and coexistence. But that rang hollow to many as the government continued to crack down on dissent within the country.
The Palestinian cause and opposition to Israel unites Bahrainis across sectarian and political lines, young and old, Sunnis and Shiites, secular leftists and conservative Islamists. In a pre-war poll, when asked what kind of impact the Abraham Accords would have on the region, 76% of Bahrainis said it had had a negative impact.
Bahraini human rights activist Abdulnabi Alekkri, 60, said the deal was “forced against the will of the people”.
Chatham House’s Ms Fakhroh said Bahrain has been under tension for many years due to tensions between the government and the opposition movement.
“This crisis is widening that chasm even further,” she says.
Bahrain crushed the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 with support from Saudi Arabia and Emirati forces. It is also home to one of the most important US military bases in the region.
Bahraini protesters said they view Israel as a colonial-era occupying power and a Western-backed project aimed at controlling the region.Some said Israel should not exist..
Jumuah said all Palestinians and other local residents live under the influence of Western powers.
“So far we know that we cannot act without the approval of the United States,” she said.
The morning after the protests, Arab and American dignitaries returned to the Ritz-Carlton hotel and returned to the ornate ballroom to discuss the path forward for Gaza.
Asked about negative public opinion about the Abraham Accords, White House Middle East official Brett McGuirk said he was focused on the immediate crisis. But beyond that, he said, U.S. policymakers remain committed to the “integration” of Israel and its neighbors.
Before the war, the White House was negotiating a complex deal with Saudi Arabia that would see the most powerful Arab state recognize Israel.
“Hamas cannot allow what it did on October 7 to permanently derail its trajectory,” McGuirk said.
But some Palestinians feared the Saudi-Israeli deal would further undermine their struggle for statehood.
A senior Bahraini official said the Bahraini government believes that Israel must survive and that the peoples of the region must coexist. Bahrain is concerned that the war will fuel anger and extremism, he added. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. He said the Abraham Accords should be protected as a means of bringing peace.
However, when asked about the gap between Arab leaders and public opinion, the official did not address the question directly. Instead, Bahrain said it believes the situation in Gaza is catastrophic and is doing everything it can to promote peace.
The most scathing accusations against Israel at the conference came from the foreign minister of Jordan, whose population is largely Palestinian, and Prince Turki al-Faisal, a senior member of the Saudi royal family, who called for sanctions against Israel.
Prince Turki, a former Saudi intelligence chief, dismissed the idea that building ties between Arab countries and Israel would bring peace, calling it an “Israeli-American-European illusion.”
As Prince Turki spoke, another protest was gaining momentum about nine miles away, stretching for blocks through Muharraq’s narrow streets lined with low-rise buildings in shades of white and beige. Streams of people waving Palestinian flags and carrying children on their shoulders blocked traffic, and the air smelled of gasoline from idling cars.
Freedom of association and assembly remains severely restricted in Bahrain. However, many recent protests have been sanctioned by the government, providing semi-sanctioned spaces to let off steam.
Thousands of marchers shouted in English and Arabic until their voices died.
“Stand down, stand down, Israel!”
“America is the head of a snake!”
Some of them supported Hamas and chanted chants urging them to bomb Tel Aviv.
In a speech the day before, the Crown Prince of Bahrain lamented the “incessant shelling” in the Gaza Strip, calling it an “unbearable situation.” But he stopped short of threatening to sever diplomatic relations with Israel, saying the United States would be “indispensable” to any peace process.
When he finished, his guests ate peaches poached in saffron and chicken breast stuffed with ratatouille. Bahraini officials told participants on the sidelines of the meeting of their determination to honor the agreement with Israel.