Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hanan Ashrawi, said that we do not want the churches in Palestine to become museums for tourism and empty of their owners.
This came during her meeting with a delegation that included 26 clergymen from the representatives of the Catholic Churches around the world, held at the headquarters of the Liberation Organization, in the city of Ramallah, today, Wednesday, organized by the Supreme Presidential Committee to follow the affairs of churches in Palestine.
Ashrawi talked about the dangers facing the Christian presence in Palestine, and the increase in the flow of emigration due to economic and political conditions.
She added that the current situation of the Palestinian issue is going through difficult circumstances, especially in the context of the systematic policies pursued by the Israeli occupation government, from demolishing homes and seizing citizens ’lands, striking across the wall all international covenants and decisions, with the protection and support of the United States of America and the Trump administration, especially after recognition Illegal Jerusalem is the capital of the occupying power, and the transfer of the American embassy to it.
She explained that the occupation is trying in various ways to obliterate Palestinian and Arab history in Jerusalem, to give the Jewish character of the city, and to empty the city of its Palestinian residents, to implement the racist Jewish national law adopted by the Israeli Knesset, adding, "We do not want Jerusalem to be a city of conflict between religions, or to be monopolized On the Jews only. "
Ashrawi reviewed the policy adopted by Israel to turn the conflict into a religious one, to continue its crimes against our people, land, property, and holy sites, especially settlement expansion, and targeting religious sanctities.
She praised the continuous visits of more than 15 years to the delegation to Palestine, which reflects his interest in standing on the side of our people, noting the influence of the churches in their support for his just rights.
And the ecclesiastical institutions demanded to contribute to strengthening the Christian presence in Palestine, from which the Christian religion was launched into the world, stressing the need to work with governments to correct their policies and take serious and supportive positions for our people to freedom and independence.
In turn, I informed the Director General of the Supreme Presidential Committee to follow up on church affairs Ambassador Amira Hanania, the delegation on the situation of Palestinian Christians in particular, and what the Palestinian citizen is exposed to in general as a result of the Israeli occupation.
She mentioned the role of the Supreme Presidential Committee in strengthening the Christian presence in the Holy Land, and its ongoing work to stop the flow of immigration.
She pointed to the goals for which the committee was established, such as consolidating the Christian presence and urging them to stick to their lands despite all the obstacles, and the methods of isolation used by the occupation government to divide the one people geographically and demographically.
Hanania explained that the Christian component is an integral part of the fabric of our society and suffers from the racial discrimination that the Palestinian people suffer from its various Islamic and Christian affiliations, which is attained by the Israeli occupation government towards everything that is not Jewish, and which culminated in the law of the Jewish state that it adopted within the decisions of the Knesset.
She talked about the danger of the law to the Arab presence, and the expansion of the government´s and settlers´ ambitions to grab more lands and enslave extremist Jews to attack churches, mosques and safe citizens.
For its part, Noor ada, a specialist in media diplomatic affairs, explained that Christians and Muslims in Palestine are subject to the same conditions of Israeli occupation practices.
She added that the social life in Palestine cannot be separated by Christians from Muslims, citing the participation of all our people in Islamic and Christian religious ceremonies, and that Palestine can only be with its churches, mosques, bells and minarets.
