President Abbas: “We join the Synod in their call to uphold the values of freedom, dignity and justice by ending the Israeli occupation”

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erakat said that President Mahmoud Abbas welcomes the conclusions of the Vatican Synod on the situation of Christians in the Middle East.

“President Abbas reaffirmed that Christians from the Holy Land are an integral part of the Palestinian people. The emigration of Christians from Palestine unacceptably alters our national composition and gravely damages the prospects of our future state.” Dr. Erakat added that “we join the Synod in their call to the international community to uphold the universal values of freedom, dignity and justice. The international community must uphold its moral and legal responsibility to put a speedy end to the illegal Israel occupation”

Dr. Erakat recalled that “during his visit to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict saw with his own eyes the wall isolating Bethlehem from Jerusalem. This is an insult to more than 2000 years of Christian history in the Holy Land and it is a glaring example of why so many Palestinians have been forced to seek a dignified life beyond the confines of the cruel reality of walls and occupation in the Holy Land.”

Commenting on the Synod statement, Dr. Erakat said that “Israel cannot use the biblical concept of a promised land or chosen people to justify new settlements in Jerusalem or Israeli territorial claims,” Dr. Erakat said “this is a clear a message to the Government of Israel that it may not claim that Jerusalem is an exclusively Israeli city. The contrast between the Palestinian and Israeli visions over the future Jerusalem is clear. We envision Jerusalem as an open and shared city, the capital of the two states and three faiths, while the Israeli vision strives for an exclusively Jewish city and has imposed a legal regime aimed at ethnically cleansing the city of its indigenous Christian and Muslim population.”

The Chief Palestinian Negotiator added that “in the coming weeks we will engage in discussions with the Vatican on ways to further consolidate our fantastic relations. ” Adding that “we don’t deal with the Catholic Church as strangers but part of our social fabric. The Church has made invaluable contributions to the development of Palestinian society, Muslim and Christian alike, and we look forward to strengthening these relations. 

Dr. Saeb Erakat concluded by inviting the world to “support the presence of Christians in the Holy Land by forcing Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian land and by recognizing the Palestinian State on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. This vision will bring genuine promise to the current dark reality in the so-called promised land.”

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