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Abbas calls on pope to support Palestinian struggle
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The following is a translation of President Mahmoud Abbas' speech at a
press conference upon Pope Francis' arrival in Bethlehem early Sunday.
It's
a great honor to welcome Your Holiness to Bethlehem, the birthplace of
Jesus (peace be upon him), the holy blessed land. Welcome, Your
Holiness. You are a dear guest to our people in the cities of Bethlehem
and Jerusalem.
Your visit today carries all the symbolism that
your name and holiness hold as a defender of the poor, the oppressed,
and the marginalized. Your visit represents a call for peace during your
pilgrimage to the land of Palestine, the land of love and peace.
I
am very happy to meet with His Holiness Pope Francis and to listen his
wise opinions and his insightful human vision. The visit of His Holiness
holds a noble significance in our souls and the souls of our people.
This is a historic visit that we cherish in the framework of our
friendship and our spiritual and religious bonding between the Vatican
and Palestine, which we aspire to strengthen. The Holy Land is the
destination of millions of believers. It represents a unique model of
coexistence in the spirit of harmony, brotherhood, and equality in
rights and duties.
We welcome you in the State of Palestine with
all the love and hospitality. We welcome your meetings with Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew in the city of Jerusalem.
I briefed His
Holiness on the latest developments in the peace process and
negotiations towards reaching a just and lasting peace, to ensures
security, safety, and stability to our region and its peoples.
We
have fully updated His Holiness on the outcome of the peace process and
the pitfalls and obstacles which befell it, primarily the settlement
enterprise, and daily attacks on places of worship including churches
and mosques, as well as the continued detention of thousands of
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails , who yearn for freedom. A number
of these prisoners have been on hunger strike for more than 30 days in
protest against ill-treatment and detention without trial or verdict,
under the pretext of "administrative detention."
We have also
shared with His Holiness the tragic situation experienced by the city of
East Jerusalem, the capital of our country, which has been occupied
since 1967. Israel has been systematically working to change the
identity and character of the city, imposing restrictions on the people
of Palestine, Christians and Muslims, in order to displace them and to
prevent the faithful from praying at their holy sites.
We call
upon the Israeli government to cease these practices, which violate
international law. And from our side, our vision is for our capital in
East Jerusalem to be open to the followers of the three monotheistic
religions without discrimination.
These Israeli practices have
led to the migration of Christians and Muslims, who should be able to
stay on their ancestral land. We are ready to work together to
strengthen the Palestinian indigenous Christian presence in the Holy
Land, especially in Jerusalem.
We would like to express from
the bottom of our hearts that we value your efforts and support for the
rights of our people. We count on Your Holiness to contribute towards
enabling our people to attain their freedom and full independence, by
bringing the Israeli occupation to a complete end and establishing an
independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Your
Holiness, you saw the monstrous wall being constructed by Israel, the
occupying power on our land, at a time when we desperately needed to
build bridges of communication and dialogue rather than anything that
would sow the seeds of hatred, malice, and hostility. We, the people,
are looking to live in freedom and dignity and to have sovereignty over
our national soil, away from the occupation.
We are committed to
the Arab Peace Initiative. Once Israel withdraws from the territory it
occupied in 1967, all the Arab and Islamic countries will recognize
Israel and immediately establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
Your
Holiness, thank you for meeting with the children of the refugee camps
who are living the tragedy and sufferings of displacement and asylum,
which was imposed on them by the Nakba 66 years ago.
Your
Holiness, we don't ask for the impossible, and we have made sacrifices
for peace. We have accepted the establishment of the independent State
of Palestine only on the land occupied in 1967 with East Jerusalem as
its capital, alongside the State of Israel in security, mutual respect,
and good neighborliness.
We also appreciate your willingness to
share a meal with the Palestinian families who are representative of our
society that lives under occupation. This meeting sends a message to
the whole world, and reminds the world of the tragedy of Palestine.
We
in Palestine are counting on your generous efforts towards realizing
the rights of our people and we welcome any initiative which you may
take to make peace a reality in the Holy Land, which will enable our
people to build a life and a future.
It's time to respect the
principles of rights, justice, peace, freedom, and human dignity that
you believe in, and which are the foundation of all religions as well as
international laws and resolutions. These are all principles that must
be respected and applied in the Holy Land.
We take this
historic opportunity of your presence among us today to send a message
of peace to our Israeli neighbors by saying: come and make peace based
on truth, justice, equality, and mutual respect. Your work for the good
of your people to live in prosperity, peace, and stability is the exact
same thing that we strive for.
Security, peace, and stability
are in our mutual interest, for our region and the whole world. Peace is
made with a wise mind and heart, and a living moral and human
conscience, in order to remove injustice, oppression, and abuse. Also,
(peace is made) by abandoning expansion at the expense of the rights of
others -- the policy of double standards. Honest and sincere intentions
are needed to achieve desired peace, which shall be enjoyed by our
future generations.
Your Holiness, thousands of believers have
been waiting for you since the morning in Manger Square to express their
love, appreciation, and respect, and to pray with you to Almighty God
for brotherhood, love, and peace.
We welcome your Holiness and
the Vatican delegation to Palestine, the land of peace, and we wish you
all the health and happiness and every blessing to the believers.
Peace be upon you.
Last
Monday morning Israeli forces uprooted some 1,500 fruit trees on a farm
of Daoud Nassar, a Lutheran farmer with land near Bethlehem. He is well
known to many US visitors as the head of “Tent of Nations” and has
fought to hold on to his family’s land in the face of opposition by
nearby settlers. His motto is “We Refuse To Be Enemies.” 
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