His Beatitude Archbishop ‘Atallâh (Hannâ) of Sebastē has spoken for the Jerusalem Patriarchate flock, to say that the Palestinian people ‘categorically reject’ what is laughably called a Middle East peace plan for Israel and Palestine. Here is the story from the Syria Times:
OCCUPIED AL-QUDS, (ST)- Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Head of the Sebastia Diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church in al-Quds (Jerusalem), has stressed that the Palestinians categorically reject the ill-famed “Deal of the Century”, stressing that they won’t give up their legitimate rights and will continue struggling to put an end to the Israeli occupation.Strong words from our righteous Orthodox bishop, but assuredly, in this case, deserved ones. This quote-unquote ‘peace plan’ is in reality something of a theatre of the absurd, built on an architecture of exclusion and humiliation for the Palestinian people. As the website Mondoweiss puts it: ‘The plan, which virtually calls for the development of a Palestinian proto-state under the control of Israel, meets none of the rights and demands articulated by, and entitled to, the Palestinians, and endorsed by the international community.’ It must be rejected in toto and sent back to the drawing board. As Orthodox Christians, we should pray that a new one is drawn up, which treats the Palestinians as equal political and historical agents must stand in its place. An unjust peace is no peace at all.
During a meeting with German journalists on Monday, Archbishop Hanna made it clear that the deal, recently announced by the US President Donald Trump, is a US-covered Israeli plan to deepen occupation, undermine the Palestinian cause and capture al-Quds and falsify its history, identity and heritage.
Hanna called on the international community and all freedom-loving peoples to reject this deal and all other colonialist deals that aim at breaking the will of the Palestinian people. He also urged the Palestinians to be unified in the confrontation of this ill-famed deal.
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