A Palestinian Christian leader who was sacked as his church’s official spokesman continues to praise Muslim suicide bomb attacks and has lauded church members who are teaming with Muslims to form human shields to defend Iraq.
At a reception in Haifa, Israel, Greek Orthodox priest Father ‘Atallah Hanna called for joint Islamic-Christian operations to interfere with the imminent U.S. attack on Iraq and liberate Palestine from “the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river,” according to Al-Quds Press Hamas’ news agency.
Hanna, also known as Archimandrite Theodosios Hanna, was removed from his position as spokesman of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem after his praise of suicide attacks, but he continues to present himself as an official voice, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI, which translated his recent remarks.
Hanna said that when he is freed from house arrest and his passports are returned, he will put together a Christian delegation that will go to Iraq to serve as a human shield against the anticipated war, MEMRI said.
The priest recently offered his views on two other occasions – a sermon marking the Epiphany at a Greek Orthodox cathedral in Jerusalem and a rally at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
“We encourage our youth to participate in the resistance, to carry out martyrdom attacks, and to participate in removing the occupation,” he said during his Sunday sermon.
“We do not believe in so-called ‘peace with Israel’ because peace cannot be made with Satan,” he charged. “Israel is the greatest Satan.”
Any kind of concession, truce or peace, he said, is “retreat from pan-Arab and national principles.”
Christian-Islamic cooperation needed
Hanna said Islamic-Christian cooperation is needed “so that we will remove the foreign Zionist Jewish intruders and so that the gates of Palestine will open wide and all those who were uprooted or emigrated in 1967 and 1948 will return.”
Referring to territory that comprises Israel proper, he declared that “Palestine is from the sea to the river. The Jordan River is a holy river forever and it is the natural border of Palestine.”
The priest said, “We emphatically refuse any concession on [even] a grain of the land of our precious homeland. Just as Ramallah, Gaza, Nablus and Jenin are Palestinian cities, so are Haifa, Nazareth, Jaffa, Ramle, Lod, Beersheba, Safed and others Palestinian cities. We have not relinquished and we will not relinquish our historic right, and we will not agree to any concession on these cities. These are Palestinian cities that were occupied in 1948.”
Hanna insisted that the “Zionist Jews are foreigners in this land” and “have no right to live or settle in it. They should go somewhere else in the world to establish their state and their false entity.”
‘Jerusalem has always been Arab’
He declared emphatically that Jerusalem always has been Arab.
“With regard to Palestine and its beating heart Jerusalem, it was never in the hands of the Jews,” he said. “It was and will forever remain Arab. Jerusalem is an Arab city and the Jews must not settle in it, be masters over it, or carry out any type of religious ritual or ceremony in it. They must leave their homes. They have no right to live on land, [or in] cities or villages that are not theirs. …”
‘Only by force’
He maintained that Palestinian rights will be restored only through resistance.
“What was taken by force will be restored only by force,” he declared.
“Resistance is the obligation of every Palestinian Christian Arab,” he said, “as it is the obligation of every Palestinian Muslim Arab.”
Hanna then offered a prayer for the “shahids,” or “martyrs,” and others:
“From this holy church, and in the presence of all the believing clerics, we give today a prayer for the sake of the souls of our shahids and resistors and for the sake of our heroic Palestinian people, whether living in the homeland or outside it. …
“We say to the sons of our people: ‘Do not retreat, do not fear, and do not despair.’ The Arab Palestinian right to this land is stronger than any false Zionist military ammunition, which will disappear sooner or later. This is because the Zionist entity plundering our lands and our holy places is an entity that cannot maintain stability, and its end will be to disappear, just like all kinds of colonialism on our land in the past have disappeared.”
Human shields to protect ‘heroic’ Iraqis
At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, Hanna made similar statements during a rally last Friday to protest the “American threats to attack Iraq,” MEMRI said.
Christian clerics, Palestinian Christian personalities and local residents participated. Hanna, who was introduced as the official spokesman of the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem and Holy Lands, gave a speech on behalf of the clerics.
Condemning the upcoming war on Iraq, he said, “From the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Christians’ holiest place, we express our church’s and our people’s solidarity with the heroic Iraqi people which is subject to daily provocations.”
Hanna said, “From this holy place, the tomb of Jesus, we demand determined and vigorous Arab and international intervention to prevent the aggression against Iraq and against its proud people. …”
“We stand alongside our Iraqi brothers, in heart and in spirit,” he said. “The ones who target them target us as well. We bless Iraq and its people, from Jerusalem, the capital of the independent Palestinian state. … We have assembled a national Palestinian Islamic-Christian commission, comprising Muslim and Christian clerics, so that [its members] will go to Iraq, constitute a human shield, and convey our message.”
Hanna praised suicide attacks: “We declare publicly our blessing, support, and legitimization of the brave Palestinian resistance [carried out] by any means, including the brave Fidaiyin [commonly used term for martyr] martyrdom operations. … The names of the Fidaiyi shahids [the martyrs] will be inscribed in the history of our Palestinian and Arab people in holy white letters. The voices of those who defame these acts of heroism and honor are nothing more than anomalous voices that do not represent Arab and Palestinian public opinion … .”
“The Fidaiyin martyrdom operations aimed deep inside Israel are unique pioneer operations that deter the Zionist enemy,” he said. “They have caused great damage to this enemy, which understands nothing but the language of force and thinks that only force will bring peace. We say to the enemy: ‘Leave our land, our Jerusalem, and our holy places. This is Arab Palestinian land, that has no connection whatsoever to the Jews and the Zionists. …'”
Hanna stated that “martyrdom operations are an excellent and good way to resist the Zionist invasion of the Palestinian land. In front of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we bless the souls of the heroic shahids and the families of the shahids. We demand that these families be looked after, helped, and adopted, because the occupation targets them.”
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