24 Dec 2021; MEMO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday said that Christmas was a "Palestinian message of hope that our people continue to embrace with love and aspirations toward the achievement of justice, freedom and peace."
"The historic status quo of all holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, as well as the Ibrahimi Mosque and in the rest of Palestine, are at the core of our national struggle," he said in a statement, addressing the Palestinian people.
Abbas added that the historical reality in Jerusalem was being "threatened by a belligerent occupation and Israeli extremists," calling on all countries and churches not just oppose and condemn such Israeli policies and practices, "but to bear their responsibility and take concrete steps to stop and prevent such Israeli policies and practices in order to protect the Palestinian people and fulfill our long overdue inalienable rights, including preserving the entrenched Christian presence in Palestine, the Holy Land."
Bethlehem, Jesus (Prophet Issa's) birthplace, had been made into an "open air prison surrounded by 18 colonial-settlements and over 100,000 settlers, disconnected from Jerusalem by the illegal Annexation Wall," Abbas continued. As a result, it was "suffering heavily from the consequences of COVID-19, including outrageous restrictions to ban Christian and Muslim pilgrims imposed by the Israeli government."
"I wish the world a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the city of Bethlehem and from the blessed land of Palestine," Abbas concluded.
