Jerusalem Archbishop slams 'Israeli prejudice against Palestinian institutions'

Archbishop Atallah Hanna yesterday condemned what he described as “Israeli arbitrary and unjust decisions against the Palestinian civil institutions.”

Referring to a recent announcement by the Israeli authorities, in which they named six prominent Palestinian civil organisations as “terror groups”, Hanna told foreign media that the rights groups were “Palestinian national and humanitarian institutions that serve the Palestinian people and their just cause.”

“The ones who have afflicted and displaced our people should be called terrorists, not the ones who are defending Palestine and its oppressed people,” Hanna stressed. “The Palestinian people are still suffering from the consequences of the Israeli grievances until today,” he added.

The Archbishop called on international human rights institutions “to reject the occupation’s measures which aim at blackmailing rights and civil groups.”

“We reject these arbitrary decisions, and those institutions will continue to perform their mission of serving our people,” Hanna reiterated.

Hanna has served as the Head of the Sebastia Diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem since 2005. He has used his leadership position to advocate for Palestinian unity in all of its manifestations.

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