13 May 2009

GAZA, (PIC)- Acting-president of the PA legislature MP Dr. Ahmad Bahar has strongly condemned Tuesday the "pro-Israel" stands of Pope Benedicts XVI during his visit to the Zionist entity, stressing the strong rapport between Muslims and Christians in occupied Palestine.

"The Christians in Palestine are our brothers, and live with us in peace and security based on partnership in blood, resistance, and suffering", underlined Bahar in a telephone conversation with the prominent Christian figure in Gaza Strip Father Manuel Musallam.

According to Bahar, the pro-Israel stands of the Pope, and the clear neglect of the Palestinian people's suffering under the Israeli occupation sends the wrong message to the Israeli occupation and encourages it to continue with its crimes against the innocent Palestinian civilians in the Strip.

Furthermore, Bahar deplored the visit of the Pope to the family of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit without even a word about the suffering of the families of 11,000 Palestinian captives in the Israeli jails, many of them for decades now, describing such a stand as "unfair".

"The Pope should have called for the immediate release of 40 elected Palestinian lawmakers kidnapped by the IOF troops three years  ago, and he should have condemned the Israeli carnage against the Gaza children, and he should have called for an end to the oppressive Israeli siege on the Strip instead of wailing at the Buraq wall," Bahar highlighted.

In this regard, Bahar called on the Pope to rethink his stands, and urged him to take more balanced stands that would help bring justice to the victims against the butchers.

For his part, Father Musallam said he was proud of being part of the great Palestinian people, and that he and the rest of the Christian Palestinians were and will remain faithful to the Palestinian land.

He also stressed the inseparable unity of the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and the West Bank, adding that the Palestinian people, regardless of their religion, have a common goal that is to get rid of occupation.

He also rejected the Pope's refusal to publicly condemn the Israeli massacres in the Strip where 1,400 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,000 others were injured during the 22-day monstrous Israeli war on Gaza last January.

The Pope has rejected an invitation from Father Musallam to visit the besieged Gaza Strip in order to see for himself the level of misery and tragedy that was inflicted on the 1.5 million people, both Muslims and Christians, living there as a result of the Israeli economic blockade. Father Musallam expressed disappointment over the Papal rejection of the invitation.