Fr. Emmanuel Awwad of Greek Othodox Church in Palestine and H. E. Dr. Zuhair M. H. Dark Zaid, Ambassador of State of Palestine in Sri Lanka meet Civil Society in Sri Lanka.

Civil Society in Sri Lanka to extend support and solidarity to the struggle of Palestinians

Posted By: Aruna Shantha Nonison: December 14, 2018In: InternationalNo Comments

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Civil Society in Sri Lanka to extend support and solidarity to the struggle of Palestinians
A group of 25 civil society leaders met with Very Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Awwad of Greek Orthodox Church in Palestine and H. E. Dr. Zuhair M. H. Dark Zaid, Ambassador of State of Palestine in Sri Lanka at a special meeting held at Janawaboda Kendraya (JK) on 11 December 2018.
The purpose of this meeting was to learn the prevailing situation in Palestine, the struggle of Palestinians for freedom and to find out the ways to extend solidarity as civil society groups in Sri Lanka.

Addressing the meeting Rev. Fr. Emmanuel said that “We are facing a lot of difficulties as Israeli forces continue to grab our lands where they set up illegal Jewish settlements. Jewish with the blessing of Israel military continues to harass local Palestinians”. Further he mentioned that Palestinians are going through teremendus hardships and restrictions from Israeli forces as they have to pass several numbers of check points even to reach a very short distance. Rev. Fr. also mentioned that Christians are being hated even more by the Israeli settlers.
According to Rev. Fr. Emmanuel the British declared state for Jewish before they granted independence to Palestine in 1948. Until then the Arabs, Christians and Jewish lived together in harmony with high respect to each other’s identities. Rise of the Zionist movement with blessings of western world brought sufferings to the Palestinians as they started forcibly to grab the lands belong to Palestinians. It was very sad to hear how the Zionist movement manipulated the scriptures in old testament to work on their agendas violating the spirit of Justice and Peace written in the Bible.

Speaking to the group, The ambassador. Dr. Zuhair elaborated the international dynamics of the conflict. He mentioned that the international law has been violated by Israel government in day light and the international superpowers like US turns the blind eye as they consider Israel as their close allie. He further mentioned that the international media is bias towards Israel where they lable Palestinians as murderes and this situation makes the struggle of Palestinians even harder.
The ambassador invited Sri Lankans to visit Palestine to experience reality as it is hard to describe in words. Rev. Fr. Emmanuel requested for continued prayers for peace in Palestine as it is the land where King of Peace Jesus Christ was born, grew, crucified, risen from death and then rose to heaven.
The participants stressed the urgency and importance of having a space and platfom to extend their support and solidarity to the struggle of Palestineans. The organizers informed about the scheduled visit from Kairos Palestine Global Network in 2019.
Meeting was jointly organized by the Born To Win Relationships Training Institutue, YMCA of Pamunugama and Janawaboda Kendraya(JK).