BETHLEHEM, December 24, 2022 – President Mahmoud Abbas said tonight that the Palestinian people will not accept the continuation of Israeli occupation practices targeting the Christian presence in Palestine.

Following is the full text of President Abbas’s speech delivered this evening during the Christmas dinner at the Church of the Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, Palestine:

 

His Beatitude Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa,
Father Francesco Paton, Custos of the Holy Land,
His Excellency the Jordanian First Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Tawfik Krishan, Representative of His Majesty the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,
Your Excellencies, brothers and sisters,

We wish you a Merry Christmas and extend our congratulations to you and to our people on the birth of Christ, peace be upon him—the messenger of peace and love who was born in the Grotto of the Nativity here in Bethlehem, in the holy land of Palestine.

We also extend our greetings on the occasion of the New Year 2023—religious and national celebrations that bring joy, hope, and tolerance to every Palestinian home, carrying a message of peace and love to the world.

Our Palestinian people continue to preserve their great cultural and human heritage, renewing it every year from Palestine to millions of believers around the globe.

On this occasion, we congratulate His Holiness Pope Francis, all Christian denominations and believers worldwide, and our people celebrating Christmas according to the Western calendar.

Today we celebrate as we confront the occupiers—with our unity, our adherence to our national principles, and our steadfastness on our land. In this regard, we will not accept the continuation of the occupation’s practices targeting the Christian presence in Palestine, which forms an integral part of the fabric of our people—one we are determined to protect and preserve.

We seize this occasion to commend the positions of the heads of churches, Muslim clerics, and all our people in defending the identity and character of the city of Jerusalem and its Christian and Islamic holy sites.

Brothers and sisters,

This year passes, and with it ascends to the Almighty a group of pure martyrs:

• The late Salim Zanoun, leader, founder, member of the Central Committee, and President of the National Council—one of those who decided upon the launch of our revolution.

• The late Jamal Muhaisen, leader and member of the Central Committee.

• The daughter of Jerusalem and Palestine, the martyr Shireen Abu Aqleh, assassinated by the Israeli occupation army without accountability.

• The freedom fighter and sister Fatima Barnawi, the first Palestinian woman prisoner in the occupation prisons.

• The captive martyr Nasser Abu Hamid, who spent more than thirty years in Israeli prisons and was subjected to slow killing through deliberate medical negligence.

This year has passed with 224 martyrs, including dozens of children.
It also ends while 374 martyrs’ bodies remain held by the occupation in numbered graves and mortuary refrigerators—including the body of Nasser Abu Hamid.

This year also witnessed the formation of an Israeli government whose declared motto is extremism and apartheid.

At the same time, a successful Arab Summit was held in Algeria, followed by a historic Arab-Chinese Summit in Riyadh.

The United Nations General Assembly convened another session and, despite more than a thousand resolutions on Palestine, implementation is still awaited.

Meanwhile, the State of Qatar succeeded in organizing the most outstanding World Cup to date—rightfully the World Cup of Palestine, where our cause was present everywhere even without official participation.

This year also saw the Palestinian narrative strongly assert itself on the international stage, exposing the falsity of the Zionist narrative—particularly in the United States, through the efforts of the Palestinian American Council, universities, churches, and peace-loving supporters of Palestinian rights and justice.

Globally, our narrative prevailed with the UN’s adoption of a resolution to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba on May 15, 2023, for the first time in history, inside the General Assembly Hall.

This year also witnessed the release of the film Al-Tantura, documenting—through testimony of perpetrators themselves—the massacres committed by the occupation against our people.

During this same year, U.S. President Joe Biden visited the region and made promises that unfortunately remain unfulfilled, amid the ongoing double standards that deprive our people of their legitimate rights to freedom and independence.

Yet, as we welcome a new year, we do so with greater steadfastness and determination to remain on our land, end the occupation, and establish our independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. We are confident that, with God’s will, we will prevail.

Despite all the injustice and aggression we endure, our message to the world remains one of hope, love, and peace.

Once again, we wish you a Merry Christmas and sincerely hope that the coming year will see the fulfillment of our people’s aspirations for freedom, independence, and a just and comprehensive peace.