On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine issued a heartfelt appeal to the international community to restore the principles of humanity, human dignity, and the sanctity of life in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip, which continues to endure a horrific campaign of genocide marked by killing, starvation, forced displacement, and ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Israeli occupation, now entering its twentieth consecutive month.
In a statement released by Dr. Ramzi Khouri, member of the PLO Executive Committee and Head the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, the Committee described these atrocities as a permanent stain on the conscience of all who support, ignore, remain silent, or take a neutral stance toward the suffering of a defenseless people abandoned by the international community, even in their most desperate moments at aid distribution centers.
The Committee further warned that Jerusalem and the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque are under an accelerating and systematic assault led by an extremist, religious settler government. This campaign is designed to advance the full Judaization of Jerusalem and to erase its Muslim and Christian heritage.
In the occupied West Bank, the Committee condemned the ongoing crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces and settlers, including killings, forced evictions, illegal settlement expansion, home demolitions, and relentless attacks on the Palestinian people and their property, measures aimed at suffocating everyday life.
The Committee called on the international community, particularly churches and their institutions worldwide, to uphold their moral and legal responsibilities, to end the grave suffering of the Palestinian people, protect their future, stop the aggression, hold the perpetrators accountable, and guarantee the immediate, unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid.
The statement concluded with a message of unwavering resilience:
Despite these horrors, our people remain steadfast in their rightful struggle, firm in their connection to their land and committed to their legitimate pursuit of return, self-determination, and a life of dignity in their independent state, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital.”
Glory to our righteous martyrs, a swift recovery to the wounded, and freedom to all prisoners and detainees.
