Former political prisoner, a Palestinian researcher specialized in detainee’s affairs, Abdul-Nasser Farawna, wished all Palestinian Christians a Merry Christmas and a happy new year, and stated that Palestinian Christians are partners in the struggle against the occupation, working with their Muslim brothers and sisters for the liberation of their land and people. In a statement issued Monday, Farawna stated that the Islamic-Christian relations in Palestine was, and will always be, strong and based on mutual respect, and added that all Palestinians, regardless of their faith live as united nation.
“They are also partners in pain and suffering, and historically faced injustice, arrest and torture, Christian holy sites, similar to Islamic holy sites, are facing the same aggression under occupation”, he said, “Christians are our comrades in the struggle against the occupation, presented huge sacrifices and were always part of the struggle”.
He also stated that several Palestinian historical figures are leaders of the revolution and the struggle, such as George Habash, who led the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Wadee’ Haddad who was a senior leader of the PFLP, Kamal Nasser, Nayef Hawatma, secretary-general of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and several intellectuals, media figures and historians such as Edward Sa’id, Azmi Bishara, Rosemarie Haddad, Tawfiq Zayyad (Palestinian political figure, former Mayor of Mazereth, poet and author (died in 1994), and many others including several legislators, ambassadors and government ministers.
Farawna added that thousands of Palestinian Christians have been imprisoned and tortured by Israel, and that several senior figures of the Palestinian struggle were also Christians and became symbolic figures of the Palestinian struggle and the prisoners’ movement, such as Archbishop Capucci, Elias Jaraysa, Wafa Al-Sayegh, Elias Haddad, Atallah Abu Ghattas, Christian Bandak, and many other figures.
He further stated that, Khader Tarazi, from Gaza was Palestinian political prisoner who died on February 9 1988, in Israeli prisons due to torture and abuse by the Israeli interrogators.
