Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sent out a Christmas message which, rather than wishing “peace on earth, Good will to men”, was essentially a call for Christians to join in the nationalist fight against Israel.
The transcript of the address was published in the English-language online edition of WAFA news on Friday. Abbas began his address by noting the roots of the Christian holiday as the birth of Jesus, “the messenger of love and peace”, adding that Christmas was a time to “raise the flag of Palestine”.
The speech then turned entirely political, urging Christians to join in fighting the common enemy; Israel.
“Today we are facing the policies and actions of our occupier with unity, commitment to our national values, steadfastness on our land, and with the world standing on the side of truth and justice,” Abbas said. “We will not accept the continuation of the occupation’s colonial-settlement policies targeting the Christian presence and Christianity in our region, which is an integral part of the social fabric of our people and of our region, something we always affirm and will continue to encourage all to preserve the mosaic of religious heritage that Palestine is proud of.”
Despite Abbas’s claim of Israeli aggression targeting Christians, over the past several years, the Christian population of Israel has grown whereas the number of Christians in the Palestinian Authority has declined severely. This demographic threat is most pronounced in Bethlehem. Revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem was historically mostly Christian but that has changed drastically. Bethlehem came under Muslim Jordanian rule during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and was later captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Since the 1995 Oslo Accords, Bethlehem has been administered by the Palestinian Authority as part of Area A of the West Bank. In 1947, Christians made up 85% of the population but by 2016, the Christian population of Bethlehem had declined to only 16%.
Abbas went on to praise the heads of Jerusalem Churches who accused extremist Zionist groups of carrying out continuous attacks on churches. It should be noted that this year saw several Palestinian attacks targeting churches ad Christians in and around Bethlehem. He continued his Christmas address:
“We assure that we will continue to present our Palestinian narrative, refuting the false Zionist narrative, confronting any racist measures aimed at erasing our national identity, including our Christian and Muslim heritage,” Abbas said. “We will confront attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Holy Sepulcher, Mount of Olives, Jaffa Gate, New Gate, the Armenian Quarter and others and attacks on every inch of the homeland.”
He then continued his holiday address by reaffirming his commitment to “peaceful popular resistance” and fighting Israeli “apartheid.”
“We will not accept the practices of the colonial-settlement occupation and will confront them with peaceful popular resistance, in all international forums and courts,” he said. “On this blessed occasion we call upon the international community break its silence and take concrete measures to stop Israeli crimes, including colonial-settlement expansion and ongoing annexation, the consolidation of a racist Apartheid regime, attempts at changing the identity and the character of the city of Jerusalem, the desecration of its Christian and Muslim holy sites, the seizure of church properties and all Palestinian properties, the forcible displacement of Palestinians from their homes, demolitions, as well as murders and other crimes and violations of international law.”
The Palestinian Authority pays out an estimated $300 million to terrorists and the families of terrorists in its “pay for slay” program. Also, despite claims by anti-Israel groups of an apartheid system, Israeli Arabs have full equality in Israeli society.
Abbas then referred to the “hero” Nasser Abu Hmeid who he claimed “died denied his basic human rights as he was in the last stages of his struggle with cancer.” Hmeid, who died in an Israeli hospital, was serving a life sentence for murdering seven Israelis. He participated in the infamous Ramallah lynch in 2000 and was convicted of twelve counts of attempted murder and a number of other security-related charges.
Of the nine paragraphs of Abbas’ Christmas, seven contained an anti-Israel message.
