RAMALLAH, Saturday, May 18, 2024 (WAFA) – A Presidential committee today started an official tour to the Scandinavian States to mobilize support for the Palestinian cause.
Led by the Chairman of the Committee and PLO Executive Committee Member, Ramzi Khoury, and comprising the Committee members Amira Hanania and Omar Awadallah and accompanied by Palestine’s ambassador to Sweden, Rula Almhaissen, the delegation of the Higher Presidential Committee of Church Affairs started the tour to the Scandinavian States to lobby support for the Palestinian Question.
Starting its tour with visiting Sweden, the delegation held separate meetings with Church of Sweden Archbishop Martin Modéus, Stockholm Bishop Andreas Holmberg, former Defence Minister and Social Democratic Party member Peter Hultqvist, in addition to Sweden's Special Envoy to OIC Intercultural and Interfaith Dialogue Ulrika Sundberg.
The delegation also had separate meetings with the Social Democratic Party member Daniel Castro and members of the World Council of Churches.
During the meetings, the delegation members discussed the catastrophic situation engulfing the Palestinian cause as a result of Israel’s occupation, settler-colonialism, the genocidal war against the Palestinian people and the 76-year-long suffering of the Palestinians in their quest for justice, self-determination and Palestinian statehood.
They stated that the Palestinian people and leadership, represented by President Mahmoud Abbas, were striving for peace on the basis of ending the Israeli occupation in a manner that brings about regional security and stability.
They stressed that the Israeli occupation’s policies and ongoing violations of international law, particularly colonial expansion, have been a significant obstacle to the achievement of this goal.
Khoury cautioned of the catastrophic situation in the blockaded Gaza Strip following the 224-day-long Israeli genocidal offensive, that killed at least 35,303 Palestinians and injured over 79,261 others and the steadily deteriorating situation in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, given the uptick in colonist attacks against Palestinians and their property and holy sites as well as daily incursions and extrajudicial killings.
He underscored the need to apply a single set of standards to all to achieve justice, exert pressure to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, ensure the entry of humanitarian aid to the war-torn Strip and return to peaceful solutions that guarantee a comprehensive and just solution to the Palestinian cause based on the relevant UN resolutions.
The attendees agreed on the need to enforce international law, as Church of Sweden Archbishop Martin Modéus emphasized the important role of the Church of Sweden in bringing about justice and peace and pressuring for a ceasefire in Gaza.
K.F.
