ROME, June 9, 2014 – (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas was awarded Monday the honorary citizen certificate and St. Francis Church lamp by Mayor of Assisi Claudio Ricci in Rome.

The Municipal Council of Assisi voted unanimously in favor of conferring the 2014 honorary citizen of peace upon Abbas.

Ricci stated: “We greet you and hope to receive you soon at Assisi, a town in Italy. We are historically linked to Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity; a church that represents a beacon light of hope for all humans. This honorary citizenship is an expression for our gratitude and support to the path you are taking to achieve peace.”

Ricci stressed that the city and diocese of Ricci and all ecclesiastical and Franciscan institutions are contributing to ensuring the success of Palestinian-Israeli dialogue and to serving international dialogue and peace.

Abbas stated: “I am very glad to be a citizen of Assisi; the birthplace of St. Francis and a city known historically for its promotion of dialogue, which is very important between the nations. Therefore, we believe in dialogue to achieve peace.”

Expressing his happiness at the twinning between Bethlehem and Assisi, Abbas added: “We and Pope Francis believe that the situation we are entangled with could be resolved through negotiations. Therefore we should make avail of this historical opportunity to make peace with our neighbors.”

“Yesterday we made a historical event with Pope Francis, a first of its kind initiative,” said Abbas, referring to the historic Israeli-Palestinian peace prayer which took place on Sunday at Vatican at the invitation of the Pope.

 K.F./T.R.