Fayyad Denounces Greek Orthodox Church Decision

2/12/2010

Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced Wednesday the participation of officials from the Greek Orthodox Church in an event marking the opening of an Israeli road in the occupied West Bank.

The Tuesday event was slammed by Arab Orthodox associations in Palestine and Jordan, who said church participation in the event asserting Israeli control over the West Bank site was “arrogant behavior that has harmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

“At at time when the PNA continues to offer all kinds of support to the work of the church,” Fayyad said, it was a misguided act to participate in the ceremony.

Co-opting the church in the event was a “step to cover up on the aggression committed by the Israeli occupation troops on Palestinian lands and aims to sabotage the PNA efforts to rehabilitate and renovate the infrastructure of areas marked as part of the future state.”

The appointed prime minister, who spearheaded the PA’s two-year-plan to statehood, said the opening of the road only days after Israeli forces tore up the newly-paved path to the Qarawa Bani Hassan village, was simply and effort to “consolidate the occupation.”

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