Day: 27 March 2024

ISLAMABAD: ISLAM ABAD, Wednesday, March 27, 2024 (WAFA) – Pakistan welcomed today the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan.

Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, said in a statement, “We also welcome the Security Council’s call for allowing free flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance, and ensuring protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip.”

Over the past six months, Pakistan has repeatedly expressed its strong and unequivocal condemnation of the indiscriminate use of force by Israel, calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, added Sharif.

Pakistan also called for the need to return the displaced Palestinians and ensure holding Israel fully accountable for its heinous crimes committed against the Palestinian people. We call for expeditious im
plementation of the Security Council resolution, hoping that it will serve as a first step towards ending Israel’s brutal onslaught and ensuring a permanent ceasefire.

He further affirmed that Pakistan will continue to voice its support for a just, comprehensive and durable solution through the establishment of a secure, viable, contiguous and sovereign State of Palestine on the pre-June 1967 borders.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

ROME: Pope Francis sent a letter today to the Catholics of the Holy Land on the occasion of the glorious Feast of the Resurrection.

‘For some time, you have daily been in my thoughts and prayers. Now, on the eve of this Easter that for you is so overshadowed by the Passion and, as yet, so little by the Resurrection, I feel the desire to write to you and to tell you how close you are to my heart,’ said the Pope.

The letter read: ‘I embrace all of you, in the variety of your rites, dear Catholic faithful living throughout the Holy Land. In a particular way, I embrace those most affected by the senseless tragedy of war: the children robbed of their future, those who grieve and are in pain, and all who find themselves prey to anguish and dismay.’

Easter, the heart of our faith, is all the more significant for you who celebrate this feast in the very places where our Lord lived, said the Pope, stating that: ‘The history of salvation, and indeed its geography, would not exist apart from the land in which you hav
e dwelt for centuries. There you want to remain, and there it is good that you should remain. Thank you for your testimony of faith, thank you for the charity that exists among you, thank you for your ability to hope against all hope.’

‘I would like each of you to feel my paternal affection, for I am conscious of your sufferings and your struggles, particularly in the course of these recent months. Together with my affection, may you sense the love of Catholics throughout the world,’ added the letter.

‘I think back on the pilgrimage I made among you ten years ago, and I would like to make my own the words that, fifty years ago, Saint Paul VI – the first Successor of Peter to travel as a pilgrim to the Holy Land – addressed to the faithful everywhere: ‘The continuing tensions in the Middle East, and the lack of concrete progress towards peace, represent a constant and dire threat not only to the peace and security of those peoples – and indeed of the entire world – but also to values supremely dear, for diff
erent reasons, to much of mankind.’

In these bleak times, when it seems that the dark clouds of Good Friday hover over your land, and all too many parts of our world are scarred by the pointless folly of war – which is always and for everyone a bitter defeat – you are lamps shining in the night, seeds of goodness in a land rent asunder by conflict, said the Pope.

He asked Christians throughout the world to manifest their concrete support for Christians in the Holy Land and to ‘pray tirelessly that all the people of your beloved land may dwell at last in peace.’

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

RAMALLAH: President Mahmoud Abbas sent a telegram congratulating the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis, on the occasion of the glorious Feast of the Resurrection according to the Western calendar.

‘On the occasion of the glorious Feast of Resurrection, I would like to send my most heartfelt congratulations to Your Holiness and to all believers celebrating it around the world, as this holy occasion coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, and many of the earth’s inhabitants share the joy of these two religious occasions,’ the President said.

As for Palestine, which embraces believing men and women, President Abbas said they are united by love, tolerance and respect for others regardless of their differences, beliefs and culture.

While the children of Palestine await the Easter of Resurrection, he said, a bloody Israeli aggression that extends into the sixth month awaits them, destroys their souls and homes and does not leave the Palestinian children unless they are killed, amputated, wounded or orphaned.

He a
dded that the aggression leaves families, including women, men, the elderly, and children, without shelter and suffering from famine, epidemics and diseases.

“But God’s mercy keeps hope alive, and when our oppressed people see the calls of His Holiness Pope Francis over and over again to stop this brutal war and turn to peace and justice, as well as the positions of people like you who are conscientious and believe in God, justice and truth, they are filled with hope that they will achieve their rights,’ President Abbas said.

The President said the scourge of the occupation, its war and aggression would end and everyone would live in security, peace, freedom and dignity on the land of the independent Palestinian state along the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

JERUSALEM: The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem reiterated in a statement their call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in the besieged Gaza strip.

‘In issuing this Easter proclamation, we fully recognize the intense suffering that surrounds us here in the Holy Land, as well as in many other parts of the world. Speaking more directly to our own circumstances, we repeat our denunciation of all violent actions in the present devastating war, especially those directed against innocent civilians, and we reiterate our call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire.’

‘In concert with these, we renew our plea for the speedy distribution of humanitarian aid; the unimpeded access of fully-equipped doctors and medical staff to tend to the sick and injured; and the opening of internationally facilitated negotiations aimed at ending and moving beyond the present cycle of violence,’ said the statement.

‘Only in this way, we believe, can a comprehensive solution be finally advanced for a just and l
asting peace here in the [holy] land.’

While extending this Easter message to Christians and others around the world, we offer our special greetings to those of the faithful in Gaza who have been bearing especially heavy crosses over the past several months. These include those taking refuge inside St. Porphyrios and Holy Family Churches, as well as the courageous staff and volunteers of the Anglican-run Ahli Hospital, along with the patients they serve, added the statement.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA