I am renewing my gratitude to all of you for the support you offered and you are offering to us in Birzeit and to all our parishes in Palestine, we feel that we have brothers and sisters in United Sates who continue to think in us and loves us, especially in these days where all the world work hardly for peace and end of every kind of war and terror, but in the same time, we are, as Palestinian people, still living under the Israeli occupation, depraved from the most precious thing that the men kind can ever have: liberty.
Birzeit, March 23, 2005
Dear Friends in HCEF,
I am writing to you to wish you a blessed Easter with our Lord resuscitate, Who defeated death, every injustice and oppression. He gave those who believed in Him peace and serenity.
In this holy occasion I am asking Him to give you and all families and friends the graces that you need for your life.
I am renewing my gratitude to all of you for the support you offered and you are offering to us in Birzeit and to all our parishes in Palestine, we feel that we have brothers and sisters in United Sates who continue to think in us and loves us, especially in these days where all the world work hardly for peace and end of every kind of war and terror, but in the same time, we are, as Palestinian people, still living under the Israeli occupation, depraved from the most precious thing that the men kind can ever have: liberty.
We want peace but before that we want justice. No peace or stability without justice first. As parishioners of Birzeit and Ramallah we have experimented a kind of religious persecution. With the beginning of this Holy Week, exactly on the Palm Sunday, we planned to participate with 200 people from my parish in Birzeit with other 400 people from Ramallah city, in the annual traditional procession and prayer in Jerusalem, so we asked for permissions from the Israeli occupation army in order to enter Jerusalem, they refused, like this we couldn.t participate and for many of those who wanted to participate was the first time that they are going to attend this ceremony. So you can see here how much is true the Israeli claim of conserving the religious liberty in Jerusalem.
Our Lord is calling us to proclaim His glorious Resurrection to all, to proclaim with loud voice His triumph on the injustice and oppression, and every Christian, as he is a free man, has the duty to defend the liberty in every where it is defeated.
Thanks for your support and love to us, and we promise you to give our love and prayers to every one.
Yours in Christ
Fr. Aziz Halaweh and parish council of Birzeit Church
