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Christmas 2008
60th anniversary for the universal
declaration
of the Document of Human Rights
and the Palestinian Teacher’s Day
22
Dec. 2008
Golden Park Resort
Beit Sahour
In accordance with the AEI annual
tradition in
celebrating universal, national and
religious occasions which are
related to its programs and mission,
AEI celebrated on this day the above
mentioned feasts and anniversaries.
Attendees: the
participants were more than 140 from
all groups of the AEI in Bethlehem,
Ramallah and some parts of Hebron
regions of the West Bank. A 25
visiting group from IKV/Pax Christi
Netherlands attended the festive
celebration. Some responsibles from
the Councils of Higher Education and
Direction of the Bureau of Education
in Bethlehem, Mr. Harry Pukor from
the Dutch representative office in
Ramallah and members of the AEI
advisory board attended the
celebration too.
The AEI general director Mr. Fuad
Giacaman addressed the audience in
Arabic and English, and welcomed and
congratulated them all on these
happy occasions, especially our
Dutch guests.
Mr. Giacaman spoke about the
meanings, importance and values of
Christmas and the joint feasts of
the three monotheistic religions. He
highlighted the Christian Muslim
living together values. Fuad spoke
also about the AEI message in
deepening the concept of love,
peace, non-violence and respect of
the other inside the Palestinian
society and in the world. Mr.
Giacaman referred also to the
Teacher’s Day and the Human Rights
anniversaries. Mr. Fuad ended up his
speech by thanking God, the funders,
the volunteers and members for their
continued support to the AEI in its
noble and necessary mission,
especially under the present
difficult political circumstances.
Some members and volunteers read
some wishes and prayers that have
been sent by different members of
the World Council of Churches and
Pax Christi International in
solidarity with the suffering of our
Palestinian people and in their
aspirations to live in human
dignity, just peace, freedom and
safety.
Archemendrite Father Aissa Muslih,
the media spokesman of the Greek
Orthodox Church in Jerusalem,
expressed his joy in attending such
an interreligious celebration on
Christmas and the other happy
occasions. He highlighted the role
of the AEI in this field. Father
Aissa spoke about the great values
and concepts which our lord Jesus
Christ preached and sought to
achieve in the salvation of humanity
and for human brotherhood and peace.
Archemendrite Father Aissa Muslih
expressed his happiness and
satisfaction of the strong level of
Christian Muslim relationship
throughout the history. This
Christian and Muslim living together
is based on equal citizenship,
rights and duties, common Arab
culture, same history and future
joint national aspirations.
Later on all participants
accompanied Mr. Tony Nassar and
Malki Maliha in singing Christmas
night carols. Mr. Abdallah Shakarnah
– director of the Ministry of
Education office in Bethlehem –
spoke about his pleasure in
participating in this celebration.
He also spoke highly about the AEI
various activities which aim at
strengthening peace, love and
dignity.
In the souls of our young
generations, he also praised the AEI
in its continuous tradition of
celebrating joint Christian and
Muslim feasts. He mentioned the
coincidence of the two feasts “Al
Adha Christmas and the Teacher’s
Day. Mr. Shakarna said: “We on
Christmas celebrate the teachings of
the first teacher, Jesus Christ. “At
the end of his speech, Mr. Abdallah
spoke of the great educational role
of the Palestinian teacher in
educating and raising our children
under these present difficult and
dark conditions that Palestinians
have been facing.
Mr. Elias Mayyah – the presenter of
the celebration – presented the new
AEI teachers’ group that has been
recently established. This
teachers’group aims at developing
its members capacities based on the
AEI experience in the educational
field and also on the teachers’ own
experiences. The AEI women’s group
of the cultural tourism program has
presented an interesting drama
performance. This show brings us in
the engagement customs and wedding
traditions of the Palestinian
Bethlehemite heritage. In this
performance, some women went to the
brides house so as to check and see
the brides beauty and her abilities.
After getting the preliminary
approval they later on went back
with the dignitaries to ask the hand
of the bride officially.
The whole festive celebration was
enriched by the thrills and songs of
our women as well as the
accompaniment of our Dutch guests.
The lawyer, Mrs. Scarlett Salame,
gave a presentation about the
sixtieth anniversary of the
universal document of human rights
and its violations in Palestine. The
lawyer referred to the importance of
this document on the international
level. She summarized the human
experiences in protecting and
preserving the human rights. She
also highlighted in figures the
reality of the Palestinian citizens,
human rights under the present
sufferings which are imposed by the
Israeli occupation. All these
inhuman practices in violations of
the human rights are being
represented in the construction of
the Apartheid wall, the
fragmentation of the Palestinian
Occupied Territories. The speaker
mentioned also some of the
difficulties that the Palestinian
National Authority is facing. The
lawyer ended her speech by talking
also about the daily violations of
human rights committed by some
citizens.
At the end of this ceremony, the
Dutch guests presented a cultural
show which included some songs that
reflect some aspects of the Dutch
musical culture. The whole
celebration ended with all
participants enjoying a festive
dinner on these happy occasions.
The Arab Educational
Institute ‘Open Windows’ celebrates
feasts
Bethlehem, George Zaena – Al Quds
Newspaper Reporter on Wednesday 24th
December 2008
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