Edd K. Usman / Exclusive to BusinessMirror MANILA—As the Philippine government brings Filipinos back home from the ruins of and the devastation that is the Gaza Strip, including those who lost their lives in Israel, Palestinian Ambassador Saleh A.F. Mohammad sent his sympathies and condolences to families of the victims.
MANILA—As the Philippine government brings Filipinos back home from the ruins of and the devastation that is the Gaza Strip, including those who lost their lives in Israel, Palestinian Ambassador Saleh A.F. Mohammad sent his sympathies and condolences to families of the victims.
News reports quoting the Department of Foreign Affairs showed four Filipinos died during the October 7 unprecedented attack by Hamas militants through land, sea, and air in Israel, killing over 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers. “As we speak now, there are around 10,000 Palestinians killed…majority of them women and children” said the ambassador who, like hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians, is a refugee. Along with over 700,000 Palestinians, he and his family were forced to abandon their homes in Palestine after the 1967 war.
Established in 1994, the Palestinian Authority now headed by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah Party rules and governs the West Bank while Hamas runs the government of Gaza Strip. Amid the din of discordant voices, it’s easy to forget that Hamas is a government, a political organization with ideology and with an armed wing.
“Let me take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the government of the Philippines , either as refugees, or opening the doors for them to come work here,” the journalist-turned-diplomat said. “The Philippines is a very important country, over 110 million people, a giant country. The location is very important…member of many international organizations. And also, we have many things in common.”
He pointed out: “You know that Palestine is the cradle of Christianity and the cradle of Islam. Our country is the birthplace of Jesus Christ , and also our country was the first Muslim Qiblah in the Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.”Palestine, he said, has the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in East Jerusalem, where Christians all over the world, including from the Philippines, travel on pilgrimage.
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