Posted Thursday September 14, 2000 -  Tehran - A prominent Christian leader in Palestine has accused
Zionist circles of seeking to besmirch the Palestinian Christians' stance on the holy
places in Al-Qods, an IRNA dispatch from Athens said yesterday.

  Archbishop Dr. Hanna Atallah, the highest ranking Orthodo clergyman in Palestine,
  told the Palestinian news agency "WAFA" that Palestinian Christian were soul and
  heart part of the Palestinian National Movement and rejected
Israeli attempts to create divisions between them and their Muslim brothers.

  The Muslims and Christians in Palestine really belong to Palestine
and they are for the interest of their homeland. While others are the agents of the
Zionists and they look after the interest of aliens.

  Fortunately, this week the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) had
called on Christians to try to get know and better understand Muslims.

  Christians and Muslims are closer and understand each other better
as there is no domination of the Zionists among them.

  "We reject and detest these suspicious attempts to besmirch the
Christians' stance concerning Al-Qods and the Palestinian cause as a whole." Atallah
pointed out that Christians in Palestine were not and would never be a "neutral
player" in the Al-Qods issue.

  "We are part of the Arab and Palestinian nation ... we will not be spectators or
  onlookers, we will stick to our people in our quest to liberate Al-Qods from the Zionist
  occupation." The Orthodox archbishop said any Christian who allows
himself to be cajoled by the Zionists for sectarian and parochial considerations
ejects himself out of the united Palestinian ranks." The Zionist regime has been trying
since 1967 to classify Palestinians in accordance with religious affiliation in order to
create the impression that Palestinians don't constitute a people but are merely a group
of sects and denominations.