The Palestine House is planning to hold its annual commemoration of the Land Day on Saturday, April 14, 2018.
The event in support of the Palestinian struggle against Israel over the land will take place at Capitol Banquette Hall, 6435 Dixie Rd, Mississauga, ON.
The Toronto-based Arabic newspaper Sakher Sabeel published an advertisement for the event featuring Palestinian Archbishop Atallah Hanna accompanied with the following caption (originally in Arabic): “Under the auspices of the Archbishop Atallah Hanna, the Palestine House cordially invites you to participate in the annual commemoration of the 34 anniversary of the Land Day.”
On August 22, 2002 The Associated Press and Baruch Kra, Ha’aretz Corespondent reported: “Police on Thursday released a bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, after he was detained and questioned on suspicion of expressing support for terrorist organizations and illegally entering an enemy country… Hanna is suspected of attempting to meet with heads of terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah spirutal leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, and of praising suicide attacks in comments published by the media in East Jerusalem.” No charges have been laid against him.
An excerpt from Atallah Hanna’s interview with Jordan’s Addustour daily (published on December 25, 2002, originally in Arabic):
Question: What is your position regarding the Palestinian struggle and specifically the suicide operations?
Atallah Hanna: The peoples that suffered from the occupation and colonialism were not liberated without struggle and they were not liberated without resistance. When we return and read the history of the people that were colonized and suffered from the occupation we see that all peoples fought and that the Palestinian liberation fight is a legitimate fight for a noble and legitimate cause.
An excerpt from Atallah Hanna’s interview with Lebanon’s Annahar daily (reposted by bintjbeil.com on March 15, 2002, originally in Arabic):
Atallah Hanna: We have good relations with them [all Palestinian groups]. Our people is united in his intifada [uprising/ fight] and its struggle against the despicable Israeli occupation, and we are also connected with all the mujahedeen and the fighters.
Atallah Hanna denied the allegations against him. According to Hanna, he supports the Palestinian non-violent struggle and opposes the suicide attacks and the killing of civilians. He added that these attacks harm the Palestinian cause.
Atallah Hanna sided with Syrian regime in the fight against its enemies since 2011 and in 2017 he met in Damascus with Syria’s President Bashar Assad. At the same year he was a keynote speaker in an event commemorating the “great fighter” Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, who as the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Jerusalem was arrested in 1974 and convicted of using his Mercedes sedan to smuggle arms to Palestinian militants.