Athens. 1st March 2024. Meeting with the Ambassador of Palestine to Greece.

The Secretary General of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), dr. Maximos Charakopoulos, held a meeting with the His Excellency the Ambassador of Palestine in Greece, Mr. Yussef Dorkhom, at the headquarters of the IAO. The meeting was also attended by the IAO Advisor, dr. Kostas Mygdalis.

The head of the inter-parliamentary institution underlined that “we are all shocked by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the huge losses among civilians, but also the destruction of critical infrastructures, which threaten the population with starvation and the spread of diseases. We appeal for the facilitation of humanitarian aid with food and medical supplies. We hope that the hostilities will cease immediately and that logic and diplomacy will prevail. The solution is neither terrorism nor war. We firmly support the solution of the two states, Israel and Palestine, and the peaceful coexistence of Jews, Muslims and Christians in the long-suffering Middle East. We are understandably anxious about the precarious Christian presence in the region. We absolutely do not want our churches and religious monuments in the Holy Land to become museums. That is why we are always next to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which supports its faithful in these critical hours”.

The Ambassador, after thanking the Secretary General for the warm welcome, presented the current situation in the Middle East region and the dimension of humanitarian crisis that the war in Gaza has assumed with thousands of victims, of whom 70% are women and children of the civilian population. As he informed, many Greek Orthodox churches and Monasteries in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza are in a state of danger. In fact, on October 20th, 2023, the Church of Saint Porphyrios in Gaza was bombed, claiming the lives of 19 Orthodox Palestinians.

The Palestinian diplomat proposed to the IAO Secretary General the formation of a fact-finding mission, mandated to visit the Patriarchate of Jerusalem for information, as well as monasteries in Bethlehem and other parts of Palestine.

The IAO Advisor, dr. Kostas Mygdalis, pointed out the importance of strengthening the participation of Palestine within the IAO, which is treated equally with the other countries participating in the inter-parliamentary institution.

At the end of the meeting, the Secretary General, after thanking the Ambassador of Palestine for the briefing, presented him with numbered copper engravings of the Holy Sepulcher, issued by the IAO for the anniversary of its 30th General Assembly.