Abbas rep: Israel attempts to “destroy the holy, archeological and historic sites” and "erase ancient national history”
Headline: “Al-Ta’awun held a ceremony to lay the cornerstone for the ‘Palestinian Museum’ project in Bir Zeit”
“Yesterday, [Thursday April 11, 2013,] the Al-Ta’awun Institute conducted a ceremony laying the cornerstone of the ‘Palestinian Museum’ project in the village of Bir Zeit north of Ramallah. In a speech on behalf of the President of the Palestinian state Mahmoud Abbas, Presidential Bureau Chief Hussein Al-A'araj stressed the importance of the project which he considered ‘a glorious, important, national structure that makes concrete the strong national will to protect Palestine’s name and its national and cultural heritage’ …
Similarly, he [Al-A'araj] was of the opinion that the general Israeli attempts to destroy the holy, archeological and historic sites, and to incorporate the walls of Jerusalem, the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque (i.e., Rachel’s Tomb) in Bethlehem, and other [sites] under the so-called ‘Israel Antiquities Authority’, are [all] part of the [Israeli] activities to erase ancient [Palestinian] national history. He also declared that everything found on this land is evidence of its antiquity and its ancient and indisputable connection to Islam and Christianity.”
“Yesterday, [Thursday April 11, 2013,] the Al-Ta’awun Institute conducted a ceremony laying the cornerstone of the ‘Palestinian Museum’ project in the village of Bir Zeit north of Ramallah. In a speech on behalf of the President of the Palestinian state Mahmoud Abbas, Presidential Bureau Chief Hussein Al-A'araj stressed the importance of the project which he considered ‘a glorious, important, national structure that makes concrete the strong national will to protect Palestine’s name and its national and cultural heritage’ …
Similarly, he [Al-A'araj] was of the opinion that the general Israeli attempts to destroy the holy, archeological and historic sites, and to incorporate the walls of Jerusalem, the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque (i.e., Rachel’s Tomb) in Bethlehem, and other [sites] under the so-called ‘Israel Antiquities Authority’, are [all] part of the [Israeli] activities to erase ancient [Palestinian] national history. He also declared that everything found on this land is evidence of its antiquity and its ancient and indisputable connection to Islam and Christianity.”