At the invitation of Gemona Parish Priest, Fr. Gastoni, and the Mayor of the city of Gemona Mr. Marini, Dr. Geries S. Khoury delivered a lecture titled “Christmas: The Challenge to Peace”. Dr. Khoury pointed out the following in his public lecture:
* Jesus Christ’s Message basically revolves around peace.
* There is a difference between the peace of Christ and the peace of the world. Christ’s peace is based on love, equality, justice, and humility, its basic goal being the dignity of humans and treating everyone on equal bases. The peace of the world is based on military, economic rights and aloofness and the marginalization of the rights of the week.
* Dr. Khoury focused on the difficult circumstances that Bethlehem and the rest of Palestinian towns, villages and rural areas, and especially the besieged on Gaza Strip.
* And despite the glorious chants of Angels, two thousand years ago, we see Bethlehem and Palestine as a whole live under Israeli military occupation. Poverty and unemployment’s rates are very high. Things are getting worst day by day. Peace seems far away due to Israeli intransigence and the big powers’ silence. Despite all the above gloomy factors, the Birth of Christ develops in us the love of life and renews in us the determination to seriously work for the attainment of a comprehensive and just peace through dialogue and the insistence on the just and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people including the activation of Security Council resolutions pertaining to the Palestinian problem.
