Lanka 'Pranama' Awards for two Palestinians on Independence Day

Two prominent personalities in Palestine were bestowed with ‘Lanka Pranama’ honors at the Independence Day celebration held in Ramallah, Palestine where Representative Office of Sri Lanka in Palestine marked the 64th Independence Day with a colorful reception held in Ramallah.

Presidential Advisor Dr. Ziyad Bandak represented President Mahmoud Abbas.

The reception commenced with the lighting of the traditional oil lamp by the dignitaries present including mayors, diplomats, members of the business community and Sri Lankan employees in Palestine.

The Orthodox Church was represented by Archbishop Most Rev. Atallah Hanna who in his address of blessings spoke about the closeness of Sri Lanka and Palestine and the efforts of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in supporting the Palestinian cause. He prayed that Sri Lanka be a prosperous country in the near future.

Islamic Prayers were conducted by Sheikh Ra’fat.

Representative of Sri Lanka Dr. T. Jayasinghe in his welcome address spoke about the economic achievements, peace and political stability in Sri Lanka that is making it the miracle of Asia.

He thanked Palestinians for importing large quantities of tea from Sri Lanka. He also specially thanked the travel agents who are promoting Sri Lanka among Palestinians. He mentioned that the 750,000th tourist to visit Sri Lanka was a Palestinian.
Presidential Advisor Dr. Ziyad Bandak reiterated the close friendship between Sri Lanka and Palestine, He thanked H. E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his consistent support to Palestine and mentioned about the support given in UN in connection with the UN bid of Palestine and at the UNESCO.

The other important item of the day was the honoring of two prominent personalities in Palestine. First was His Worship the Mayor of Beitunia Municipality Mr. Arafat Khalaf who is performing a yeoman service to promote friendship between Sri Lanka and Palestine. The other prominent personality was Dr. Mahdi Abdulhadi, Head of PASSIA “ Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs”, a highly respected academic and an authority on Jerusalem.

He has devoted his life to save Jerusalem. He has produced a large number of research publications on Jerusalem and Palestine .

He is also the Chief Editor of 'Passia' the annual publication that gives the latest information about Palestine.

The celebration was followed by a reception.

- Asian Tribune -

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