Amman, Dec. 27 (Petra) – His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal, President of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (RIIFS), extended his congratulations to heads and representatives of churches in the Kingdom and to members of the Christian communities on the occasion of Christmas during a visit on Saturday to the Presentation of the Lord Cathedral. The visit was attended by a number of former ministers and Muslim and Christian national figures.

Prince El Hassan began his remarks by offering congratulations and best wishes on Christmas, at a difficult time in which the suffering of the people of Gaza Hashem is never absent from conscience, and Jerusalem remains ever present in the heart and mind.

He affirmed his deep belief in humanity, stressing that faith, in its essence, centers on human solidarity and mutual support, and that freedom of belief and the associated right to full citizenship based on complete equality in rights and duties constitute a cornerstone in building modern societies. These rights, he said, are guaranteed by explicit constitutional principles and definitive religious texts.

Prince El Hassan stressed the importance of the Hashemite custodianship over the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, underscoring that the historical bond between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Holy City forms an integral part of the national historical legacy.

He said Jordan submitted a file in 1981 to the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO to register the Old City of Jerusalem on the World Heritage List and followed this in 1982 with a request to place it on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

He said that in 2004 Jordan, within the Arab group, confronted an attempt by the Israeli authorities to remove the Old City of Jerusalem from the list and succeeded in maintaining its registration as World Heritage in Danger.

Prince El Hassan pointed to the civilizational role of family endowments in Jerusalem, alongside charitable endowments, in enhancing awareness among the city’s residents and preserving this deeply rooted cultural, religious and social heritage.

He said there is a need to think together about making endowments in Jerusalem the main tool for anchoring Jerusalemites to their land, asking whether it is possible to move toward forming a single investment body to draw up a comprehensive investment plan for all endowments, transforming waqf from charitable or family endowments into developmental endowments.

Prince El Hassan stressed the importance of raising youth awareness of issues of history and shared identity and bridging knowledge gaps in a way that enhances their understanding of their responsibilities toward their civilizational and human heritage.

//Petra// AF