On Holy Land

THOUSANDS of Papua New Guinea’s Christian pilgrims can relax now knowing they have an embassy in Jerusalem, Israel, the Holy City of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity.
Prime Minister James Marape and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened the new PNG embassy in Jerusalem at 6.30pm on Monday.
PNG joins four other countries – the United States, Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo – in establishing a fully-fledged diplomatic mission in the Israeli capital. It is also the first Pacific Island nation to do so.
Marape said at the opening that to reciprocate, the Government would identify a suitable land in Port Moresby for an Israeli embassy, and invite Netanyahu over for the ground-breaking ceremony.
“Suitable land will also be made available to Israeli investors to bring in their capital to help develop an Israeli-PNG Special Economic Zone,” he added.
He said the decision to open the new embassy was a “sovereign decision based on Papua New Guinea’s Christian principles and world view that emanate from Israel’s Judaism religion, which emphasizes respect, empathy, tolerance and acceptance for humankind”. “Papua New Guinea chose to (open the embassy) in Jerusalem in acknowledgement of our Judeo-Christian world view that Jerusalem is historically the headquarters of the nation and the people of Israel,” Marape said.
“Papua New Guinea highly values its bilateral relations which over the years have been based on strong Judeo-Christian values and common, shared interests.”
Marape said Israel was no ordinary nation.
“From the Judeo-Christian worldview, it is the foundation nation in giving to the world many of the moral principles that we carry as Christians today,” he said.
“The value of Christianity is immeasurable.
“Character of nations are built by values and moral principles, and Christianity – which is deeply embedded in Israel’s faith of Judaism – gives to us our values and moral principles.”
Marape added that Papua New Guinea had a lot to gain from the Israeli economy “through its
high technology systems in agriculture, education, finance and resource, and infrastructure development”.
“This will include downstream processing of rice and fisheries products which the Israeli development agency known as Mashav has indicated its desire to assist.”
He thanked Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Government for facilitating the establishment of the PNG resident embassy in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang has cautioned Marape on the move to establish the PNG embassy in Jerusalem.
Lelang said Jerusalem was a disputed territory between Palestine and Israel, and opening an embassy there was “not a wise move”.
He said there was a reason the rest of the world had decided not to move their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.