Fr. Shahateet Presents his Book: ‘Christians and the Citizenship in the Arab Countries: Rights and Duties’ to Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh

AMMAN - Archimandrite Fr. Bassam Shahateet, the vicar general of Episcopal of Roman Melkite Catholics of Jordan, presented his newly published Arabic-language book entitled “Christians and the Citizenship in the Arab Countries: Rights and Duties with Jordan as a Model” to HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global), on the occasion of this year’s Christmas and New Year. 

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the kind gesture, and he highly praised the importance of the  book which highlights the historical role the Christians played, and continue to play, in Arab renaissance throughout history.

The book has been  selected among the Top Books of 2021 by the classification lists - which are issued at the end of each year naming the most outstanding cultural, human and creative accomplishments during the year. Father Shahateet stated that it took him 13 years to finalize as a Ph.D. dissertation that was issued in 2017 in Italian and translated into Arabic in 2021. 

The book tackles several topics such as the rights, civil and ecclesiastical duties of Christians in the Arab countries: Jordan, Palestine- Galilee region, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. It also sheds light on the Christian legal situation in the Arabian Gulf region: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain in addition to Yemen, in order to enhance the noble citizenship principles of truth, justice, equality and freedom prevail. 

This book was recently launched at the Royal Cultural Center in a ceremony organized under the patronage of the Minister of Culture with the participation of  many writers, novelists and academics.