For four consecutive years the President of the State of Israel Reuven "Rubi" Rivlin met with the heads of Christian Churches in the Holy Land to wish them a happy Easter. In recent years this meeting has been held at the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Latin Patriarchates. This year they met, on April 24th, at the Melkite Archbishopric in the port city of Haifa. Present were civil authorities, among them the city’s mayor, Yona Yahav, as well as the heads of all Churches with the exception of the Armenians who were commemorating the genocide of 1915. His Grace, George Bacouini, Greek Catholic Archbishop of Acre, spoke on behalf of the asembled heads of Churches, expressing his thanks, making mention of the essential role of the played by the Arab community, and requesting greater integration, security, and infrastructure. President Rivlin stressed his belief that the presence of Christians, in a land for all believers, played a valuable role in Israeli society. REUVEN “RUBI” RIVLIN Presidente dello Stato d’Israele “Today we celebrate Easter. For Christians throughout the World, Easter celebrates the victory of life over death. It is a time to celebrate new beginnings. So today we celebrate this miracle together: the miracle of life. Let us celebrate together because today we are one community.” “We are not condemned to lived together,” continued the President, “it is our destiny to do so.” We try to work together for the best.”