Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa says the West Bank has now become “a lawless land” and tensions between settlers and the Palestinian population are continually rising. Source: Vatican News.
“The fact that there is a situation of continuous aggression by settlers is well established,” Cardinal Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said on the final day of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples in Rimini, Italy, last week, first meeting with journalists and then engaging in a dialogue with a group of young people.
“The West must help raise its gaze somewhat, create perspectives, and also help calm this continuing downward spiral through ever greater diplomatic efforts,” the Cardinal stressed.
He pointed to diplomacy, despite “all its weakness” as “the only way to try to resolve the conflict while avoiding the use of weapons, violence and military force”.
The Patriarch also turned his attention to Gaza, where the situation “has deteriorated enormously” and remains “very devastated from a human point of view.”
Nevertheless, he noted, it is “more stable from a certain perspective; politically, there is a great deal of discussion.”
However, Cardinal Pizzaballa issued a warning: “We must not confuse hope with ‘everything will be fine’ or with a political solution. Hope is something else.”
It arises, he explained, “from within,” through encounters and through people – “Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Muslims and Christians” – just as happened during the Meeting. These are people who choose to put themselves on the line “to do something beautiful, to help, to support, or even simply to refuse to dehumanise the other.”
The two-state solution, involving Israel and Palestine, reaffirmed by the Pope, “is the only way to recognise the right of Israelis and Palestinians to have a home in their own land,” he said.
“Sooner or later the Pope will come to the Holy Land – it is only a matter of time. I think it is necessary to prepare the conditions for this visit so that it can truly bear fruit. We will work on this together with the Holy Father, but I believe we should not rush, and we should also avoid spectacular gestures that simply remain isolated events. The visit must be part of a meaningful process.”
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Cardinal Pizzaballa: The West Bank is a ‘lawless land’ (Vatican News)
