(ZENIT News / Rome, 07.02.2024).- The October 7th terrorist attack against Israel triggered a war, which increases relentlessly the number of victims, especially on the Palestinian side. From the very start of the war, Pope Francis has not ceased to raise his voice in favour of all those affected. He has received in audience family members of both the Israelis as well as the Palestinians. But what is the Holy See’s position regarding a permanent solution?
Although a Two-State solution isn’t a novelty, as in the past Saint John Paul II as well as Benedict XVI both defended and promoted it, it’s true that Pope Francis has recalled it once again.
During an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, on January 29, 2024, the Holy Father described the situation in the area, acknowledging that “now the conflict is widening dramatically,” and then he specified that the Oslo Agreement was very clear about the Two-State solution. Until this Agreement is implemented, true peace will continue to be far away.”
In fact, it was in 1993 that the Palestinian and Israeli sides signed a Declaration of Principles on the Dispositions Regarding a Provisional Autonomous Government in Palestine, geared to a permanent solution to the conflict. However, since then, instead of going forward with that full autonomy, what has happened is that there are increasingly more Israeli settlements in the West Bank territory, which makes increasingly less viable the planned solution that the Holy See promotes and defends, as the Pope also recalled in his latest statement.
Before leaving Israel, after his visit to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI said very clearly to the President of Israel, on May 15, 2019:
Mr President, I thank you for the warmth of your hospitality, which is greatly appreciated, and I wish to put on record that I came to visit this country as a friend of the Israelis, just as I am a friend of the Palestinian people. Friends enjoy spending time in one another’s company, and they find it deeply distressing to see one another suffer. No friend of the Israelis and the Palestinians can fail to be saddened by the continuing tension between your two peoples. No friend can fail to weep at the suffering and loss of life that both peoples have endured over the last six decades. Allow me to make this appeal to all the people of these lands: No more bloodshed! No more fighting! No more terrorism! No more war! Instead let us break the vicious circle of violence. Let there be lasting peace based on justice, let there be genuine reconciliation and healing. Let it be universally recognized that the State of Israel has the right to exist, and to enjoy peace and security within internationally agreed borders. Let it be likewise acknowledged that the Palestinian people have a right to a sovereign independent homeland, to live with dignity and to travel freely. Let the two-state solution become a reality, not remain a dream. And let peace spread outwards from these lands, let them serve as a “light to the nations” (Is 42:6), bringing hope to the many other regions that are affected by conflict.
On January 20, 2024, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s current President, rejected once again the Two-State solution. More recently, the Holy See Mission to the United Nations addressed this same topic.
