The only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state, Pope Leo said on Sunday, reaffirming the Vatican’s position.
“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” Leo, the first US pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon during his first in-flight press conference.
“We are also friends with Israel and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help them close in on a solution with justice for everyone,” added the pope, speaking in Italian.
Leo, who usually prefers using careful, diplomatic language, ramped up criticism earlier this year of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
RM Block
Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed opposition to a Palestinian state after even its biggest ally the US indicated support for Palestinian independence. Leo spoke in a brief eight-minute press conference focused on his visit to Turkey, which he visited from Thursday to Sunday on his first overseas trip since election in May as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.
Leo is visiting Lebanon until Tuesday, when he returns to Rome.
“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” Leo, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon during his first in-flight press conference.
Leo arrived in Lebanon on Sunday, where he is expected to appeal for peace in a country that is a continued target of Israeli air strikes.
Hours before Leo’s arrival, crowds gathered along the roads from the airport to the presidential palace, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags. He will meet the president and prime minister and make an address, only his second to a foreign government.
Lebanon, which has the largest share of Christians in the Middle East, has been rocked by the spillover of the Gaza conflict, as Israel and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militant group Hizbullah went to war, culminating in a devastating Israeli offensive.
“We want him to plant peace in the hearts of politicians so that we can live a comfortable life in Lebanon,” said Randa Sahyoun, a Lebanese woman living in Qatar who travelled home for the pope’s visit.
Leaders in Lebanon, which hosts 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees and is also struggling to recover from years of economic crisis, are worried Israel will dramatically escalate its strikes in coming months.
Israel says its continued strikes since last year’s ceasefire agreement are to prevent Hizbullah from re-establishing military capabilities and posing a renewed threat to communities in northern Israel.
Hizbullah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday that he hoped Leo’s visit would help bring an end to Israeli attacks.
Lebanon’s diverse communities have also welcomed the papal trip, with leading Druze cleric Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna saying Lebanon “needs the glimmer of hope represented by this visit”.
Reinforcements from the Lebanese army and internal security forces deployed to the airport before Leo’s arrival and his drive to the presidential palace through Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area where Hizbullah holds sway.
He was driven in the enclosed Popemobile, arriving at the palace in heavy rain with crowds under white umbrellas cheering and a welcome band performing a traditional dance while beating large drums. – Reuters
