The Pope and Israel

Pope Francis slammed Israel with a double whammy this month, which marks the 67th anniversary of Israel’s virtual takeover of Palestine, when he canonised two Palestinian nuns and offered visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a medallion, explaining that it represented the “angel of peace destroying the bad spirit of war”, thus underscoring the Holy See’s warm relations with the Palestinians.

This papal action followed a Vatican announcement on May 13 that it planned to sign a treaty that would announce its recognition of the “State of Palestine”, a step that lends, according to The New York Times, “significant symbolic weight to an intensifying Palestinian push for international support for sovereignty that bypasses the paralysed negotiations with Israel”.

One hundred and thirty five nations already recognised the Palestinian state and four European parliaments urged their government to take a similar step: Britain, France, Spain and Ireland.

At present, the Palestinians have observer status at the United Nations, which took effect in 2012.

The two nuns, born in 19t century and the first Arabs to become saints, are Sister Mariam Baouardy, who founded a Carmelite convent in Bethlehem, and Sister Marie Alphonsine Ghattas, who launched a congregation of nuns, was held in St Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, and was attended by some 2,100 people, including the Palestinian president.

In reaction, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted in an address marking Jerusalem Day, also known by the Palestinians as Nakba (Catastrophe), which falls on May 15, that the city is the capital of the Jewish people “alone”, while the Palestinians are hoping to establish their capital in East Jerusalem.

An earlier announcement by the Israeli foreign ministry said that Israel is “disappointed” by the Vatican action.

In contrast, a senior Palestinian foreign affairs official, Husam Zomlot, underlined that “the Vatican is not just a state. The Vatican represents hundreds of millions of Christians worldwide, including Palestinians”.

Haaretz, a leading Israeli liberal newspaper, was not supportive of the new Israeli government intentions. The opening lines of its May 18 editorial warned: “Simple logic strongly suggests that the new government formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not bring peace, certainly not on its own initiative. Netanyahu renounced the two-state solution during his election campaign, does not consider Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a partner, and sees the United States administration as the enemy. All this is enough to suppress any hope for a diplomatic turnaround.”

It suggested that this weak Israeli government, which has a majority of one in the Israeli Knesset “must adopt Abbas’ conditions as the opening negotiating position and declare that he is a worthy partner”.

It added: “It must operate domestically and internationally to recruit leaders and states into a multinational coalition that will push for diplomatic negotiations and present a realistic plan that will convince the public, both in Israel and abroad, that there is an alternative to the iron wall that the Netanyahu government has erected.”

It is doubtful, however, that Netanyahu will follow those suggestions, particularly complying to Abbas’ condition that Israel halt continued illegal settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and immediately release Palestinians who were imprisoned before the Oslo Accords and who were supposed to be set free in 2014.

These so-called accords were never implemented by Israel and remain dysfunctional.

More disappointing is US President Barack Obama’s assessment; last Thursday he told the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), who he met at Camp David, that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians “seems distant now”.

A White House statement released on May 14, said that “the United States and GCC member states underscored (at their meeting) the enduring importance of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and the urgent need for the parties to demonstrate — through policies and actions — genuine advancement of a two-state solution, and decided to remain closely engaged moving forward.”

This disheartening conclusion should give additional reason to the Palestinian Authority to pursue its impressive goal of gathering significant international support, as demonstrated by the papal endorsement, so that Palestine becomes an official state and a full member of the United Nations.

The writer is a Washington-based columnist.