Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Pope Leo XIV flew from Turkiye to Lebanon on Sunday, and surprised the press corps flying with him by making some comments to them. His predecessor, Pope Francis, had been more engaged with the press in such situations. Justin McClellan at the National Catholic Reporter reports that Leo said that the Vatican continues to press for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and added,
“We know that in this moment, Israel doesn’t accept this solution, but we see it as the only one that can offer a solution to the conflict that they are living in. We are also friends with Israel, and we try with both sides to be a mediating voice that can help bring them closer to a solution with justice for all.”
The Vatican recognized the state of Palestine in 2015.
What I like about Pope Leo’s remarks is that he openly admitted that the Israeli government is die-hard opposed to a two-state solution. This refreshing candor is typically entirely lacking in Washington, D. C., where generations of American politicians have pronounced their support of a two-state solution without acknowledging that the Palestinians have no partner for peace.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly pledged that there will never be a Palestinian state. He reaffirmed that die-hard opposition earlier this month and growled, “I do not need affirmations, tweets or lectures from anyone.”
Netanyahu does, however, apparently need billions of dollars of Americans’ money, he just wants them to fork it over humbly and silently.
Or by check:
Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)
Still, you routinely hear presidents, secretaries of state, diplomats, senators, congressmen and virtually everyone who gets asked in public what they would do about the Mideast conflict, say that they put their faith in the two-state solution. No reporters follow up, “But how will you achieve that since the Israelis reject it?” And the politicians don’t volunteer to address that problem.
Some of the point of the Gaza genocide for the extreme-right government in Tel Aviv is precisely to forestall the emergence of a Palestinian state, by making Gaza uninhabitable and aiming for its ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu won’t permit Gaza to be governed by the Palestine Authority, created by the 1993 Oslo Accords that Israel signed, along with the US government. The PA, which styles itself the State of Palestine, recognized Israel in 1993. Netanyahu preferred the volatile Muslim fundamentalist Hamas to be in charge of Gaza, in order to divide Palestine and rule it. It was that aspiration on Netanyahu’s part of forever forestalling a Palestinian state even at the cost of collaborating with Hamas, that led to the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Personally, I don’t see how you get an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza given the Israeli colonization of the former and destruction of the latter. But, it is good to see the Pope be completely honest with us about the Israeli stance and not engage in the typical Western prevarication. It is also good to see him determined not to give up, and to signal that the Vatican is willing to broker a deal when the time comes. The Roman Catholic Church has important diplomatic resources for such a role.
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Asked about his talks on the issue Saturday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the Pope acknowledged that the president of Turkiye “is certainly in agreement” with the two-state solution and said that Turkiye “has an important role that it could play in this.”
On landing in Lebanon, Pope Leo met with the Christian president, Joseph Aoun, and other officials at the Baabda presidential palace.
He addressed the multicultural Lebanese population, saying “You are a people who do not give up. You rise in the face of difficulties and know how to be reborn.” He said many Lebanese in the country and abroad are quietly working for peace.
File Photo, Pope Leo XIV inauguration. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett). Detail. Public Domain. Via Picryl. . Artificially sharpened.
Lebanese adults are about 1/3 Christian, with most of the rest being either Sunni or Shiite Muslims. About 6% are Druze, an esoteric offshoot of Ismaili Shiism. Al Jazeera reports that “leading Druze cleric Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna [said] Lebanon ‘needs the glimmer of hope represented by this visit.'”
Pope Leo said, “Lebanon can be proud of a vibrant civil society, rich in talents and young people capable of expressing the dreams and hopes of the entire country. I urge you to remain connected to your people and place yourselves in their service. Speak one language: the language of hope, which unites everyone and allows them to start anew.”
Obliquely referring to the ongoing Israeli war with the Shiite Lebanese party-militia Hezbollah, the pope said, “This is not only a challenge for Lebanon but for the entire Middle East: How can we ensure that young people, in particular, do not feel compelled to leave their homeland? How can we encourage them to find peace at home and become its leaders? Christians, Muslims, and all other religious and civic components of Lebanese society are called to play their role and engage the international community in this effort.”
He is clearly worried that the never-ending conflict with Israel and the consequent damage to the Lebanese economy will lead to the out-migration of large numbers of young people. He must especially worry about the decline of Christianity in the Middle East. The Bush administration’s Iraq War and its aftermath virtually emptied Iraq of its Christians, who had been a significant minority in that country. Lebanon is particularly badly governed, so that some old chemicals stored at the port were allowed to blow up, the central bank manager appears to have stolen all the country’s money, and electricity and the internet are intermittent. So if the Pope is worried about an exodus of Lebanese, including Lebanese Christians, he’d have every right to be.
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