Vatican prime minister says recognizing Palestine the solution to Mideast conflict

VATICAN CITY - Recognising the State of Palestine “is the solution,” to the Middle East conflict between Palestinians and Israel, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State said in evident praise for France’s decision to recognise Palestine while Italy and others prevaricate.

  Asked by reporters on the fringes of a meeting in Rome if he agreed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who claims it is too early to recognise Palestine, Cardinal Parolin, the effective prime minister of the Holy See, said he disagreed.

  “But why premature? According to us, the solution lies in direct dialogue between the parties in view of establishing two autonomous state realities.”

 “Of course, this is becoming more and more difficult because of the situation in the West Bank. This does not help the creation of the State of Palestine, from a practical point of view. It seems to me there will be a conference promoted by France and Saudi Arabia to find practical terms, hopefully one that will yield results.”

  On French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said France will recognise Palestine in September, Parolin remarked: “Since now, as you say, we have recognised the State of Palestine: for us that is the solution, that is the recognition of two states that live close to each other but also in autonomy and security.” Should all the G7 countries recognise it? “I think so”, Parolin observes, “for us that is the formula”.

  Speaking about the attack of the Israeli Defence Forces on the Church of the Sacred Family in the Vatican’s Secretary of State also sent a message to Tel Aviv: “it’s Israel’s turn to find a way to ensure that mistakes are not made again. If you want to, you can find a way.”

  “I have no other evidence to make a different assessment; we have not been able to make an independent investigation led by us or others. We take the results offered by the Israeli government as good, insisting that we must be careful because we have the impression that these errors are being repeated and that special care must be taken to prevent places of worship and humanitarian institutions from being hit by violence again”.

The cardinal recalled that the Holy See maintains ‘direct’ contact with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem: “There is continuous contact and strong collaboration”.

 Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly denounced Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war against civilians in the Gaza Strip.

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