ROME,
Aug 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Pope John Paul II issued
Sunday, August 11, 2002, his most forceful condemnation yet of the
nearly two-year conflict in the Middle East and urged the
international community to do more to end the bloodshed, news agencies
reported.
"When
will one learn that co-existence between the Israeli and Palestinian
people cannot result from arms. Neither attacks, nor the walls of
separation, nor retaliation, will lead to a just solution to the
conflict," he said in an address to pilgrims at his summer
residence in Castel Gandolfo near Rome, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
He
said the international community should commit itself to "taking
a more determined role on the ground, offering mediation to create the
conditions for a fruitful dialogue between the two sides to accelerate
the peace process."
The
pope also appealed to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to return
to the path of "loyal negotiation" to end fighting that has
cost the lives of almost 2,440 people, most of them Palestinians, AFP
said.
"No
matter what ethnic group they belong to, no-one has the right to kill
defenseless civilians in an indiscriminate way," he said.
The
ailing pontiff visited the Holy Land several months before the
eruption of the Palestinian Intifada or uprising in September 2000.
On
Sunday, he spoke of his personal anguish over the suffering of both
the Palestinians who he said were subject to virtual "collective
punishment" and Israelis who live "in daily terror of being
the target of anonymous attacks."
He
also highlighted the suffering of Palestinians who have been
"chased from their own land, or forced in recent times to live in
a permanent state of siege, the objects of virtually a collective
punishment."
The
pope complained that the crippling blockades and rigid curfews Israel
has imposed on Palestinians was preventing people from reaching their
places of worship, a move he said amounted to a "violation of the
fundamental right of the freedom of worship."
Around
130,000 Christians live in Israel, while the West Bank is home to
25,000 Christians and the Gaza Strip to 2,000.
He
urged the thousands of people who came to hear his Sunday mass in his
summer residence outside Rome not to remain "indifferent before
this humanitarian drama".
"In
this summer time, where many people are enjoying a well-deserved rest,
I can't help but worry about the Holy Land, where unfortunately,
nearly daily violent episodes know no end," he said.
The
pontiff called on Christians around the world "to unite in
intense and confident prayer" so that "the cries of those
who are suffering and dying in the Holy Land are finally heard."
Israel
had put Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity under siege for 38 days
during which Israeli tanks and troops remained stationed around
Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. The siege which caused damage to
the church and the surrounding area ended on Friday, May 10, 2002
under a EU brokered deal.
The
82-year-old pope was resting in his summer residence following a
grueling 10-day trip to Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala last week, AFP
said.
He
is set to head off to Poland on Friday, August 16, for his eighth trip
home since becoming pope over 20 years ago.
Nearly
150 doctors will be on call during the ailing pontiff's three-day
visit to the southern city of Krakow, where the pontiff, then known as
Karol Wojtyla, lived for decades and was archbishop before being made
pope in 1978.
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Israel had put Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity under siege for 38 days |
Meanwhile,
the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem urged Saturday, August 10, the
spiritual head of the Islamic resistance group Hamas to push for
peace, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin conditioned this on an end to the Israeli
occupation of Palestinian lands.
Patriarch
Monsignor Michel Sabbah told journalists he "noticed with Sheikh
Yassin a desire for peace", after talks with him at his Gaza City
home.
Yassin,
meanwhile, said the patriarch had asked him to guide his movement,
responsible for numerous resistance attacks, towards peace.
However,
he vowed "not do it as long as we live under occupation.
"Any
initiative must come from the Zionist enemy (Israel), who must
withdraw, free all detainees and cease house demolitions," the
cleric added, referring to Israeli atrocities used by the Israeli army
since it re-occupied all but one of the key West Bank Palestinian
towns in mid-June.
The
two men also discussed the situation in the Palestinian territories
and the possibility of an end to Hamas attacks inside Israel, said a
Palestinian official on condition of anonymity.
Sabbah
has often said that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
is the "root of all evil" in the Middle East.
"We
told Sabbah that we like peace, but that we don't have an initiative
on this issue", Yassin added.
Last
month, Palestinian officials said they were close to brokering a
unilateral halt to Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians.
But
a July 23 Israeli air strike on Gaza City, which killed 18 civilians,
including 12 children, as well as the military leader of Hamas, Salah
Shehada, and his bodyguard, torpedoed the negotiations, they charged.
Last
week a Hamas political leader in the Gaza Strip, Abdel Aziz Rantissi,
ruled out any possibility of a truce being announced in the near
future.
"As
long as Israel kills, deports and detains our people, we will continue
our struggle," Rantissi said.
