Speaking at a UN discussion of the Middle East, the Vatican’s
representative lamented the “gradual movement away from the two-state
solution” that was proposed in 1947 and that the Holy See has
consistently supported.Archbishop Bernardito Auza said that the failure of Israeli-Palestinian peace talk has “led to negative unilateral actions and acts of violence.”
He urged the resumption of negotiations, with a focus on implementing the two-state solution.
Speaking more generally of the bloodshed in the region, the archbbishop said that in “the cradle of civilizations and the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Middle East has become the theater of incredible brutality.
The utter disregard of international humanitarian law has reached alarming levels of inhumanity. Schools, hospitals, humanitarian convoys, humanitarian workers and journalists, and entire villages and cities are no longer “collateral damage”: They themselves have become targets of indiscriminate attacks.
The corpses under the ruins and the wandering refugees are a clear witness to this cynical contempt and trampling of international humanitarian law.”