Pope Francis slammed Israel with a double whammy earlier 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. The pontiff explained that the medallion 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 shortly plans to sign a treaty that would signal 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 passes the paralysed negotiations with Israel”. Already 135 nations have recognised the Palestinian state and four European parliaments have urged their governments to take a similar step. These include Britain, France, Spain and Ireland. At present, the Palestinians have observer status at the United Nations, which took effect in 2012.
The two nuns, 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. The canonisation was held at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican and was attended by some 2,100 people, including the Palestinian president. Both the nuns were born in 19th Century.
In reaction, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Monday in an address marking ‘Jerusalem Day’, known by the Palestinians as Al Nakba, that the city was the capital of the Jewish people “alone”, while the Palestinians are hoping to establish their capital in Palestinian-dominated East Jerusalem. Earlier, the Israeli Foreign Ministry had declared that Israel was “disappointed” by the Vatican’s 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”.
But Haaretz, a leading Israeli liberal newspaper, was not supportive of the new Israeli government’s intentions. The opening lines of its Monday 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 [National] Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as 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 the weak Israeli government, which has a majority of one in the Knesset, “must adopt Abbas’ conditions as the opening negotiating position and declare that he is a worthy partner”. It went on: “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.”
However, it is very doubtful that Netanyahu will follow those suggestions, particularly when it comes to complying with Abbas’s conditions that Israel should halt continued and illegal colony building in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem and immediately release Palestinians who were imprisoned before the Oslo Accords — who were supposed to be set free in 2014. These so-called accords were never implemented by Israel and the process remains dysfunctional.
More disappointing is the assessment of US President Barack Obama, who last Thursday told Gulf Cooperation Council leaders at their meeting in Camp David that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians “seems distant now”.
A White House statement, released on May 14, noted 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 will give additional ammunition to the PNA 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.
George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com
