VATICAN CITY – The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said he believes conditions are now ripe for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
This came in statements he made on Saturday to journalists in the Vatican, according to the official website “Vatican News”.
“At this moment, the best conditions exist to reach an agreement, but of course there are those who will try to obstruct it,” Pizzaballa added.
He continued: “Despite the obstacles, the conditions are now available to end this phase of the war, and thus avoid the potential escalation and expansion of the conflict through direct Iranian intervention and the extension of the war to include Lebanon as well.”
Pizzaballa called on the United States to make great efforts to stop the fire.
He added that the responsibility does not lie only with the mediators to achieve this goal.
Asked whether a ceasefire in Gaza would prevent an Iranian attack on Israel, Pizzaballa called for “avoiding self-delusion. The war is not over yet, as we see clearly in Gaza, where the bombing continues and the tragedy continues in plain sight. It leaves us speechless.”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem also stated that “it is natural that there is a lot of talk about Gaza, but there are very dangerous situations in the Palestinian territories and the West Bank as well.”
He pointed out that the ongoing conflicts between settlers and Palestinians, and even the presence of the Israeli army on Palestinian lands, make the lives of Palestinians “increasingly more complicated and difficult.”
He warned of the danger of the situation exploding, calling for “massive work to stop the ceasefire in Gaza and then to restore order, security and normal life as much as possible in the entire West Bank.”
On Friday evening, the mediators of the ceasefire talks on Gaza announced, in a joint Egyptian-Qatari-American statement published by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, that the United States had presented a “new proposal” to reduce the gaps between Israel and the Palestinian factions movement.
This comes as Washington, which is spreading the impression that the talks are proceeding in a “positive atmosphere,” hopes that reaching an agreement between the factions’ movement and Israel will help dissuade Iran and the Lebanese factions from responding to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, and the leader Fouad Shukr in Beirut the day before.
Anatolia
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2024-08-18 10:01:59
