{"id":209095,"date":"2025-12-01T05:01:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T05:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/209095\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T05:01:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T05:01:23","slug":"palestinian-state-only-solution-to-israeli-conflict-says-pope-leo-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/209095\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian state \u2018only\u2019 solution to Israeli conflict, says Pope Leo \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel<\/a> and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian<\/a> state, Pope Leo<\/a> said on Sunday, reaffirming the Vatican<\/a>\u2019s position. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,\u201d Leo, the first US<\/a> pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkey<\/a> to Lebanon during his first in-flight press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also friends with Israel and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help them close in on a solution with justice for everyone,\u201d added the pope, speaking in Italian. <\/p>\n

Leo, who usually prefers using careful, diplomatic language, ramped up criticism earlier this year of Israel\u2019s military campaign in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a> has reaffirmed opposition to a Palestinian state after even its biggest ally the US indicated support for Palestinian independence. Leo spoke in a brief eight-minute press conference focused on his visit to Turkey, which he visited from Thursday to Sunday on his first overseas trip since election in May as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

Leo is visiting Lebanon until Tuesday, when he returns to Rome.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We are all very lucky that he is visiting\u2019: Lebanon welcomes Pope LeoOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,\u201d Leo, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon during his first in-flight press conference.<\/p>\n

Leo arrived in Lebanon on Sunday, where he is expected to appeal for peace in a country that is a continued target of Israeli air strikes.<\/p>\n

\"PopePope Leo XIV arrives in the popemobile at the Lebanese presidential palace to meet with president Joseph Aoun in Beirut on Sunday. Photograph: Adri Salido\/Getty <\/p>\n

Hours before Leo\u2019s arrival, crowds gathered along the roads from the airport to the presidential palace, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags. He will meet the president and prime minister and make an address, only his second to a foreign government.<\/p>\n

Lebanon, which has the largest share of Christians in the Middle East, has been rocked by the spillover of the Gaza conflict, as Israel and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militant group Hizbullah went to war, culminating in a devastating Israeli offensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want him to plant peace in the hearts of politicians so that we can live a comfortable life in Lebanon,\u201d said Randa Sahyoun, a Lebanese woman living in Qatar who travelled home for the pope\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

Leaders in Lebanon, which hosts 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees and is also struggling to recover from years of economic crisis, are worried Israel will dramatically escalate its strikes in coming months.<\/p>\n

Israel says its continued strikes since last year\u2019s ceasefire agreement are to prevent Hizbullah from re-establishing military capabilities and posing a renewed threat to communities in northern Israel.<\/p>\n

Hizbullah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday that he hoped Leo\u2019s visit would help bring an end to Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s diverse communities have also welcomed the papal trip, with leading Druze cleric Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna saying Lebanon \u201cneeds the glimmer of hope represented by this visit\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reinforcements from the Lebanese army and internal security forces deployed to the airport before Leo\u2019s arrival and his drive to the presidential palace through Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, an area where Hizbullah holds sway.<\/p>\n

He was driven in the enclosed Popemobile, arriving at the palace in heavy rain with crowds under white umbrellas cheering and a welcome band performing a traditional dance while beating large drums. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6222,9,10,18,13,14,3761,6,19,17,71,3857,11,12,14407,15,16,5,72,2515,7,8,385,384,2517],"class_list":{"0":"post-209095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-binyamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-gaza-strip","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-lebanon","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-palestine","27":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories","30":"tag-turkey","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-vatican"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115642557180061149","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}