Calling a Two-State Solution Necessary for Palestine Israel, Pope Francis: War in the Holy Land Makes Me Scared

Pope Francis. (Wikimedia Commons/Paris Orlando)

JAKARTA - World Catholic Church leader Pope Francis on Wednesday said a two-state solution was needed for Israel and Palestine to end the current war and called for special status for Jerusalem.

In an interview with the TG1 news channel on RAI Italy, Pope Francis also hoped that the Gaza crisis would not develop into a regional escalation.

"(It is) two nations that must live together. With that wise solution, two countries. The Oslo Agreement, two clear states and Jerusalem with special status," said Pope Francis in an interview with Italian broadcaster RAI, reported by Reuters, November 2.

The Pope further said that increasing escalation would mean the end of many things and many lives.

"The war in the Holy Land scares me. How will these people end this story?" asked the Pope.

On that occasion, the Pope, who called for a humanitarian corridor to help Gazans and a ceasefire, said he spoke by telephone every day with priests and nuns who manage a parish in Gaza. The parish accommodates around 560 people, mostly Christians, but also many Muslims.

"For now, thankfully, the Israeli forces are respecting the parish," said the Pope.

Concerned about the rise in antisemitism along with the Hamas-Israel conflict, the Pope warned that the crisis in Gaza should not make other conflicts forgotten, such as those in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, and Myanmar.

It is known that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat shook hands regarding the Oslo Agreement which established limited Palestinian autonomy in 1993.

US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and President Arafat took part in the Camp David Summit in 2000, but failed to reach a final peace agreement.

Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and in 1980 declared the entire city its "unified and eternal capital". Palestinians view the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state.

Israel has consistently rejected the notion that the city of Jerusalem, considered sacred to Christians, Muslims, and Jews, could have any special or international status.