Pope meets former Israeli and Palestinian officials promoting peace

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis met a former prime minister of Israel and a former Palestinian foreign minister who believe they have a workable peace plan for the Holy Land.

Ehud Olmert, who served as the Israeli prime minister from 2006 to 2009, and Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian foreign minister from 2005 to 2006, met Pope Francis Oct. 17 in the library of the Apostolic Palace.

While the Vatican did not publish information about the meeting, Olmert and al-Kidwa have been traveling widely in October to promote a peace plan that would see a Palestinian state existing alongside the state of Israel “on the basis of 1967 borders” with a few territorial adjustments.

First, both leaders wrote, there must be an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of all hostages being held by Hamas.

Their plan calls for the city of Jerusalem to be the capital of both Israel and Palestine, with the Old City being “administered by a trusteeship of five states of which Israel and Palestine are part. The Trusteeship will have authority in all areas according to rules defined by the U.N. Security Council.”

“There would be no limitations on worship or movement in the Holy Basin,” the two wrote. “Jews, Muslims and Christians will have freedom of access to their Holy Sites respectively. No one country will have exclusive political sovereignty in the Holy Basin.”

The plan, which has strong critics both among Israelis and Palestinians, seems to respect the Vatican’s long-held view that peace in the Holy Land requires a “two-state solution” with independence, recognition and secure borders for both Israel and Palestine and a special, internationally guaranteed status for Jerusalem, particularly its Old City, in order to protect and guarantee access to the holy sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The plan of Olmert and al-Kidwa includes “the annexation of 4.4% of the total territory of the West Bank by Israel in areas to be agreed upon, taking into consideration security and practical issues in exchange for territory of equal size from within the state of Israel. The exchange will include a corridor linking the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as part of the 4.4% exchange to be annexed to the state of Palestine.”

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