Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "The reluctance of the international community to challenge the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to negotiate in good faith has contributed to the fact that the Road Map has not taken off", this according to Mgr Celestino Migliore, Permanent Observer of the Holy See, who spoke before the General Assembly of the United Nations on the issue of refugees in the Middle East.

Mgr Migliore urged all parties to "renew their efforts to bring peace to the region" and "internationally guarantee [. . .] permanent, free and unhindered access to the Holy Places" thus overcoming the international community's reluctance to follow the path of "lasting peace set out in the Road Map.

"Only with a just and lasting peace," the nuncio said, "not imposed but secured through negotiation, will the legitimate aspirations of all the peoples of that land be fulfilled." In his view, given the "unending cycle of violence and terrorism, military action and reaction" that prevails in the Holy Land, "there is a lot of peacemaking rhetoric but very little political will shown in the resolution of differences".

"Without these much needed negotiations," he explained, "there are no opportunities for reconciliation, forgiveness, compromise or collaboration". Therefore, no to "a policy of continued separation" and yes to "communication [. . .] bringing together the parties" to find a solution that includes the Holy City of Jerusalem, a place pilgrims now avoid, and whose status and Holy Sites must be internationally guaranteed.

The Vatican envoy went on to denounce how "the ongoing violence, economic depression, restrictions on movement and lack of access to religious sites" have forced many "to leave the region definitively".

A region known as the land of love and peace is now a place "of division, destruction and death". (FP)