GERMANY CALLS FOR SUMMIT ON PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
▶ Berlin backs political approach to peace in region as tensions increase
Germany yesterday called for a Palestine-Israel peace summit, with the participation of Jordan, Egypt and France.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a conference in Berlin could build on steps recently brokered by Jordan.
The situation was worsening, she said.
Palestinians staged a strike on Sunday after two people were killed by Israeli troops.
Israel’s parliament last month repealed a 2005 law banning four settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Christians in Jerusalem have said they also faced increasing violence after the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist-religious government in December.
During a visit to Berlin, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi said his country supported the “Munich format” of talks between the foreign ministers who first met in the German city in 2020.
“It is important to keep a political approach to solving the conflict in our sights,” Ms Baerbock said alongside Mr Al Safadi.
“Our countries agree that the two-state solution still offers the best basis for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, dignity, security and selfdetermination.”
She said Germany wanted to link the proposed talks to February’s meeting in Aqaba, Jordan, that produced a joint IsraeliPalestinian communique.
Israel agreed to stop “discussion of any new settlement units” in occupied territories for four months.
“A meeting soon in the Munich format would be important,” Ms Baerbock said, as she invited the French and Egyptian foreign ministers to Berlin. The Munich group has brought together foreign ministers for several meetings since 2020.
In talks at the UN last year, they warned against “unilateral measures” that could close the door on a two-state solution.
Mr Al Safadi said the Munich group helped to prevent matters from deteriorating further.
“The situation is very explosive,” he said.
“We either allow the extremists to guide the way, which will definitely lead us to a catastrophe with much more conflict and violence, or those of us striving for peace work together to prevent dangerous developments.”
Ms Baerbock voiced concern about the Israeli government’s plans to overhaul the country’s legal system when Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen visited Berlin in February.
She said a right-wing proposal to introduce the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks would be a “big mistake”.
Ms Baerbock also echoed remarks by US President Joe Biden that rule of law in Israel was an important part of the two countries’ alliance.
“The values that bind us together include the protection of principles of the rule of law such as judicial independence. This was always a hallmark of Israel,” she said.
Mr Cohen defended Mr Netanyahu’s proposed reforms, saying they would “strengthen Israeli democracy.”
The proposals are on hold after they led to the largest protests in Israel’s history and strikes in almost every sector of the economy.
Christians have celebrated Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, but face an increasing struggle to maintain their status in the city amid the expansion of Israeli settlements and acts of violence.
Hundreds attended the traditional procession on the Mount of Olives with palm fronds and olive branches that celebrate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
“In Easter, we celebrate the feast of love and life,” said Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, after mass at the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, the site where Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.
“My wish to all is that love and life can determine our life more than the violence we are living.”
Tension between Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has increased over the past year, with tight Israeli security after a spate of deadly attacks.
Christians in Jerusalem have complained of increasing violence in recent months, particularly since the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist-religious government in December.
They regard the administration as part of a wider threat to their existence in Jerusalem.
Israel has said it maintains the status quo of holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, where some of the holiest sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims sit side by side, but Christian leaders have voiced growing alarm.
“What we are seeing is that what we call the status quo, the balance between the different communities – Jews, Muslims, Christians – is not respected any more,” Archbishop Pizzaballa said in Jerusalem last week.
“That aspect is problematic for me, that they consider
Christians as guests. We are not guests. We are part of the identity of the city.”
The archbishop said the expansion of Israeli settlers around the Old City of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives – both in the eastern part of the city Israel annexed after capturing the area in a 1967 war – was increasingly squeezing the community.
“We are seeing that there is an intention to encircle the Sacred Basin, the Old City and the Mount of Olives, with settler presence,” Archbishop Pizzaballa said.
But the pressure felt by the city’s local Christians has done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of foreign visitors.
According to data recorded by the Franciscan Pilgrims’ Office, at least 261,353 pilgrims were expected to travel to
Jerusalem this year, with visits peaking around Holy Week to numbers higher than before the coronavirus pandemic.
As Catholic prayers in Latin overlapped with the Arabic prayers of Coptic parishioners on the other end of the Holy Sepulchre rotunda, Miral Sedrak, 22, a university student from Jerusalem, said the Christian denominations had learnt to come together.
“Sometimes it’s overwhelming because every parish prays in a different area and the voices end up merging together, but it’s beautiful,” she said.
“When pilgrims come to visit, it feels like the church has soul. As Christians, our numbers are small, so when we see pilgrims, we feel part of something bigger, that we matter.”
Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa says he fears that respect between faiths in Jerusalem is in danger of being lost