Pope’s double plea for peace in Syria and the Holy Land
POPE Francis yesterday called for an end to the “carnage” in Syria and peace in the Holy Land after 15 Palestinian protesters were killed on the Israeli border.
In his Easter message delivered to tens of thousands of visitors and pilgrims in a packed St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, the pontiff said the conflict on the Gaza border “does not spare the defenceless”.
Making his appeal from the central balcony of Rome’s St Peter’s Basilica, he also said he hoped the “fruits of dialogue” would advance peace and harmony on the Korean peninsula, where the two sides are set to take part in their first summit in a decade on April 27.
Earlier in the day he had celebrated Mass in the flower-bedecked square.
The Pope made an appeal for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Syria and for peace in both South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Pope Francis appeared to refer to the Gaza violence after the region was marred by last Friday’s clashes and called for “reconciliation for the Holy Land, also experiencing in these days the wounds of ongoing conflict that do not spare the defenceless”.
Carnage
He also begged for peace for “the entire world, beginning with the beloved and long-suffering land of Syria, whose people are worn down by an apparently endless war”.
The Pope added: “This Easter, may the light of the risen Christ illumine the consciences of all political and military leaders, so that a swift end may be brought to the carnage in course.”
He also spoke a day after the Syrian army command said it had regained control of a majority of towns and villages in Eastern Ghouta.
Tens of thousands of people have now evacuated the area which was once home to two million people.
Pope Francis, who is celebrating his sixth Easter as Roman Catholic leader since he was elected in 2013, urged his listeners to work for an end to the “so many acts of injustice” in the world.
He prayed the power of Jesus’ message “bears fruits of hope and dignity where there are deprivation and exclusion, hunger and unemployment, where there are migrants and refugees – so often rejected by today’s culture of waste – and victims of the drug trade, human trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery”.
ISRAEL REJECTS INQUIRY INTO 15 GAZA DEATHS
ISRAEL’S defence minister Avigdor Lieberman rejected calls for an inquiry into the killing of 15 Palestinians by the military following violent clashes along the Gaza-Israel border.
Mr Lieberman said no investigation was necessary and praised the actions of soldiers as Hamas, the dominant political group in Gaza, said five of those killed were part of its armed wing.
Violence broke out on Friday as thousands of Palestinians started a six-week long demonstration along the 40-mile border and set up tent encampments to protest their right to return to Israel.
Israeli troops say they directed gunfire against the protesters, including tear gas and rubber bullets, but Palestinian health officials said a 16-year-old was killed along with two farmers.
Both UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres and the European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, have called for an independent investigation into Friday’s bloodshed.
A war of words broke out between Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who branded his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu a “terrorist” yesterday after he criticised the scale of the Israeli response.
But Mr Netanyahu hit back and tweeted that the Israeli army “will not be lectured by those who have indiscriminately bombed civilian populations for years” in reference to Turkey.