December 25th each year brings up a wide range of celebrations for the world in entirety. But while Christmas means a jolly good time for the christian world in general and a lot of fanfare in the wake of the ceremonious time, there are some places in the world where there’s more than just Christmas festivity.
Such as the Middle East. No matter what part of the year or whatever the reason for a celebration, chaos often finds itself tucked in the heart of the affairs here in the Middle East. Ever since President Trump proclaimed Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, there’s been a sense of worldwide disparity following what has been described as a sudden erratic call by the President. Countries like France, Germany, Japan, Belgium and others have offered a disparaging view and perhaps called Trump’s decision as a blithe to the peace process. In fact, on Christmas, even the Pope offered a view on the hotly debated saga between Israel and Palestine.
Pope Francis, the current papal head of the revered Vatican used his Christmas message to call for a peaceful negotiation between the conflicted issue of Israel and Palestine. That there should be a smoothly negotiated dialogue between the geographies on either sides of Jerusalem formed the heart and soul of the Pope’s Christmas message.
4 days after as many as 120 countries backed a U.N. resolution urging the United States to reverse its stand (and support for) Jerusalem, the Pope delivered his precious Christmas message. The Middle East conflict is of course, without doubt one of the burning issues that has often led to a complete breakdown here in the heart of the Middle East.
Pope was sincere and avid in his wish for there to be peace between Israel and Palestine and spoke, “let us pray that the will to resume dialog may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached, one that will allow the peaceful coexistence of two states within mutually agreed and internationally recognised borders.”
But regardless of the Pope’s message, it is a universally acknowledged fact that the disarray between Israel and Palestine is only widening and even as 2018 is knocking on our doors, the two-state solution, often seen more as a rhetoric than a peaceful, political narrative remains less likely to offer a real solution between Israel and Palestine. Fears are rife about Israel only getting more isolated as far as the geopolitical anatomy of its international relations stand, having fully backed President Trump’s landmark call on Jerusalem. One can only hope for Pope Francis’ words to come true and offer some respite to a grave concern of our times.