Pope Pleads for Peace in "destroyed" Lebanon

(24 July, 2006): Pope Benedict XVI who led an international day of prayer and penance for peace in the Middle East on Sunday, appealed for an immediate ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Lebanon which, he said, has been destroyed" by war. As violence continued between Israel and Hizbollah, the Pope said the Lebanese had a right to territorial "integrity and sovereignty" and Israelis had the right to live in peace. "I feel particularly close to the defenceless civilian populations, unjustly hit by a conflict of which they are the victims," the Pope said in his weekly blessing to a large outdoor crowd at the Italian Alpine resort of Les Combes, in the Aosta Valley, where he is vacationing until Friday. The Holy Father said the victims were “both those of Galilee, obliged to live in shelters, as well as the great multitude of Lebanese, who once more, see their country destroyed, and have to leave everything behind to try to save themselves in another place."
The crowd applauded after the Pope listed the rights of the different peoples in the region. "I take this opportunity to reaffirm the right of the Lebanese to the integrity and sovereignty of their territory, the right of Israelis to live in peace in their state and the right of Palestinians to a free and sovereign land," he said. Ahead of an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Rome on Wednesday, the Pontiff called on the international community "to look for ways to start negotiations" between the warring parties.
Israel's 12-day-old onslaught against Hizbollah in Lebanon has claimed 359 lives, mostly civilians, and forced half a million people to flee their homes. More than 1,000 Hizbollah rockets have killed 17 Israeli civilians, prompting between a third to a half of all residents in northern Israel to escape the bombardment, officials said.
The Pope has already backed the idea of creating aid “corridors" requested by relief agencies to be able to access civilians hit by the war. In a communiqué issued by the Holy See on Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI convoked a day of prayer and penance for peace in the Middle East, which has been supported not only by Catholic communities worldwide, but also by the ecumenical community.