(Nov. 21, 2012) Pope Benedict on Wednesday urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders
to make "courageous decisions" to end the Gaza conflict, saying it risked spilling
over into the rest of the Middle East. He told pilgrims and tourists at his weekly
general audience in St Peter's Square that he backed efforts to negotiate a ceasefire.
"I appeal to the authorities on both sides to take courageous decisions in favour
of peace and bring an end to a conflict with negative repercussions on the entire
Middle East, which is already tormented by too many conflicts and so in need of peace
and reconciliation," the pontiff said. "I feel the need to once again say that hate
and violence are not solutions to problems. I also encourage the efforts of those
working for a truce and to promote negotiations," he said. U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton was on Wednesday trying to seal a Gaza truce, with Israel and Hamas
still at odds over key terms. Israeli air strikes shook the enclave and Palestinian
rockets struck across the border. Israel has carried out more than 1,500 strikes since
the offensive began. Medical officials in Gaza say 139 Palestinians, most of them
civilians and including 34 children, have died. Nearly 1,400 rockets have been fired
into Israel, killing four civilians and a soldier, the Israeli military said. The
pope made a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2009 but did not visit
Gaza. In September, he visited Lebanon, where he appealed for peace in the region,
including an end to the civil war in Syria.