Donald Trump has arrived in Israel, and moments after he landed declared that there is a “rare opportunity” for peace. But the local Catholic leadership is sceptical about his chances, the Apostolic Administrator of Jerusalem told The Tablet.
“We don’t have very high expectations,” Pierbattista Pizzaballa said during an interview in the VIP tent at Ben Gurion Airport, just before Air Force One touched down and a ceremony welcoming him to Israel. “There are a lot of rumours about projects, discussions for negotiations. After so many failed negotiations all the sides are quite sceptical,” said Pizzaballa, who was nominated for his position by the Pope last year.
He commented: “Usually every new administration at the beginning has big projects about the Middle East then everything finishes — we will see.”
He is “quite sceptical” — though he added: “I wish I’m wrong.” Pizzaballa is unsure how deep Trump and his administration’s knowledge is of the Middle East conflict, but said: “Even if they don’t know I hope they learn soon the complexity of the situation — dialogue, the settlements, refugees, Jerusalem. The main aspects.”
Asked what was the most important thing for Trump and his team to take away from the Holy Land visit he said: “To understand the complexity of the situation which is not simple, to understand at least the main issues you have to deal with — settlements, refugees, Jerusalem.”
Questioned how much complexity can be gained from a whistle-stop tour that scheduled just 15 minutes for the mammoth Holocaust museum at Yad Vashem, Pizzaballa said: “The visit is just symbolic, it’s not important what he will do or not do in the visit, the importance is after the visit, he has to understand meeting the different realities here — Jews, Christians, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis; that it’s complicated. Then, he has to do his own work.”
He was cautiously optimistic about the religious theme of the Pope’s wider trip, with Trump arriving from Saudi Arabia and set to visit Rome. “It’s positive because he’s aware that the political dimension should take in to account the religious one which is a very important part of the life of the Middle East and in this conflict the religious element is part of it,” he said. “On the other side when he talks about ‘inter religious’ we have to be careful not to remain on the aspect of slogans.”
PICTURE - US President Donald Trump is flanked by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) during a welcoming ceremony upon his arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod near Tel Aviv on Monday (CNS photo/Amir Cohen, Reuters)
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