Top cardinal addresses difficulties of two-state solution for Israel and Palestine 

ROME – A top cardinal and leading papal diplomat who served as Pope Francis’ special envoy to Iraq
has addressed the issue of how peace in the Holy Land could require a change of mentality in which both Israel and Palestine recognise and respect each other’s right to exist, regardless of whether that is together as one state or as two separate entities.

Amid the ongoing war in Gaza, Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni, a veteran diplomat and currently Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, replied to the question of whether the two-state solution was still a viable option, admitting “I can’t say”.

The Vatican has long insisted on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, a position reaffirmed recently by Pope Francis in an interview with an Italian media outlet. Filoni’s comments represent one of the first hints that at least some in the Vatican may be rethinking that stance.

“I don’t know if two states are better than one, integrated [state],” Filoni said, adding that predicting the potential outcome of such a solution is difficult because “they are two realities that live in the same territory”.

Filoni said the most important thing, in his view, is to have the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians ”respected” and “without having citizens [who are judged] first-class, second-class, third-class”.

Speaking to journalists at a media roundtable last week, Filoni said that as a basic principle, “You cannot have peace without justice”. 

“A peace that is not just creates new wars, new hatred, new violence,” he said, noting that the Second World War broke out because citizens in Germany believed they were victims of injustice.

“I’m not judging whether it’s true or not, but it was like this. Then in other parts of the world, it’s the same thing. When a people, a group, a reality, feels that they are the victim of injustice, if they are not listened to, it foments and hatred is born and grows and, at a certain point, becomes violent,” he said.

Former nuncio special envoy to Iraq and Jordan from 2001-2006, Filoni served as sostituto of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, a position akin to the Pope’s chief of staff, from 2007-2011, when he was named prefect of the former Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, a position he held until his appointment Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in 2019.

Filoni said that in his view, the current divisions in the Holy Land stem from a lack of tolerance and respect for basic rights on either side.

“You cannot negate Palestinians the right to exist, and you cannot deny Israelis the right to exist; both of them, in peace. You cannot say, we want the destruction of Israel, this always generates new violence. Just as you cannot say, we want to destroy the Palestinians, you can’t say this,” he said.

Referring to the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, Filoni said Palestinians believe their land has been illegally occupied.

Peace, he said, is “not about balancing between one side and the other, it’s to say that these elements, these violences, create situations of conflict that become war”.

“We [retain belief] in the principle that peace is possible if done in justice and in recognition of everyone’s rights,” he said.

In terms of how to resolve the longstanding regional dispute between Israel and Palestine, Filoni said that regardless of whatever proposal is deemed best, “you must sit at the table and discuss it” and that “the right to existence must be guaranteed by all”.

“Little by little [we must] empty these hatreds; these tensions, must be emptied, otherwise they’ll become almost natural and little by little they grow and then they erupt,” he said, voicing his belief that peace is still possible, but “we must want it, we must work for this”.

Filoni also spoke of the work performed by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, composed of some 30,000 knights and dames from around the world. It attracts roughly 1,000 new members annually and is dedicated to providing financial support to the Church in the Holy Land.

Filoni said most of the support provided by the Order is sent directly to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and distributed to projects and populations most in need.

One major source of funding, aside from the contributions of individual members, is the order’s famed Palazzo della Rovere along the Via della Conciliazione, the main street leading up to the embrace of Bernini’s colonnades in St. Peter’s Square, which is about to be converted into a luxury Four Seasons hotel.

Filoni said that around 10 per cent of the money the Order draws in from such sources is used to cover administrative costs of running the Order, and that around 90 per cent, “if not more”, is sent directly to the Latin Patriarchate.

In terms of what role the Order may have in promoting peace amid the ongoing conflict, Filoni said it comes down to daily actions.

“We are not architects of peace in the Holy Land, we are small workers, we stay in our place, and we try to do well what we can, or no one else will,” he said, saying members are tasked with promoting justice and love through their work.

One of the main ways to promote peace is through education, he highlighted, noting that the Order funds schools in the Holy Land where some 20,000 students, around half of whom are Muslim, are educated.

“We can teach peace from the base to young people,” he said, adding, “if we create a calm, respectful environment where we teach peace, mutual respect, and human rights (then) we are promoting peace” to both students and their parents.

Filoni said surrounding countries such as Jordan also have a role to play in the current conflict in Gaza, and that longstanding regional alliances can help alleviate the situation for those bearing the brunt of the violence.

To this end, he noted that Jordan runs a hospital in Gaza that is still operational amid the current war, and that the pastor of Gaza has taken people there for treatment.

He noted that in some areas of the Holy Land, a patchwork of different peoples and religions live in peace, whereas in other places there is conflict. He noted there are still many places where Christians are a minority and face hostility, being required to pay a tax to live in a Muslim territory or enduring legal and social discrimination, among other things.

“Culturally, this exists. So, if we eradicate the concept of who is first-class, second-class, who has the ‘divine right’,” Filoni said, after that peace would be easier.

The first and most important thing to work for, he emphasised, is coexistence that respects justice and rights for everyone.
 
“If this is lacking, [whether you have] two states or three states, problems would exist,” he said. 

Photo: Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Pope Francis’ special envoy to Iraq, at Easter Mass, held in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq, attended by Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, 4 April 2015. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP) (Photo by SAFIN HAMID/AFP via Getty Images.)

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