Jesuit: Wars will persist if Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues

Published: 2006-08-08

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A cease-fire may stop the immediate destruction in Lebanon, but new wars are bound to erupt in the region as long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, said a church expert on the Middle East. Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir, an Egyptian-born expert on Islam who teaches in Beirut, Lebanon, said a long-term solution must include Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state, Arab recognition of the state of Israel, and the disarming of all militias, including Lebanese-based Hezbollah. "What is needed is the courage to find a definitive solution. This problem has been going on for decades, and it's like a cancer that keeps changing forms," Father Samir wrote in a commentary published Aug. 5 by AsiaNews, a Rome-based missionary news agency. Father Samir said Hezbollah should have been disarmed years ago, in line with U.N. resolutions, but the organization has gained popular support largely because of the expansionist policies of Israel.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .