The situation in Israel and Gaza remains fragile, but a sense of hope for the future prevails, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said in an October 15 interview with Vatican Radio.
While there is a feeling of hope with the Gaza war coming to an end, the peace process will not happen overnight. The creation of hope and fraternity "takes time," said Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jersualem.
"We must not confuse hope with a solution to the conflict," he said.
"The end of the war is not the beginning of peace, nor is it the end of the conflict. All of these aspects must be kept in mind," he said.
"Hope," said Pizzaballa, "is the daughter of faith. If your heart trusts, it can make real the things it believes in."
To make lasting peace in Gaza and Israel, "we must build fraternity." To do this, Pizzaballa believes there is not only a need for new political leadership, but also religious leadership.
"We need new faces, new figures who can help rebuild a different narrative, one based on mutual respect. It will take a long time, because the wounds are deep, but we must not give up," he said.
This peace, however, will not come quickly, warned the cardinal. The first step, he said, is for the population to both believe and want peace to happen.
"The timeline will be long; we should not fool ourselves into thinking it will come soon. We must also keep in mind the failures of past agreements — the many failures that have deeply undermined trust between the parties. There will be several phases," he said.
Pizzaballa: society emerging from "a terrible two years"
Pizzaballa said he remains optimistic that "the next generation will have a freedom that this generation does not have," but noted "the task of this generation is to prepare the next one."
"So, little by little, we must create the foundations and conditions, with new faces and new leadership, and above all, create environments that gradually foster a culture of respect, which will in turn bring peace," he said.
But for right now, he said, the situation is "a new and still fragile phase." While the peace plan has been implemented and the Israeli hostages released from Gaza, there is hope that people will begin to heal from the past "two terrible years."
"The hope is that we have reached the end of those years — not just a temporary pause. This hope is shared by everyone, Israelis and Palestinians alike, right or left, from every background. Everyone wants to truly turn the page," he said.
While he acknowledged that some people have different opinions, "there is a strong desire among ordinary people to live again, not necessarily in normalcy, but with a new perspective that is not war and violence."
"New language, new words, and also new witnesses"
"Now that this situation has ended, perhaps we can gradually begin to open ourselves to understanding the pain of the other," said Pizzaballa.
He continued, "To understand does not mean to justify. This will take time — and I don’t know if it will fully succeed."
Doing this, he said, will require a "new language, new words, and also new witnesses" to work to undo "the hatred that has been sown" for generations.
"So, I repeat: We need new faces who can help us think differently," he said.
Pilgrims welcome
With the war seemingly over, Pizzaballa was asked if he anticipates that pilgrims will return to the Holy Land.
"We hope so," he said. "I spoke with the Custos of the Holy Land about doing something together, perhaps issuing some statements."
Pizzaballa plans on waiting "two or three weeks," before issuing any statements, in case the situation should get worse and violence resume.
"Then I think we will need to start 'hammering away,' so to speak, especially among the Churches that have been very close to the Holy Land over these past two years, to say that now it’s time to show solidarity not only through prayer, which is essential, and through aid, but also through pilgrimage."
