BETHLEHEM – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that Israel was forcing Christians and Muslims out of Jerusalem. “We have informed his holiness about the tragic situation in Jerusalem... where Israel is systematically acting to change its identity and character, and strangling the Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, with the aim of pushing them out,” he said. Pope Francis met Abbas in Bethlehem on Sunday. Earlier, Pope Francis addressed what he called “the State of Palestine,” calling Abbas “a man of peace.” In his speech, he called for a two-state solution and an end to the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict, which he deemed “unacceptable.” “The time has come for everyone to find the courage... to forge a peace which rests on the acknowledgement by all of the right of two states to exist and to live in peace and security within internationally recognized borders,” he urged. Pope Francis took a dramatic plunge into Mideast politics, receiving an acceptance from the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to visit him at the Vatican next month to discuss embattled peace efforts. The summit was an important moral victory for the pope, who is named after the peace-loving Francis of Assisi. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down in late April, and there have been no public high-level meetings for a year. Francis landed in Bethlehem, the cradle of Christianity, in a symbolic nod to Palestinian aspirations for their own state. He called the stalemate in peace talks “unacceptable” and stopped briefly to pray at the Israeli separation barrier surrounding this biblical West Bank town. At the end of an open air Mass in Bethlehem's Manger Square, the pope invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres to pray with him for peace. “I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer,” he said. The offices of the Israeli and Palestinian presidents quickly confirmed that they had accepted the invitation. “We welcome Pope Francis' invitation to the Vatican. President Peres has supported and will continue to support all avenues to bring about peace,” Peres' office said in a statement. Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said the summit would take place sometime in June. Peres, a 90-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, is set to step down over the summer, and the meeting would take place shortly before he leaves office. Peres has been a fervent support of Mideast peace efforts, and the independent-minded Israeli president, whose job is largely ceremonial, risks upsetting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the move. Netanyahu has expressed anger with politicians that have reached out to Abbas at a time when the Palestinian leader is reconciling with the militant group Hamas. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group. — Agencies
