Likewise, calling for a two state solution is not really controversial anymore, but the Pope should have encouraged the Palestinians to devote resources to nation building, rather than terror and intransigence. The Israelis began Nation Building in the late 1800s and accelerated after the 1917 Balfour Declaration began the British Mandate promising to create a Jewish State in Palestine. When the UN finally voted in 1947 to create a Jewish and Arab State, Israel had merely to flip a switch and its long standing institutions were empowered as a sovereign nation. The Palestinians ignored the 1947 UN resolution and formed armies instead of parliament. Most recently, even after all the interim peace accords, only the most superficial of national assemblies has been created by the Pals and is only barely functional in about 80% of the West Bank. Yet, there does not seem to be any problem procuring weapons and publishing highly biased text books to brainwash the next generation. Where is the Pope’s criticism of the Palestinian’s misuse of global donations and goodwill? Who should the Israeli’s actually conduct negotiations with? Hamas? Fatah? PFLP? The Palestinian Authority of selected centers in the West Bank?

Israel has actually given up much and promised more. What have the Palestinians given up?

The Pope’s bias is unsettling in that he reserves most of the complaints against Israel.