By unceasingly inviting the protagonists to engage in dialog, to follow untiringly the path of negotiation and to weigh the proportions between the remedies aimed at eliminating a wrong and the negative humanitarian consequences, the pope once again demonstrated the independence of the international action of the Holy See, the conduct of which is founded on international legal and moral principles. The Holy See's third choice in contributing to the stability of the Middle East is nothing less than the promotion of inter-religious dialog with the Jews and Muslims. As far as the Holy See is concerned this dialog is founded on the respect that the three religions have for one another. What the Holy See has always tried to make understood to its partners in dialog is that if God is one, this requires that all should consider themselves brothers. And when you truly experience such brotherhood you are more inclined to benevolence, to helping each other, to respect, to forgive and to cooperate.
Believers thus have a special responsibility for peace building.
Such an option, in that part of the world, is of universal importance, in as much as the three monotheistic religions, which have their historical roots in the Middle East, have followers throughout the whole world and in every society. The Holy Land, as the popes love to call the Middle East, should be a sort of workshop for inter-religious dialog, with Jerusalem, the Holy City par excellence , as its symbol. This explains why, and with what perseverance and intensity, since 1947, the popes have made themselves the defenders of the preservation of the unique and sacred character of that City. Still today two peoples claim sovereignty over Jerusalem, and the faithful of three religions, both on the spot and throughout the world, look to it as their spiritual home. A political solution has certainly to be found within the framework of bilateral negotiations, but without forgetting, for all that, the sacred reality which the city enshrines.