The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace welcomed the announcement of a disarmament agreement in Gaza.
“I am heartened by news of an agreement which aims at the disarmament of Hamas and Israel’s military withdrawal from the Strip, and I call for intense prayers for the success of these negotiations,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, the Maronite bishop of Los Angeles. “To further strengthen this advance, I call on the United States, Israel, and the international community to facilitate greater amounts of humanitarian and development assistance to the Strip.”
“Conscious of the extreme challenges inherent in this ongoing peace process, let us entrust the hearts and minds of the negotiators to the maternal care of Our Lady of Wisdom, that she may illumine and enliven their efforts to finally achieve peace in those sacred lands,” Bishop Zaidan concluded.