On June 8, Pope Francis met the Israeli and Palestinian presi-

dents at the Vatican to pray for peace in the Middle East.

A few weeks later, hostilities broke out for the umpteenth time - this time, more ferocious than ever - between the Israelis and Palestinians.

So much for the Pope’s prayers to God and for his much-hyped, peace-seeking trip to the Middle East!

The vicars of Christ havebeen praying to God for peace in the Middle East since 1986, when Pope John Paul met with other religious leaders for a prayer meeting at Assisi.

A few months after the prayer meeting, violence rather than peace broke out during the intifada in Gaza and theWest Bank.

And much worse was to follow on 9/11 and during the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

The facts speak for themselves: thousands of people have been killed in the Middle East through terrorism and warsince 1986.

Towns and cities have been bombarded and millions ofpeople have been forced toflee their homes and to livein appalling conditions in refugee camps.

A BBC Middle East correspondent described the whole region as being “on fire”.

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