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Pope Francis

VATICAN CITY. — Pope Francis was yesterday expected to host an unprecedented joint peace prayer in the Vatican with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in a symbolic gesture aimed at fostering dialogue.Abbas said he hoped the event in the Vatican Gardens at 1700 GMT, which would include Christian, Jewish and Muslim prayers and the planting of an olive tree by all three leaders, would “help Israel decide”.

“The Pope’s invitation was courageous,” Abbas said in an interview with the La Repubblica daily. With this prayer we are sending a message to all believers of the three major religions and the others: the dream of peace must not die,” he said.

Peres was quoted by his office as saying yesterday,”The spiritual call (for peace) is very important and affects reality.

“I hope the event will contribute to promoting peace between the two sides and throughout the world,” he said, adding that the conflict is “both political and religious” and “religious leaders resonate”.

He defined it as “an unusual call for peace”.

Tensions are running high between the two sides following the formation of a new Palestinian unity government backed by the Islamist group Hamas.

Israel has since announced plans for building 3 200 new settler homes and has said it will boycott what it denounces as a “government of terror”.

Peres said the Palestinian unity government was “a contradiction that can’t last very long” but Abbas defended it saying: “One should never reject a chance for dialogue, internally as well.”

Meanwhile, the Palestinian foreign ministry yesterday summoned Australia’s diplomatic representative after a top judicial official said Canberra would no longer refer to annexed east Jerusalem as “occupied.”

Last week, Australian Attorney-General George Brandis sparked Palestinian fury by saying Canberra would not use such “judgemental language” to describe an area which was the subject of negotiations. — AFP.