“The European Union must play a greater political role in the region, not just a financial role”. This was said by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, as in Jerusalem yesterday he met the leader of the Delegation of the European Service for Assistance to the Palestinians, Ralph Tarraf, with whom he discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, war in Syria and its repercussions on the region, especially the problem of millions of refugees that “will have to go back home one day”. To the EU delegate, the Latin Patriarch pointed out “how important it is to consult the religious leader” about the region’s problems: “The reality there is often far from the political agenda. Our voice is weak – Twal said –, we are just a voice, we have no weight, either militarily or economically; we are not even a big number, because we are a minority, but we will keep raising our voice, sometimes listened to, sometimes stifled because it disturbs. We cannot stay silent, and we can only tell the truth”. As to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Patriarch and the leader of the European Delegation insisted on the need for a two-state solution. Tarraf pointed to the importance of a “negotiated solution”, emphasising the “prescriptive” role of the EU for a “fair and just” resolution to the conflict, in connection with the “1967 borders” and “Jerusalem, capital of both states”. An “imposed solution – Tarraf commented – would only amount to repeated abuse”. The Patriarch welcomed this position, exhorting Europeans “not to leave the two negotiating sides (Israelis and Palestinians) alone”, trapped in asymmetrical power relations: on one side, the “Israeli superpower”, on the other side, “no power at all”. The history of Europe and of the world has already proven that “the future belongs to those who pull down walls”, commented the Patriarch, who added: “We dream of that peace. We are doomed to live together: better live like good neighbours than as eternal enemies”. In the meantime, the European delegation is getting ready to visit the Cremisan valley, where a partition wall is currently being built after expropriating land from some Palestinian families, despite the 1967 borders. A wall that is fiercely opposed to by the Patriarchate that “does not believe in the so-called ‘security reason’ for such wall; there’s actually more violence on the other side of the Jerusalem wall. This wall is not a protective wall”.