"It was an important and emotional meeting. The Holy Father showed extraordinary interest in the peace efforts in the Middle East," said Ehud Olmert, after being received by Pope Francis on Thursday, October 17, together with Nasser Al-Kidwa and a delegation of peace activists in the Vatican.

Olmert who served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, and before that as cabinet minister and mayor of Jerusalem, was welcomed by the Pope as part of that delegation that included Nasser Al-Kidwa, Foreign Minister of the Palestinian Authority from 2005 to 2006.

Speaking to Vatican Media after the audience, Olmert and Al-Kidwa, explained they presented the Pope with a peace proposal for Gaza.

Olmert, who was Israeli PM when the 2006 Lebanon war ceasefire was signed, and who was behind the last real attempt at reaching an agreement for the creation of two States with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “Pope Francis gave us extraordinary attention for more than half an hour, explaining that he follows every development of the conflict daily and that every day he connects with the Christians of Gaza."

 “It was an exceptional honour to be received by His Holiness this morning in the Vatican,” he said, “And we could feel that he is focused on the message that we wanted to bring forth, which is that the war in Gaza has to be stopped, that the hostages have to be returned to their families, that Israel has to pull out completely from Gaza, and that Israel and the Palestinians must embark immediately on negotiations for comprehensive peace on the two-state solution.”

Olmert also mentioned the possibility of a Special Agreement for the status of the Old City of Jerusalem which, under the jurisdiction of a trust comprising five nations, including Palestine and Israel, would keep it free for all believers, Christians, Jews and Muslims, to practise their faith in the city of Jerusalem.

Nasser Al-Kidwa, who is well known not only for his pro-peace stance but also for being the nephew of the historical PLO leader Yasser Arafat, whom he represented in the United Nations, confirmed that during the audience this morning "We presented the Holy Father with our peace proposal for Gaza, which includes an immediate ceasefire, the release of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, along with the simultaneous release of an agreed number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, and the resumption of negotiations for the creation of two separate states at peace with each other."

“For us, it was important as a team and of course, for our mission to end the war and to achieve peace between the two peoples in the form of two states living side by side on the basis of 1967 borders with a swap that is agreed upon,” he said, adding that he is in agreement with Olmert’s proposal regarding the West Bank and the urgent necessity of ending the war immediately in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Kidwa said during the audience the delegation tackled the “important issue for the whole of humanity” regarding Jerusalem and its status and how it should be governed.

“We took the step of presenting His Holiness with the proposal that we made together in this regard,” he affirmed, “and I believe that he will bless the plan and he will bless our actions and that definitely is going to make a huge difference.