Pope urges Israeli-Palestinian talks after deadly bombings, clashes

Pope Francis says he is concerned with an uptick in violence between Israel and Palestinians, noting last week’s “cowardly” bombings in Jerusalem, which left two Israelis dead, and clashes in the West Bank in which a Palestinian teen was killed.

“Violence kills the future, shattering the lives of the young and weakening hopes for peace,” he says from Saint Peter’s Square, as he marks the first day of Advent.

“Let us pray for these young men who died and for their families, especially their mothers,” he says, in comments that appear to omit a second Israeli fatality, 50-year-old Tadese Tashume Ben Ma’ada, who died Saturday from wounds sustained in the bombing.

The pontiff adds that he hopes “the Israeli and Palestinian authorities will more readily take to heart the search for dialogue, building mutual trust, without which there will never be a peaceful solution in the Holy Land.”