Paying a visit to Lebanon, the Delegation of French Bishops’ Conference (CEF), went first to Saint Thomas church for the Greek Melkite Catholic in Tyr on Sunday 4 March 2007. Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard and Mgr. Stanislas Lalanne (President and General Secretary of ‘CEF’), accompanied with the apostolic nuncio Mgr. Luigi Gatti and bishops Mgr. Georges Bacaouni (Greek Catholic) and Mgr. Chucrallah Hajj (Maronite), along with a group of faithful had a procession in the old Christian street to the Maronite Church Our Lady of Sea, where a big Latin Mass was celebrated. At the end of the lunch held at the Phoenician port, the Greek Orthodox bishop Mgr. Elias Kfoury welcomed the delegation in the reception halls of the parish. Photo:  Arrival to Saint Thomas Church in Tyr. First row, from left to right: Mgr. Jean Haddad (old bishop of the Greek Catholic), Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Mgr. Georges Bacaouni. Second row, from left to right: Mgr. Stanislas Lalanne, Mgr. Luigi Gatti and Mgr. Chucrallah Hajj

Why is it that, sixty years after the creation of the state of Israel and its recognition by the United Nations, the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains in standstill? The file was at the agenda of the Arab League Summit held in Riyadh on March 28 and 29. Being aware of the failure of the road map (an international peace plan dating from July 2002, based on a search for a solution by stages, and sponsored by the quartet commission comprising the United States, Russia, the European Union and the UN, the Pan Arab organization reiterated its own peace plan unanimously adopted in Beirut on March 2002 by initiative from Saudi Arabia. This plan makes provision for a "total withdrawal" from the Arab territories occupied by Israel in the aftermath of the Six Days war in 1967 (Syrian Golan, West Bank, Gaza), a "just solution" to the problem of Palestinian refugees in compliance with UN Resolution 194, and the acceptance of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital. In counterpart, the Arab League promises a peace treaty with Israel, with an assortment of normal diplomatic and commercial relations. The Israeli government, having rejected this plan without any other form of process in 2002, accepted to reexamine it, on condition that it merely constitutes a basis for future negotiations. At the outset, church officials in France – www.cef.fr , returning after a trip to Lebanon in March, called for support to the churches of Lebanon whose officials declared their readiness to lower the internal tension between the various political camps and curb the drainage of Christian youth. On the other hand, the Italian Embassy in Lebanon signed on Wednesday, April 4, an agreement with UNICEF – Lebanon Branch, allocating 2,7 million Euros to said UN agency in order to finance the current ongoing campaign for the reconstruction of schools and health establishments destroyed by the Israeli offensive last July-August in South Lebanon. In the city of Lille, and by invitation of former French Prime Minister and current President of Lille Urban Community, Pierre Mauroy, the Lebanese Minister of Public Works Mohamad Safadi concluded on Thursday, April 5, a significant number of cooperation protocols between North France and North Lebanon, at the local administrative level but also at the level of collectivities elected at the local level. Finally, a recent survey published by BBC at the beginning of March classified Israel (56%) and Iran (54%) as the first two countries with the most negative influence throughout the world, followed by the United States (51%) and North Korea (48%).