The Diminishing Influence of the United States in the Middle East: A Perspective from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

"The weakness of the United States is creating a great dilemma because until now there had always been someone to sort things out. Now all of this no longer exists, we have to do it from here and I don't know if or how or when it can be done." After almost seven months of war in Gaza, the situation is increasingly depressing, twisted, and difficult, and the role of the Biden administration in the Middle East, at least according to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, is also beginning to weigh heavily. From the words used to describe the picture of events that he entrusted to Tv2000, the bishops' TV, it seems he misses the times when the USA played the actual role of 'world sheriff.' "It is objectively an intolerable situation. We have always had many problems of all kinds, even the economic-financial situation has always been very fragile but there has never been hunger. This is the first time we have to deal with hunger. This is intolerable," says the cardinal, adding that "religious, political, and social communities must do everything possible to break this situation" he said. On the eve of Holy Week, Cardinal Pizzaballa reassures that permits will also be given to Christians living in the Palestinian territories: "The permits will be given to us - the cardinal reveals - We insisted saying that if they had given permits to Muslims for Ramadan they should also give them to Christians for Easter. Even if in smaller numbers we will have several thousand permits for both Palm Sunday and Easter. It will be a difficult Easter, I think of the solitude of Jesus in Gethsemane which is the same as all of us."