JERUSALEM, SEPTEMBER 4 (ZENIT.org)

    September 13 is the deadline for an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians on the question of Jerusalem. If no agreement is reached, Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian National Authority might unilaterally proclaim the birth of the Palestine State. The Arabs insist on claiming sovereignty over East Jerusalem.

    This issue is the greatest obstacle to arriving at a peace agreement. Israel has no intention of renouncing its sovereignty over the Eastern part of the city. For their part, Palestinians are demanding the establishment of their own capital in East Jerusalem, not erecting a wall of division but imagining it "open to the West," but they have rejected any proposals to limit or share sovereignty. Specifically, the Palestinians want to be sovereigns of the area where the ancient temple of Solomon and Herod stood and where, following the Arab occupation, the mosques of Omar and El Aqsa were constructed. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak spoke last Saturday precisely on this topic, affirming that this zone, as well as East Jerusalem and the holy places, should be under Palestinian authority, while the Wailing Wall and the Jewish quarter should remain under Israeli sovereignty.

    In the informal summit of European Foreign Ministers, held at Evian this past weekend, Italian Minister Lamberto Dini said that "Europe cannot be absent from the Middle East peace process." Italy favors a solution that provides "international status for the holy places." Dini told his European colleagues that "it must not be regarded as a given that Israel can have sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem."

    "This problem must be overcome. The Arab world will never accept this plan and it might be Europe's task to find a solution that is 'in the middle' of the different positions": a "simple scheme" for Jerusalem, supported by "international guarantees." This position is very close to that of the Vatican.

    The Vatican's position, that Jerusalem have "special status" guaranteed by the international community, stems from the memorandum of Patriarchs and Christian leaders of the Holy City, published in November of 1994, in which the view of the three monotheist religions was organically expressed. It insures the preservation of Jerusalem's characteristics, as they have developed over the centuries: not only freedom of access and worship for local faithful and pilgrims, but preservation of the human and cultural fabric as it is today.

    During a conference held in Jerusalem in 1998, Archbishop Jean Louis Tauran, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, said that the Holy See believes that the political status regarding sovereignty must be defined by Palestine and Israel, but the religious must derive from agreements among the leaders of the three monotheist religions and be guaranteed by the international community.

    Sadly, the above position, which was clearly stated in the agreement between the Vatican and the Palestine Liberation Organization last February, has often been misunderstood by the Palestinians leaders who have rejected the idea of the "internationalization" of Jerusalem. Similar misunderstandings have been noted in declarations of Israeli leaders and the Jewish press.

    In order that the voice of the churches of Jerusalem could be heard, last July, speaking also on behalf of the other leaders of Christian communities, the Greek-Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Latin Patriarchs appealed to Clinton, Barak, and Arafat to be heard and kept in mind during the negotiation so that "the world, universal, religious, cultural, and human aspects of Jerusalem's values are affirmed and guaranteed." ZE00090402

We encourage you to check the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and the Dossiers, features and Daily Dispatches from ZENIT International News Agency CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC, but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.