VATICAN, May 8, 02 (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, having returned from his mission as a special envoy for Pope John Paul II in the Holy Land, has issued a pessimistic statement about the prospects for peace there.
As Cardinal Etchegaray returned to Rome, an agreement that would have ended the 36-day siege at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity broke down, apparently because diplomats had not secured Italy's agreement to accept 13 Palestinians who were to be sent into exile there.
The cardinal described the situation at the Bethlehem basilica as "tragic and intolerable." He reported that, despite his repeated pleas, he was refused permission to enter the ancient church by Israeli authorities. That refusal, he suggested, was a direct violation of Israel's treaty commitment to ensure free access to Christian shrines.
"I had asked to go to this place and to pray in particular with the Franciscans who, in solidarity with the Greek-Orthodox and Armenian churches, bear the spiritual responsibility of this sacred place," Cardinal Etchegaray revealed. "Despite great insistence, I was refused what is, properly speaking, a religious step."
The French-born prelate said that his latest trip to the Holy Land left him with a vivid impression of the hostility between the Israeli and Palestinian sides. "One must actually be there," he said, "to measure the mistrust, disdain, and vengeance that have accumulated on the steep path to peace."
Cardinal Etchegaray insisted that Catholic leaders would not rest until the situation in Bethlehem is resolved. In Jerusalem, Latin-rite Patriarch Michel Sabbah told the Italian daily Avvenire that the situation is "very confused."
The Catholic Patriarch confessed that he himself could not understand how negotiators failed to include Italian government representatives in their plans. "How could you talk about an agreement" on the exile of suspected Palestinian terrorists, he asked, "when no decision has been made regarding the destination for some of those Palestinians?"
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8. mai 2002