ARCHBISHOP MARTINO SPEAKS ON SITUATION IN MIDDLE EAST

VATICAN CITY, NOV 23, 1996 (VIS) - In his address yesterday in New York on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Archbishop Renato Martino indicated the Holy See's concern for "what appears to be a deterioration of the political will for bringing peace to the Israeli and Palestinian peoples."

The permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN said the "current situation, following the closure of the West Bank, has contributed to massive unemployment and underemployment within the Palestinian community," as well as to improperly functioning schools and difficult access to health care centers. Too, he said, "local Palestinians are unable to attend religious services in the Holy City of Jerusalem."

Citing Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem, the archbishop highlighted the need to "resolve the question of Jerusalem ... (which) will always be a city belonging to two peoples and three religions ... Judaism, Christianity, and Islam."

He added that "Jerusalem is a unique reality, universal because of its sacredness." And he said that "the larger question of the presence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza must also be addressed. The confiscation of land in the name of security can become an invitation to injustice, violating the rights of those living on the land."

Archbishop Martino noted the Holy See's aid to Palestinian refugees in the region since 1949 through the Pontifical Mission for Palestine. And he stated: "The Holy See emphasizes the necessity of intense and continued negotiations to bring about peace with justice, and it condemns gestures of provocation and the use of violence and terrorism."
DELSS/PALESTINIAN REFUGEES/UN:MARTINO VIS 961125 (230)