Statements by Israeli Prime Minister Barak and Palestinian Authority
RAMALA, MAR 26 (ZENIT.org).- After the past week, negotiations for peace in the Middle East can count on a new point of consensus: the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority agree that the Pope's visit to the Holy Land was «historic» and it has given decisive impulse to the peace process.
Position of Israeli Government On Friday afternoon, John Paul II met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who stated that the Pope's visit to Israel has «immense historical importance.» «It is the greatest step taken for the reconciliation between Jews and Muslims,» he said.
The meeting, which lasted just over a quarter of an hour, took place by the Sea of Galilee, near the Church of the Beatitudes. At the end, Barak said that during his meeting with John Paul II, they exchanged impressions on some humanitarian aspects of the ongoing peace process between Israel and Palestinians and Syrians.
«The Pope brought a very uplifting message of peace, tolerance and compassion, not only among human beings, but also among nations,» Barak said. The Israeli Prime Minister and the Pope had met the previous day during a very moving ceremony in Yad Vashem Memorial to the Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust.
The speed of the meeting was due, in part, to the imminent beginning of Sabbath, the day of obligatory rest imposed by Jewish tradition, which begins at sunset on Friday. On this day, the Israeli government does not take part in any official ceremonies, Barak explained to the Holy Father.
Palestinian Position During a meeting on the night of March 24-25, the Board of Directors of the Palestinian Authority stated that John Paul II's pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Palestinian territories was an «historic visit.»
«We very much appreciate the Pope's historical visit and the positions he expressed in Bethlehem and in the Dheicheh [refugee] camp,» the Palestine Board said, in a statement published after the meeting.
This organization, which governs the autonomous Palestinian territories, pointed out that the Pope «supported the just cause and rights of the Palestinian people at the international level.»
In addition, it is grateful for his «support of the refugees and for stressing the need to implement international resolutions relating to the Palestinian people.»
On March 22, John Paul II visited Bethlehem, the city of Christ's birth, and the Dheicheh refugee camp near that city. In Bethlehem the Holy Father said that the Holy See has always «recognized the Palestinian people's natural right to a homeland.»
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