Pope urges international status for Jerusalem

Pope John Paul II greets the crowd gathered to listen to the Angelus prayer at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, on Sunday

July 23, 2000
Web posted at: 1:40 p.m. EDT (1740 GMT)

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope John Paul II on Sunday urged creation of a special international status for the holy sites of Jerusalem, saying in an appeal aimed at Camp David's negotiators that only world oversight can safeguard all the ancient city's religions.

John Paul, while saying he was praying for peace out of the U.S.-sponsored talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, urged the power-brokers "not to overlook the importance of the spiritual dimension of the city of Jerusalem."

"The Holy See continues to maintain that only a special statute, internationally guaranteed, can effectively preserve the most sacred areas of the Holy City," John Paul said, speaking from the window of his summer villa outside Rome.

John Paul, leader of the world's 1 billion Catholics, seized the potentially decisive opporunity of the Camp David talks to press the Vatican's long-held point that Jerusalem's holy sites should be internationally governed.

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One square kilometer of the walled city holds some of the holiest sites of Islam, Judaism and Christianity: the Western Wall, remnant of ancient Israel's Second Temple; Islam's Dome of the Rock, from which Mohammed sprang into heaven on a winged horse; and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christ was crucified, entombed and resurrected.

International oversight would "assure freedom of religion and of worship for all the faithful who, in the region and the entire world, look to Jerusalem as a crossroads of peace and of coexistence," the pontiff said, lingering at his window in his weekly Sunday address to pilgrims to make his case.

Israel's Foreign Ministry immediately dismissed the appeal. "It's not on the table," said Aviv Shiron, spokesman for Foreign Minister David Levy.

"The reality has shown that, since Israel has controlled the holy sites, freedom of access and worship have never been greater," Shiron said in Israel.

Palestinians saw the pope as weighing in on their side in the challenge to Israel's claim to sole control, and welcomed his words.

"This is a sign from the pope, who is the highest Christian authority in this world, that he is denying the claim of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem," insisted Hassan Abdel Rahman, PLO envoy to Washington and a frequent spokesman for the Palestinians during the Camp David talks.

Isreal and the Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital.

Israel and the Vatican have been at odds on the city since 1967, when Israel captured and subsequently annexed east Jerusalem -- which includes the Old City and its holy sites -- in the Mideast war. The Vatican called the annexation an illegal occupation.

In February, the Vatican signed a strongly worded accord with the Palestinians covering the status of churches and the freedom of worship in the Palestinian territories.

The preamble declared that an "equitable solution" for Jerusalem, based on international resolutions, was "fundamental for a just and lasting peace." It called for international safeguards of freedom of religion.

The Vatican has been vague -- publicly, at least -- about just how extensive an international role it envisions, and just how it would be administered.

However, the Vatican clearly is referring to sites of primary historic and religious significance, all of which are in east Jerusalem.

The pope gave no new details Sunday.

He said he was following the Camp David negotiations in his prayers. "I hope that they are always driven by a sincere desire for respect and for justice for all and for reaching a just and lasting peace."

The 80-year-old pontiff fulfilled a goal of his papacy in March when he visited Jerusalem, visiting the Western Wall and placing between its stones a plea for forgiveness for Christian persecution.

Under John Paul, the Vatican has not hesitated to protest when it feels access to holy sites at risk -- as in security crackdowns of the 1990s, when at times the Vatican complained pilgrims were being denied full access.

Israel routinely seals off the West Bank and Gaza strip during Jewish holidays. Closures at times of bombings and bombing threats at times stretched out for months, blocking Palestinians from prayer at the Old City's holy sites.

The rival claims to the Old City were such that the 1947 U.N. partition plan that gave rise to modern Israel dodged deciding them, instead setting out to make Jerusalem an international district.

But Arab armies attacked, making the partition plan moot. Jews had no access to the Arab-held Western Wall from then until Israel captured east Jerusalem two decades later.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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