Peres: Dispute with Vatican won't affect pope's visit

February 16, 2000
Web posted at: 11:05 p.m. EST (0405 GMT)

In this story: Accord not political, papal envoy says Israel: Jerusalem is secular, no change needed RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

JERUSALEM -- Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres says Israel's dispute with the Vatican over a Vatican-Palestinian agreement will not affect the pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Holy Land sites next month.

Peres, who now is minister of regional cooperation in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Ehud Barak, was asked Wednesday if the accord would affect the pope's March 21-26 visit. "We shall receive the pope as a spiritual leader -- one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time," he said.

The agreement, signed between the Vatican and the PLO on Tuesday, does not mention Israel by name. But it describes unilateral actions concerning Jerusalem as morally and legally unacceptable. It declares that an equitable solution for Jerusalem is fundamental to a just and lasting peace.

Israel accused the Vatican of interfering in currently stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab- Israeli war, then annexed it as part of what it says is its "united and eternal capital." The move was rejected by the international community, including the Vatican.

Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. The issue of the city's future is to be determined in a final peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians.

Peres, the architect of interim peace deals with the Palestinians, called the Vatican-PLO accord regrettable.

"I think the Vatican, too, like many institutions, had to wait for the final agreement between us and the Palestinians before (relating) to the Palestinians as an independent state," he told reporters.

After his hour-long meeting, Sambi told reporters that Israel had misinterpreted the accord, which contained 12 articles, dealing mostly with the Vatican's interests in Palestinian-ruled areas.

"There is no reference to the political situation in Jerusalem in the document," he said. "There is only reference to the religious aspect in the city sacred to three monotheistic religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam."

Such a statute, the accord said, should safeguard "equality before the law of the three monotheistic religions" in Jerusalem, "the proper identity and sacred character of the city" and "freedom of access" to holy places in the city.

The Israeli government says it already protects freedom of religion in Jerusalem.

Correspondent Jerrold Kessel and Reuters contributed to this report.

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