JERUSALEM, Sep. 8, 00 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican said on Friday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat does not represent Christians in negotiations with Israel over the status of Israel.
Arafat has said Palestinians should be given control of east Jerusalem and holy sites sacred to Muslims and Christians as part of the peace agreement with Israel. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its "eternal, undivided capital."
"Neither a request or agreement to represent Christians in talks concerning Jerusalem has been made between the Holy See and Arafat," the Vatican press office said. Israeli Cabinet Minister Michael Melchior met with the Vatican representative to the United Nations on Thursday, according to the news site CNSNews.com. A spokesman told the news agency Archbishop Renato Martino told Melchior the Church disliked the fact that Arafat has claimed to be guardian of the Christian holy sites.
Melchior said that as long as the Palestinians continue to rewrite history and claim that the Jews had no affiliation with the Temple Mount, there was no chance for reaching an arrangement with them. After acknowledging in his UN speech earlier that Jerusalem was "sacred to Muslims and Christians the world over, and cherished by our Palestinian neighbors" Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak sought to set the history record straight in a press conference on Thursday. "May I say that somehow, with all due respect, when it comes to a moment when Arafat is on the verge of establishing his own state, it is not the right time to rewrite the history of the great three monotheistic religions," Barak told reporters.
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs