ROME, Aug 2, 01 (CWNews.com) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with Pope John Paul II in Rome on Thursday after which both men made an appeal for an end to violence in the Middle East, although Arafat concentrated more on Israeli reprisal attacks than on actions by his own people.
"I ask for a stop to all forms of violence, including bombardments, and to despatch immediately international observers so we can implement the Mitchell plan," Arafat said. The plan, formulated by a commission headed by former US Senator George Mitchell, calls for a truce and a cooling-off period followed by a resumption of peace talks. Arafat had made a two day visit to Rome to meet with the Pope and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and make an appeal for international monitors in the region to oversee a cease-fire and peace talks.
Following their meeting at the Pope's summer residence at Castelgandolfo, the Vatican released a statement that said, "His Holiness ... firmly repeated that there is an absolute need to put an end to all types of violence, be they attacks or reprisals, and to get the much hoped-for negotiations on the table." The Holy Father said after the meeting that the Middle East was sunk in "unheard-of violence which continued to mow down victims."
The tone of the meeting was punctuated by an Israeli missile attack on Tuesday aimed at two leaders of the extremist Islamic terrorist group Hamas that killed two children and four other Hamas members. The United States called the ongoing targeting of militant leaders by Israel as "too aggressive."
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs
2. august 2001