VATICAN (CWNews.com) - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright asked the Vatican to use its influence on Palestinian Christians to push the Middle East peace process forward while the Vatican renewed its call for an international status for Jerusalem during a meeting in Rome on Tuesday.
Albright, on her way back to the US from Japan, met with Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran to discuss ideas for jump starting the process which hit a snag when talks at Camp David broke down last month. She said the Vatican's proposal for Jerusalem was not likely to be accepted in the current climate. "Nobody wanted - I mean, at Camp David certainly the issue of internationalization was not the solution," Albright said before the meeting.
Nevertheless, Archbishop Tauran pushed the position, saying the special international status is needed to guarantee the city's sacred sites. He also listed dialogue and respect for international decisions - particularly U.N. resolutions including a demand that Israel withdraw from territory occupied in the 1967 Six Day War - as the other essentials for a "just and lasting peace in that part of the world." The archbishop even referred to Israel "illegally occupying" East Jerusalem.
The Vatican has built up influence with the Palestinians with PLO leader Yasser Arafat having met with Pope John Paul II several times since 1982 when he was still mainly regarded as an international pariah and the Holy Father has several times called for the establishment of a Palestinian homeland.
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs