U.N. General Assembly to Meet
GENEVA, OCT. 18, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- The Vatican pleaded today for respect for human rights in order to achieve peace in the troubled Mideast.
Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello, Vatican representative at the United Nations in Geneva, spoke at the extraordinary session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, convoked by Arab League countries. More than 50 national delegations attended.
Meanwhile, Palestinian youths in Kefar Varom, Gaza, clashed with Israeli troops protecting a Jewish settlement, hours before the U.N. General Assembly was to hold a special session to discuss the Mideast crisis.
More than 100 people - most of them Palestinians and Arab Israelis - have died in three weeks of violence, CNN reported.
Archbishop Bertello said the strife demonstrates that the violation of human rights can unleash reactions that are often hard to control.
"Fundamental rights, such as having an independent state and government, the right to security and freedom of expression of one's own culture and history, which, unfortunately, are still absent - only their fulfillment will be able to assist in the reconstruction of peace," the archbishop stressed.
Zenit - The World Seen From Rome
18. oktober 2000