Vatican states terms on Israel

CHRISTIAN communities in Arab countries would face "serious difficulties" from their governments if the Vatican entered into diplomatic relations with Israel before an overall settlement of the problems in the Middle East, a Vatican advisor on Catholic-Jewish relations warned this week.
Auxiliary Bishop Pietro Rossano of Rome, a consultant to the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, said in an interview with the Milan daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, that the church must listen carefully to the concerns of its members, particularly in Syria, Egypt and Iraq.
The Vatican "cannot establish relations with Israel by going over the heads of the Catholic communities," Bishop Rossano said. And he emphasised that since the Holy See was encouraging Arab Christians in the Middle East to live side by side with Israel it was "important" that the Jews should "understand their sensitivities".
Bishop Rossano said that any exchange of ambassadors between the Vatican and Israel at the present time "would deepen the anti-Israeli feelings" of Arab Christians in the region. He advised that the question of a Palestinian homeland and the status of the territories occupied by Israel after the 1967 Svar he resolved first.
The bishop said that in Israel "Jewish settlements which are continually growing are surrounding the islands of Christian inhabitants, putting into doubt their very survival".
Bishop Rossano's remarks came in the wake of increased pressure on the Vatican to forge diplomatic links with Israel. Last week representatives or the
Jewish community in Rome asked Pope John Paul Ii to give formal recognition to the state of Israel and move toward the establishment of official ties.
The Vatican responded by announcing its recognition of the existence of Israel and its need for national security. And it pointed out that the absence of diplomatic relations was not intended to cast doubt on the Holy See's belief in the longterm future for the country.
But Vatican spokesman Joachim Navarro-Valls stressed that there were "legal difficulties" which had caused the iloly See "to wail" before commencing relations. These, he said, were the questions "still not clarified, of the presence of Israel in the occupied territories and of relations with the Palestinians, of the annexation of the holy city of Jerusalem, as well as the situation of the Catholic church in Israel and the territories it administers."