Vatican official: Israel fails to maintain promises made

Middle East News

Nov 16, 2007, 15:32 GMT

Rome - Relations between Israel and the Vatican 'were better' before the two established full diplomatic ties in 1993, according to a senior Vatican diplomat and former top Holy See envoy to the Jewish state. Israel has also failed to keep promises to ease travel restrictions on Catholic clerics and remove taxes on Church-owned property in the Holy Land, Monsignor Pietro Sambi, said in an interview posted Friday on the Franciscan Order's terrasanta.net website. 'The Holy See decided to establish diplomatic ties with Israel as an act of faith, accepting onerous promises that concrete aspects concerning the lives of Catholic communities and the Church would be regulated later,' Sambi, the Papal Nuncio to the United States, said. 'It is before everyone's eyes what faith one can give to promises made by Israel,' added Sambi. He was referring to what he suggested were Israeli-initiated delays and postponements that have marred the work of a bilateral commission tasked with enacting the 1993 Fundamental Agreement between the Vatican and Israel. The return of Church property 'unjustly expropriated or subjected to unjust use'; the recognition and compensation of 'services rendered' by the Catholic Church to the Israeli population - Jewish or Arab, and; the issue of taxes on Church property, were the three main economic issues that remained unresolved, Sambi said. For years the Vatican resisted establishing diplomatic ties because of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories, disputes over church property in the Holy Land and the status of Jerusalem, a city sacred to Jews and Muslims for which the Vatican champions the granting of an international status. While Israel has in the past offered to create a special panel to oversee property cases involving the Vatican, it has also expressed fear that giving tax exemptions to the Catholic Church could open the door for other churches and groups to seek similar treatment.© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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