Church in the World

Historic visit boosts Vatican-Israel accord

A LEADING expert on Vatican-Israeli relations says he is optimistic that a historic meeting between Benedict XVI and Israeli President Moshe Katsav might at last lead to the full implementation of the 1993 bi-lateral accord known as the Fundamental Agreement.

Fr David Jaeger OFM, a key member of the Vatican team negotiating implementation of the 12-year-old accord, told The Tablet that he hoped the papal audience held on Thursday last week would accelerate the treaty?s implementation. ?The Fundamental Agreement was conceived as representing the very essence of the bilateral relations between the Catholic Church and the State of Israel,? said the Franciscan friar. However, Catholic officials have expressed frustration at Israel?s reluctance fully to recognise the 1993 accord as binding. ?We must trust that the president?s visit inaug-urates a new era,? said Fr Jaeger.

President Katsav?s visit was the first to Italy and the Vatican by an Israeli head of state. The Holy See press office said Pope Benedict met the president privately for 25 minutes, during which they ?examined the development of relations? between the two sides and discussed the ?actualisation? of the Fundamental Agreement and other existing accords. The Pope also restated the Vatican?s ?favourable position on the existence of and collaboration between the two states of Israel and Palestine?. The 60-year-old Iranian-born president told reporters afterwards that the Pope had responded positively to an invitation to visit the Holy Land. The president also said he promised to make ?every effort to speed up the process for resolving the few remaining problems and to respond positively to the Church?s requests?.

Fr Jaeger, who was born of a Jewish family in Israel and later converted to Catholicism, indicated that the key to resolving such problems was to put the Fundamental Agreement into full force ?It is, therefore, an absolute priority to make sure it is understood equally by both sides, both in its contents and its binding character.?

Observers pointed out that the president?s pledge to hasten the process would come under scrutiny in the latest rounds of bilateral negotiations, the first of which was due to start on Thursday at an undisclosed location in Israel.

According to a source close to the current talks, the Fundamental Agreement?s implementation impinges on other issues that concern the Vatican, such as the drastic reduction in 2002 of tax exemption status for church-owned property and the lack of due process in property disputes with the Israeli Government. Another item of concern for church officials is the restitution of property once owned by Catholic institutions.

The Israeli President began his visit to Rome on 16 November by meeting with Italian government officials and visiting parliament. That same evening he made a ?homecoming? visit to the Jewish syna-gogue where, as a government under-secretary in 1982, he brought condolences from the Israeli Government to victims of a terrorist bombing.
Robert Mickens, Rome