May - June 2010 No. 470

Interview - Fr. Jaeger: Churches in the Middle East from "protected" minorities to full religious freedom ............................................................................................... 2

Mideast Christians - Mideast Christians not Victims of Fate, says Prelate ......................................... 4 - Yes, Hebrew-Speaking Catholics exist in Israel ................................................ 6 - Pope to Cyprus: Support Mideast Christians ..................................................... 8 - Pope's Presentation of Mideast Synod Document .............................................. 9 - Vatican: ME Christians threatened .................................................................. 10 - Pope to Mideast Christians: Stay in Homeland ................................................ 11 Cath/Orth. Relations - Pope praises Orthodox Commitment to Unity ................................................. 12 Holy See/Israel - How a Strategy of "Silence" saved Thousands of Jews ................................... 13 Relations - Vatican Paper's World War II Editions put online ........................................... 15 - Pius XII Letter to Roosevelt published for 1st Time ....................................... 16 - Pius XII's Letter to US President Roosevelt ................................................... 17 - Holy See-Israel Talks take Steps forward ........................................................ 18 - For Fr Jaeger, a Dialogue between the Holy See and Israel can prevent

Frictions and Uncertainties ............................................................................... 18 Miscellaneous - Patriarch Twal: Gaza Siege should be lifted .................................................... 20 - The silent Expulsion ......................................................................................... 22 Archaeology/ - Well-preserved 14th-Century Aqueduct found in Jerusalem ........................... 23 Excavations - 19th-Century Convent uncovered during Work on Jerusalem Railway .......... 23 - IAA excavates Ancient Nazareth Graves despite Haredi Protest .................... 25 - Samaritans seek Opening of Holy Site found in IDF Dig ................................ 26 - Western Wall Museum Plans threaten Roman Relics, Archaeologists warn ... 27 - Jerusalem’s Herod’s Gate receives Face-Lift ................................................... 28 Education - Terra Incognita: Nationalism by Proxy ............................................................ 29 Pilgrimage/Tourism - Record numbers of Tourists to Israel in May ................................................... 31 V.I.S. - SELECTIONS OF ITEMS FROM VATICAN INFORMATION

SERVICE ......................................................................................................... 32 - Appeal to Gaza: Violence does not resolve Controversies .............................. 32

Editor: Athanasius MACORA, ofm

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Fr. Jaeger: Churches in the Middle East from "protected" minorities to full religious freedom

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - Benedict XVI begins his apostolic visit to Cyprus, the first pope in Church history to visit the island. As part of the trip, Benedict XVI will deliver the Instrumentum Laboris, the working document for the October Synod of Bishops dedicated to the Middle East to the bishops of the region.

Among the themes under discussion the diminishing number of Christians and dialogue with Islam, the difficult relations with the governments and political and social conflicts. In a situation that is often overshadowed by difficulties, there are also signs of hope, expressions of solidarity, and the search of believers for "full freedom of religion" despite their being a minority.

On the eve of publication of the Instrumentum Laboris, AsiaNews has interviewed Franciscan Father David-Maria A. Jaeger, Delegate for Italy of the Custody of the Holy Land:

The politics and society of the Middle East seem to be characterized by stagnation. From the ecclesial point of view there have been some changes, the new auxiliary bishop of Jerusalem, the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa reconfirmed for another three years. Is there any hope for the Middle East?

First, it is encouraging that the Church is alive in the Holy Land, alive and vibrant. The appointment of the new auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is also reassuring. Bishop William Shomali is known to all as a priest of great charity, of human virtue and priestly virtues. He has been a pillar of Christian witness in Jerusalem and the Holy Land for many years. I think with his new status he will be a valuable support to the Patriarch of Jerusalem and all the pastors of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. The reappointment for another three years of the Father Custos is a well-deserved recognition of the important work done by this Custos of the Holy Land, Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa. He has the delicate and challenging role of maintaining contact and dialogue with various authorities and populations in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece and elsewhere, and for our Order, and not only that, his reappointment is proof of the right path that he has embarked on in previous years, one which should be continued.

Can the Church really do anything to infuse hope in the deteriorating and stagnant political situation in the Middle East? The Pope, after his visit to the Holy Land launched the idea of a Synod for the Churches of the Middle East. It is not aims to be a support to the local Churches but also to the wider situation in the Middle East...

We must understand that the Church in the Holy Land in particular is a minute entity, a materially tiny reality, and therefore can not exert a decisive influence or direct the course of events on a social, military, political or economic level in the region. The Church in the Middle East is vibrant, but cannot influence according to the criteria of this world. Rather, it carries on its testimony in a different, almost mystical, way.

The Church does a lot of good for many people in these regions, it shows the radiant face of Christ even in the most dark and desperate hours, its witness has a

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mysterious influence on many souls. But it is not a social force with political implications, as it may be in a country with a more consolidated Christian tradition, or majority Christian population. So we cannot expect the Church of the Holy Land to be visibly impressive. In other countries of the Middle East there are places where Christians are more numerous - as in the case of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt - but they are still a minority in these countries, with limited political influence. Lebanon of course is an exception to this, but then again the situation in Lebanon is very special, so much so that John Paul II wanted to celebrate it by calling, as he did, for a special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the whole of Lebanon, so as to emphasize both its importance and its special character.

Certainly the Synod, as shown by the Lineamenta and as will be seen from the 'Instrumentum laboris will not only deals with issues "of the sacristy” as they say, but it will also try to understand, analyze, and respond to the world that revolves around the community of believers. But it will do so in a way that is proper to the Church.

What real value can this Synod have?

The Synod, called by Pope Benedict XVI, as a continuation and completion of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land last year, may have great value. First to increase, consolidate and demonstrate the solidarity among the Catholic Churches of the Middle East. Different according to rite, geographic location or national allegiance. The Middle East is not a homogeneous area, rather it marked by legal situations, constitutional situations, Church-State relations that are different from each other. But it is still the area where Christianity was born. In Antioch the disciples were first called "Christians." The Synod is a way in which the Catholic Churches in the Middle East can find and affirm what binds them together and what they have that is specific to them when compared to the other faiths and societies among which they live.

As to the Middle Eastern Churches, which find themselves in a difficult situation from the geopolitical point of view, this message of solidarity and hope is important to hearten them, make them feel they are at the centre of the universal Church. As laid out in the Lineamenta it will be a very frank forum for further reflection about their situation, with very sincere and open exchanges. This is no small matter: the churches that for centuries have found themselves isolated, ghettoized, now feel confident to the point of talking more openly than ever, even if it takes place within the Church.

I think this liberation of the Churches discourse finds its source in the speech that John Paul II delivered on 11 December in 1993, at International Juridical Colloquium at the Pontifical Lateran University. There, the pope expressed his hope that the Churches of the Eastern Mediterranean would make a decisive step forward: to move from the status of isolated, even if protected, minorities to a condition of freedom for the Church itself and for Church members as citizens in their own right. They should no longer be "islands" - with guaranteed tolerance - but part of the societies to which they belong, enjoying full equality and freedom, not tolerance but freedom, which is a different matter! This is the vision of a new era, an epoch-making change, which is worth reading and rereading. I see this reflected in the preparation for the Synod, starting with the Lineamenta.

Certainly it is a goal towards which we must patiently aspire and work, a prophetic vision, not a change that can be obtained overnight. Its realisation, even more than on the church, depends firstly on the evolution of the same society or interested

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nations, their constitutional and cultural evolution, as well as their democratic evolution, which have their own rhythms and from time to time may also suffer disruption. But the important thing for now is that believers in Christ have clear aspirations and conceptions of the role of the Church and faithful in society. The Synod will constitute a unique opportunity to verify this.

AsiaNews – 4 June 2010

Mideast Christians not Victims of Fate, says Prelate New Jerusalem Auxiliary looks at upcoming Synod

JERUSALEM - The 14 million Christians who live in the Middle East, despite difficulties and persecutions, have a mission to fulfill in their respective countries to foster peace and coexistence.

This is one of the topics addressed by the recently appointed auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Bishop William Shomali, during an address he gave last Thursday in preparation for the forthcoming special Synod on the Middle East.

Some 140 religious who work in the Latin Patriarchate and who have cooperated in the preparation of the Synod attended the conference.

Bishop Shomali stressed the need for Christians of the Middle East to see their presence as a vocation, avoiding being shut in a "ghetto mentality," which might lead increasingly to their social insignificance.

In the conference, titled "The Middle Eastern Synod in its Geopolitical and Pastoral Context," the new Auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem analyzed the situation of minorities in each country.

He noted that from Turkey to Egypt and from Syria to Iraq, the situation of Christians is increasingly difficult, due on one hand to emigration and on the other to the ascent of a political Islam that wants to dominate Arab societies.

The Bishop reflected how the concrete situation of greater or lesser tolerance depends on each country -- from total intolerance in Saudi Arabia to liberty of worship in Jordan -- yet Christians live in societies where there is no genuine liberty of conscience, and in which their presence is tolerated more than welcomed.

Fewer Christians

The greatest problem Christian communities face is that of their own subsistence, since for now more than 100 years there has been an uninterrupted exodus of Christians. To the phenomenon of emigration is added the genocide of Maronites (1860), of 1.5 million Armenians by Turkey (1912), the war in Lebanon (1975-1990) and the instability in Iraq (since 1990), explained Bishop Shomali.

This emigration has not only "weakened the fabric of Christian life," he said, but has also "opened the eyes of moderate Muslims who see in this exodus an impoverishment of Arab society and the loss of moderate elements. Many Palestinians

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intellectuals -- including Faisal Husseini, the current Grand Mufti of Palestine, Tayseer Tamimi, the Grand Magistrate, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad -- have said that the departure of Christians has been a loss for all Palestinians and will end up setting Jewish and Muslim extremism face to face."

In this connection, he continued, "Christians have their contribution to make in resolving political or religious conflicts," but to do so they must participate more actively in public life.

Vocation

Bishop Shomali stressed that Christians who live in the Middle East are rooted in a culture and language, and live with other peoples with whom they share a language, a history and many traditions.

"Christians should not feel that they are foreigners," he declared. "They are called to be witnesses of Christ in those countries where they live. To flee their countries of origin means to escape reality."

Hence, he urged Christians "to live with faith and joy in the land of their ancestors."

The Bishop asserted that the "faithful expect their pastors give them clear reasons for their mission in each country. It is not for us to be anything other than authentic witnesses of the Risen Christ present in his Church through the Holy Spirit, in those countries where we were born and where we live, countries that are characterized not only through a process of political and democratic maturation, but, unfortunately, also by conflict and instability."

He pointed out that a factor that could limit emigration would be to make Christians "more aware of the meaning of their presence and the need to engage, here and now, in public life. Everyone in his own country bears the message of Christ to his society. This message is to be carried forward even in difficulties and persecution."

Ecumenism

Bishop Shomali also considered Christians' spiritual life and, in particular, the question of unity.

On one hand, he stressed the importance of forming the faithful in knowledge of the Scriptures, exactly as proposed by the 2008 Synod. "In the Middle East there is a lot of piety and much popular devotion. But the Word of God has not yet taken its rightful place in the spirituality of the Christian people," he contended. "The Holy Scriptures, written in our land and in our languages -- Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek -- with literary and cultural expressions that we feel as our own, will guide our thinking."

The Bishop also spoke of unity with the Eastern Churches: the Melkites, Syrians, Maronites, Copts, Armenians and Chaldeans.

"These churches need to live their liturgical and linguistic particularity on the one hand, and a greater communion among themselves on the other. Currently, this communion leaves something to be desired," he said.

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On the other hand, the prelate referred to the relationship between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, stating with the Synod working document that the divisions between the Churches of the Middle East "are the bitter fruits of the past, but the Spirit works with the Churches to bring them together and break down barriers to that visible unity willed by Christ."

In sum, the Church "does not claim to offer prefabricated solutions to all the problems facing Christians living in the Middle East," Bishop Shomali concluded. But the Prelate stressed that the task of the Church is in indicating "the places and ways to arrive at the solution to these problems."

Zenit – 18 May 2010

Yes, Hebrew-Speaking Catholics exist in Israel Father Neuhaus gives Overview of Community

JERUSALEM - In this article by Jesuit Father David Neuhaus, Patriarchal Vicar for the Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel, he responds to an article by Yitshaq Laor in the Haaretz newspaper last Friday that expressed surprise at knowing that such a community exists.

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Yitshaq Laor, the writer and literary critic, wrote a review article of the new book of Evyatar Marienberg, "Catholicism Now," in the Haaretz newspaper on Friday, May 14, 2010. In the article, he wrote: "In translating terms into Hebrew, 'the decision to use one term and not another was taken seriously and mostly in accordance with the advice of authorized elements in the Hebrew speaking Catholic Church.' I waited until the end of the book in order to know what is the Hebrew-speaking Catholic Church, an entity that is mentioned in many of the footnotes. And indeed there is such a thing."

Yes, indeed there is such a thing!

The Hebrew-speaking Catholic community celebrates 55 years since its establishment this year and we do not want to describe its beginnings and history here. A broad survey can be found on the Web site of the community [www.catholic.co.il]. Here I would simply like to draw attention to the existence of Hebrew-speaking Catholics in contemporary Israeli society.

Those who founded the Hebrew-speaking Catholic communities and developed them are Israelis and permanent residents, Jews and non-Jews, from various and sundry backgrounds who began their project in the 1950s following the waves of immigration to the State of Israel, waves that included no small number of Catholics. Among these Catholics were the spouses or children of Jews who immigrated to the country together with Jewish family members. Among them were also Righteous from Among the Nations (people who had saved Jews during the Shoah) and their families who came to live in Israel.

Among those who frequented the communities from their beginnings were also non-Jews who had chosen to live in Israel and who spoke Hebrew in their daily lives

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(among them quite a few men and women religious, nuns, monks and priests). Hebrew is the language of the country and the society, and it was quite natural that Catholics living in Israel would begin to pray in Hebrew and express their faith in the language that became their day-to-day language. Also, in recent years, mixed Jewish-Catholic families have been arriving, particularly from the ex-Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the Catholics among them seek out the Church and find a community that is Hebrew-speaking and integrate into it.

Over the years, three other populations have begun to live in Hebrew, thus widening the experience of a Hebrew-speaking Catholic community:

-- Migrant workers: Thousands of Catholics have come to Israel looking for work, and some of them have been here for extended periods of time, founding homes and families here. This is not a new reality, but its dimensions extend today way beyond what they were in the past. Today in the state of Israel, there are more than a thousand children born here to migrant workers. Many among them (especially those from the Philippines, Latin America, India, Sri Lanka and different countries in Africa, etc) are Catholics. They study among us in school, they speak the same language as our children who are completely Israeli. Children, who study everything in Hebrew, need religion classes in Hebrew too. This year, the Hebrew-speaking Catholic community has begun to offer religion classes in Hebrew to a group of Filipino children in Tel Aviv, a new project that we hope will be expanded.

-- Refugees: From time to time, Israel opens its borders to refugees who arrive from all corners of the globe. Among these refugees there were in the past and there are also today a certain number of Catholics -- for example among the boat people from Vietnam in the 1980s and among the Lebanese, who fled in the wake of Israeli retreat from Lebanon, as well as refugees from south Sudan and Eritreans and others from Latin America and certain African countries. The children of the refugees are integrated into Israeli schools and they too learn everything in Hebrew. Hebrew becomes the language they read and write in and even the language in which they express themselves orally. With time, they too become Hebrew-speaking Catholics.

-- Indigenous Catholics: Most Catholics in the State of Israel are Arabic-speaking in origin. There are small groups of Arab citizens of Israel who because of various reasons (mostly because of work) have moved to live in Jewish areas where Hebrew is the unique dominant language. Two examples are the cities of Beer Sheba and Eilat where there are dozens of Catholic families from the north of the country. Their children attend Jewish, Hebrew-language schools, and they too give an expression to their faith in Hebrew, the language they study in.

The Hebrew-speaking Catholic community is indeed small, but those that benefit from its services (especially in education) greatly exceed the numbers of those who belong to it. The development of a Catholic discourse in Hebrew, a discourse that takes into account the historical, social, cultural and religious context of our country, is an important task for us.

Zenit – 18 May 2010

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Pope to Cyprus: Support Mideast Christians Visits Orthodox Archbishopric of Nicosia

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Benedict XVI underlined the importance of supporting Christians in the Middle East today during a meeting with the Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II of New Justiniana and All Cyprus.

The Pope is in Cyprus until Sunday, when he will deliver the "instrumentum laboris" (working document) for the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, which will take place in Rome in October.

Upon visiting the Orthodox archbishopric of Nicosia, Benedict XVI expressed his gratitude to the Cypriot Orthodox Church, which "through the clarity and openness of her contributions, has always given to the work of the dialogue."

Since the 2006 election of Chrysostomos II, the Church has become a leader in ecumenical efforts, as well as a promoter of interreligious dialogue with Islam, due to Turkish presence on the divided island.

"May the Holy Spirit guide and confirm this great ecclesial undertaking," Benedict XVI added, "which aims at restoring full and visible communion between the Churches of East and West, a communion to be lived in fidelity to the Gospel and the apostolic tradition, esteem for the legitimate traditions of East and West, and openness to the diversity of gifts by which the Spirit builds up the Church in unity, holiness and peace."

Without specifically mentioning the nation's ongoing struggle with Turkey over the occupation of the northern section of the island, the Pope expressed hope that the nation "will find the wisdom and strength needed to work together for a just settlement of issues remaining to be resolved, to strive for peace and reconciliation, and to build for future generations a society distinguished by respect for the rights of all, including the inalienable rights to freedom of conscience and freedom of worship."

Turning his attention to the Holy Land, which he noted has traditionally included Cyprus, the Pontiff said, "the situation of continuing conflict in the Middle East must be a source of concern to all Christ’s followers."

"No one can remain indifferent," he continued, "to the need to support in every way possible the Christians of that troubled region, so that its ancient Churches can live in peace and flourish. The Christian communities of Cyprus can find a most fruitful area for ecumenical cooperation in praying and working together for peace, reconciliation and stability in the lands blessed by the earthly presence of the Prince of Peace."

Archbishop Chrysostomos II noted in his address to the Pope that "despite the small numbers of its flock, the Church of Cyprus holds an eminent position in Orthodoxy and enjoys fraternal relations with all the Churches."

"Indeed," he added, "as we enter the 21st century, which is the century of dialogue, approach and mutual understanding, we are determined to continue this course, in the belief that this is the will of the All-Merciful Lord."

Zenit – 5 June 2010

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Pope's Presentation of Mideast Synod Document "The Middle East has a Special Place in the Hearts of All Christians"

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Here is a Vatican translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the Eleftheria Sports Centre in Nicosia, before presenting the "instrumentum laboris" (working document) for the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, which will take place in Rome this upcoming October 10-24.

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I thank Archbishop Eterović for his kind words, and I renew my greetings to all of you who have come here in connection with the launch of the forthcoming Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. I thank you for all the work that has been accomplished already in anticipation of the Synodal Assembly, and I promise you the support of my prayers as you enter this final phase of preparation.

Before I begin, it is only fitting that I recall the late Bishop Luigi Padovese who, as President of the Turkish Catholic Bishops, contributed to the preparation of the Instrumentum Laboris that I am consigning to you today. News of his unforeseen and tragic death on Thursday surprised and shocked all of us. I entrust his soul to the mercy of almighty God, mindful of how committed he was, especially as a bishop, to interreligious and cultural understanding, and to dialogue between the Churches. His death is a sobering reminder of the vocation that all Christians share, to be courageous witnesses in every circumstance to what is good, noble and just.

The motto chosen for the Assembly speaks to us of communion and witness, and it reminds us how the members of the early Christian community "were of one heart and soul". At the centre of the Church's unity is the Eucharist, Christ's inestimable gift to his people and the focus of our liturgical celebration today on this Solemnity of the Lord's Body and Blood. So it is not without significance that the date chosen for the Instrumentum Laboris of the Special Assembly to be consigned should be today.

The Middle East has a special place in the hearts of all Christians, since it was there that God first made himself known to our fathers in faith. From the time when Abraham set out from Ur of the Chaldeans in obedience to the Lord's call, right up until the death and resurrection of Jesus, God's saving work was accomplished through particular individuals and peoples in your homelands. Since then, the message of the Gospel has spread all over the world, but Christians everywhere continue to look to the Middle East with special reverence, on account of the prophets and patriarchs, apostles and martyrs to whom we owe so much, the men and women who heard God's word, bore witness to it, and handed it on to us who belong to the great family of the Church.

The Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, convened at your request, will attempt to deepen the bonds of communion between the members of your local Churches, and the communion of these churches with each other and with the universal Church. The Assembly also aims to encourage you in the witness of your faith in Christ in those countries where the faith was born and from where it spread. It is also known that some of you have endured great hardships due to the current situation in the region. The Special Assembly is an opportunity for Christians from the rest of the world to offer spiritual

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support and solidarity to their brothers and sisters in the Middle East. This is an opportunity to highlight the significant value of the Christian presence and witness in countries of the Bible, not only for the Christian community worldwide, but also for your neighbours and fellow citizens. You are help the common good in countless ways, for example through education, health care and social assistance, and you work to build society. You want to live in peace and harmony with your Jew and Muslim neighbours. Often, you act as peacemakers in the difficult process of reconciliation. You deserve recognition for the invaluable role you fill. This is my serious hope that your rights are increasingly respected, including the right to freedom of worship and religious freedom, and that you will never again suffer discrimination of any kind.

I pray that the work of the Special Assembly will help to focus the attention of the international community on the plight of those Christians in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs, so that just and lasting solutions may be found to the conflicts that cause so much hardship. On this grave matter, I reiterate my personal appeal for an urgent and concerted international effort to resolve the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, especially in the Holy Land, before such conflicts lead to greater bloodshed.

With these thoughts, I now present to you the text of the Instrumentum Laboris of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. God bless your work abundantly! God bless all the peoples of the Middle East!

Zenit – 6 June 2010

Vatican: ME Christians threatened

Pope concerned that persecution and conflict driving out Christians.

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The Vatican said on Sunday that the international community is ignoring the plight of Christians in the Middle East, and that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq and political instability in Lebanon have forced thousands to flee the region.

A working paper released during Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to Cyprus to prepare for a crisis summit of Middle East bishops in Rome in October also cites the "extremist current" unleashed by the rise of "political Islam" as a threat to Christians.

In his final Mass in Cyprus on Sunday, Benedict said he was praying that the October meeting would focus the attention of the international community "on the plight of those Christians in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs."

The Vatican considers mostly Greek Orthodox Cyprus as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East and invited bishops to come to the Mediterranean island to receive the working paper to counter the exodus of thousands of Christians in recent years because of war and harsh economic conditions.

The Vatican estimates there are about 17 million Christians from Iran to Egypt, and that while many Christians have fled, new Catholic immigrants — mostly from the Philippines, India and Pakistan — have arrived in recent years in Arab countries to work as domestic or manual laborers.

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The 46-page document said input from clerics in the region blamed the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories for inhibiting freedom of movement, the economy and religious life, alleging that access to holy places is dependent on military permission that is sometimes denied on security grounds.

It said, "emigration is particularly prevalent" because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also blamed the "menacing social situation" in Iraq and political instability in once heavily Christian Lebanon.

A further exodus of Christians from the Holy Land would be a great loss to the church in the "very place where (Christianity) was born," it said.

It said the rise of "political Islam" in Arab, Turkish and Iranian societies and its extremist currents are "clearly a threat to everyone, Christians and Muslims alike."

With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism "attacks against Christians are increasing almost everywhere," it said.

It complained that Muslims often make no distinction between religion and politics "thereby relegating Christians to the precarious position of being considered non-citizens, despite the fact that they were citizens of their countries long before the rise of Islam."

By The Associated Press The Jerusalem Post – 6 June 2020

Pope to Mideast Christians: Stay in Homeland Pays Homage to those who suffer for Gospel

VATICAN CITY - Benedict XVI is expressing his hopes for Christians of the Middle East: to persevere in their faith, and to stay in their homelands, despite the many sacrifices involved.

The Pope made this appeal when he addressed participants of the Assembly of Societies for Aid to Eastern Churches (ROACO).

"We all desire for the Holy Land, Iraq and the Middle East the gift of a stable peace and solid coexistence," the Holy Father said. "These are born from respect of human rights, of families, communities and peoples, and by the overcoming of religious, cultural or social discrimination."

ROACO is an organization that exists to support these rights. Founded in 1968 by the Congregation for Eastern Churches, twice a year it brings together agencies committed to supporting the Churches of the East in various dimensions.

In the Pontiff's multilingual address, he offered a message to Christians of the East.

"I encourage the brothers and sisters who, in the East, share the inestimable gift of baptism, to persevere in the faith and, despite the many sacrifices, to stay where they were born," he said.

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Benedict XVI also encouraged those who have migrated to remember their origins, particularly their religious heritage.

"I wish to pay special homage to Christians who suffer violence because of the Gospel, and I commend them to God," he said.

Synod The Bishop of Rome mentioned the common task of preparing for the special

Synod on the Middle East, which will be held in Rome in October. Alluding to the theme of the Synod, he said, "I thank God for this initiative, which

is already producing the beneficial fruits of 'communion and witness' for which the Synod was initially convoked."

"Dear friends, I ask you to contribute with your works to maintain alive the 'hope that does not disappoint' among the Christians of the East," the Pope concluded. "In the 'little flock' that they make up, already operating is the future of God, and the 'narrow way' that they are following is described by the Gospel as 'way of life.'"

Zenit – 25 June 2010

Pope praises Orthodox Commitment to Unity Says Dialogue is at "Crucial Point"

VATICAN CITY - Benedict XVI says that dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox is at a "crucial point" and invited heartfelt prayer to the Holy Spirit for progress to continue.

The Pope said this today when he addressed members of a delegation from Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I.

The visit reciprocates the habitual exchange of delegations for the respective patronal feasts in which the Patriarch of Constantinople sends a delegation to Rome on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and the Pope sends a delegation to Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 30, the feast of St. Andrew. In November 2006, Benedict XVI led the delegation himself, and in June 2008, Bartholomew I led the Orthodox delegation to Rome, which coincided with the opening of the Pauline Jubilee Year.

Today, the Orthodox delegation was led by Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Limouris), who is the co-Secretary of the International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

The Holy Father made reference to Tuesday's feast of Sts. Peter and Paul as testifying to "a time when our communities were living in full communion with one another." Orthodox and Catholics celebrate the feast on the same day.

He added that today's visit, along with the "many meetings that have already taken place in the course of this year" show how the "relations between us are characterized by sentiments of mutual trust, esteem and fraternity."

This, the Pontiff said, "gives grounds for hope that Catholic-Orthodox dialogue will also continue to make significant progress."

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Firmly convinced Benedict XVI highlighted the work of the Orthodox-Catholic mixed commission,

saying it "is at a crucial point, having begun last October in Paphos to discuss 'The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium.'"

"With all our hearts we pray that, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the members of the commission will continue along this path during the forthcoming plenary session in Vienna, and devote to it the time needed for thorough study of this delicate and important issue," he said.

The Pope also praised the confirmation in Bartholomew I's encyclical letter of last February that he and the synod of Constantinople "share our firm conviction of the importance of this dialogue."

Middle East Synod The Bishop of Rome went on to speak of the importance of the theme of unity for

the synod on the Middle East, which will be held in Rome in October. "The difficulties that the Christians of the Middle East are experiencing are in

large measure common to all: living as a minority, and yearning for authentic religious freedom and for peace," he said. And he added that he'll be happy to welcome the delegation the Ecumenical Patriarch will send to participate in the synod's work.

Zenit – 28 June 2010

How a Strategy of "Silence" saved Thousands of Jews Documents and Testimonies point to Pius XII's Efforts

NEW YORK - The Pave the Way Foundation has initiated a document retrieval project to reveal as much information and as many testimonies as possible regarding the papacy of Pope Pius XII, the World War II Pontiff, in order to break the academic "log jam" caused by the lack of publicly available information.

New findings have revealed documents and testimony, which clearly show that on Oct. 16, 1943, it was the intentional lack of a public denunciation by Pope Pius XII against the arrest of the Roman Jews, which saved their lives and enabled their rescue.

We have a signed 1972 deposition of General Karl Wolff, SS commander for Italy and deputy to Heinrich Himmler, which states that in September 1943 Adolf Hitler ordered him to develop a plan to invade the Vatican, kidnap the Pope, seize the Vatican assets, and kill the Roman Curia. This plan was to be carried out immediately.

General Wolff knew that if this invasion were executed, massive riots throughout Europe would ensue, resulting in a military disaster to the German war effort. General Wolff stated that he was successful in convincing Hitler to delay the invasion. This view of a potential military disaster was shared by the military governor of Rome, Major General Rainer Stahel, and German ambassador to the Holy See, Ernst von Weizsäcker.

Pius XII learned of the invasion plan, and likewise believed that the result would be massive riots potentially killing thousands of innocent people and that the Vatican’s

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neutrality would be breached, thereby enabling German forces to enter all Vatican properties. Handwritten minutes exist, which state that on Sept. 6, 1943, Pius XII secretly called the cardinals together to tell them the Vatican would be invaded and he would be taken to the north and probably killed. The cardinals were to be prepared to leave for a neutral country immediately, upon the invasion of Vatican territory.

He also signed a letter of resignation, and placed it in his desk. He instructed the cardinals to form a government in exile and to elect a new Pope once they were safe. We have a handwritten letter from the secretary of state ordering the Swiss Guard not to resist invading German forces with firepower, and numerous documents detailing how they were to protect the Vatican Library and museum contents.

Throughout this period, von Weizsäcker sent deceptive positive messages about the Pope to Berlin to calm Hitler, not to justify an order to invade. Some critics of Pius XII have erroneously based their theories of papal complicity and collaboration on these intentionally misleading cables -- what von Weizsäcker’s lieutenant, Albrecht von Kessel, later called "tactical lies."

We have additional testimony from Lieutenant Nikolaus Kunkel, a German officer from the headquarters of the military governor of Rome, which corroborates documented evidence and testimony of exactly how Pius XII directly saved the Roman Jewish community and that they were expecting the invasion order from Berlin any day.

When the early morning arrests began Oct. 16, 1943, Pius XII was alerted to this by Princess Enza Pignatelli Aragona Cortes. He immediately took multiple steps to force the Germans to stop the arrests. He summoned the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Maglione, and instructed him to launch a vehement protest against the arrests. Cardinal Maglione warned von Weizsacker that same morning, that the Pope could not remain silent as they arrested the Jews under his very windows, in his own diocese. Pius XII then sent his nephew, Carlo Pacelli, to meet with a German sympathizer, Bishop Alois Hudal, to instruct him to write a letter to his German contacts to immediately stop the arrests.

This too proved ineffective. Pius XII's last effort, the most successful, was to send his close confidant, Salvatorian Superior General Father Pankratius Pfeiffer, to meet directly with the military governor of Rome, General Stahel. Father Pfeiffer warned Stahel that the Pope was going to launch a loud and public protest against these arrests if they were not stopped. Fear that this public protest would result in Hitler's ordering the invasion of the Vatican prompted Stahel to act.

General Stahel immediately telephoned Heinrich Himmler, and fabricated military grounds to stop the arrests. Trusting Stahel's assessment, Himmler advised Hitler to stop the arrests. The order to stop the arrests was issued at noon on Oct. 16, resulting in its implementation by 2 p.m. on the day they began.

This sequence of events was independently confirmed by General Dietrich Beelitz, the liaison officer with Field Marshal Albert Kesselring’s office and Hitler’s command. Beelitz personally heard the Stahel-Himmler conversation. When Stahel’s deception later became known, Himmler punished General Stahel by sending him to the Eastern front.

It was known that the Vatican was infiltrated with spies. The Pope could only send trusted priests and confidants throughout Rome and Italy with verbal and written papal orders to lift cloister, allowing men and women to enter Catholic convents and

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monasteries, and ordered all ecclesiastical institutions to hide the Jews wherever they could.

According to famed British historian Sir Martin Gilbert, the Vatican hid thousands of Jews in literally one day (See supporting documents here and here). Once hidden, the Vatican continued to feed and support their Jewish “guests” until Rome’s liberation on June 4, 1944.

Documents from Berlin and the Eichmann Trial in Israel also show that the 8,000 Roman Jews that were to be arrested were not supposed to go to Auschwitz, but were to be sent to the work camp at Mauthausen and held as hostages. This order was later countermanded by persons unknown and 1,007 Jews were sent to Auschwitz to their death. Sadly only 17 survived. While there are those who repeatedly criticize Pius XII for not saving the 1,007, they remain completely silent on his direct actions, which saved this 3,000 year old Jewish community of Rome.

It was recently discovered, in the American archives, that the allies had broken the German codes and knew almost a week in advance of the intended arrests of the Roman Jews. The allies decided not to warn the Romans since this might alert the Germans to this intelligence breach. This “military decision” left Pope Pius XII alone, without advance notice, to try to end the arrests.

When speaking of Pope Pius XII, the foremost Jewish scholars of the Holocaust in Hungary, Jeno Levai, stated that it was a "particularly regrettable irony that the one person in all of occupied Europe who did more than anyone else to halt the dreadful crime and alleviate its consequences is today made the scapegoat for the failures of others."

* * *

Gary Krupp is the founder of Pave the Way Foundation (PTWF), a non-sectarian organization whose mission is to identify and try to eliminate obstacles between religions and to initiate positive gestures in order to improve interreligious relations.

Zenit – 25 May 2010

Vatican Paper's World War II Editions put online Pave the Way Foundation grows Web Library

NEW YORK - Pave the Way Foundation has received permission from the Vatican's semi-official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, to publish online its archived editions from 1938 to 1945.

The New York-based foundation, a non-sectarian organization whose mission is to identify and try to eliminate obstacles between religions and to initiate positive gestures in order to improve interreligious relations, has been working to discover the facts regarding Pope Pius XII and his efforts to help Jews during World War II.

As part of this effort, it has been working to retrieve and publicize as many documents as possible to expose the truth of the secret and public action of the Holy See during World War II.

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The foundation requested permission to place on its Web site the wartime L'Osservatore Romano editions, which have only been available previously in the newspaper's archives in Rome.

Elliot Hershberg, chairman of Pave the Way Foundation, affirmed that "this is a very big step in educating the legitimate historians worldwide."

He explained, "There have been many references that have been made about articles in L'Osservatore Romano over the years, both positive and negative, and now these can be verified online."

The L'Osservatore Romano editions will add some 24,000 pages to the extensive online library, which includes video interviews aimed at helping the public understand the actions of the Holy See during that time period.

The foundation's president and founder, Gary Krupp, expressed appreciation to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict XVI's secretary of state, and Cardinal Raffaele Farina, prefect of the Vatican Library, for their "confidence and trust in the work of Pave the Way Foundation and for their insight and willingness to do whatever is necessary to bring the truth of this terrible period in history public."

Zenit – 28 May 2010

Pius XII Letter to Roosevelt published for 1st Time Pontiff appealed to President to spare Innocent Lives

ROME - A letter from August 1943 that Pope Pius XII wrote to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been discovered and published by the Knights of Columbus.

The previously unpublished letter, dated Aug. 30, 1943, asks the president to "spare innocent civil populations and in particular churches and religious institutions."

The letter was written after a series of Allied bombings of Rome, two occurring within six weeks prior to the Pope's plea.

Pius XII told Roosevelt that too many people took for granted that Rome was "free to follow the policy of her choice" to promote its own best interests.

Instead, he affirmed his "conviction that this is far from true. Of [Rome's] desire for peace and to be done with the war, there can be no doubt; but in the presence of formidable forces opposing the actuation or even the official declaration of that desire she finds herself shackled and quite without the necessary means of defending herself."

The Pope also involved himself firsthand in consoling the victims of the bombings. After an attack on July 19, 1943, he went to one of the sites -- St. Lawrence Square -- to encourage the people of the area.

Diplomatic role

The Aug. 30 letter was presented in an exhibition about the Knights of Columbus' 90-year presence in Rome. The exhibit was opened today by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,

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the Pope's Secretary of State, as well as the Mayor of Rome and the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus.

After its discovery in the archives of the Knights of Columbus, the letter was published on the front page of "Il Messaggero," which accompanied it with an analysis by Franca Giansoldati, a Vatican expert with that Roman newspaper.

Giansoldati suggested that it is not surprising that the letter was found in the archives of the Knights of Columbus, which has been working in Italy since 1920.

"On the diplomatic front, the Roman headquarters of the Knights of Columbus carried out a decisive role during the War, filling the absence of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the United States," explained Giansoldati.

The letter is printed on Pages 156 and 157 of the exhibit's program, which is titled "Everybody Welcome, Everything Free" -- the motto of the Knights when they arrived in Italy for the first time during World War I.

Zenit – 9 June 2010

Pius XII's Letter to US President Roosevelt "Spare Innocent Civil Populations and in particular Churches"

VATICAN CITY - Here is the previously unpublished letter sent by Pope Pius XII to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Aug. 30, 1943, after one of the several bombings of Rome by the Allied Forces.

* * *

Your Excellency, Recent events have naturally focused the worlds attention for the moment on Italy,

and much has been said and written on what policy she would or should now follow for her own best interests. Too many, we fear, take for granted that she is entirely free to follow the policy of her choice; and we have wished to express to Your Excellency our conviction that this is far from true. Of her desire for peace and to be done with the war, there can be no doubt; but in the presence of formidable forces opposing the actuation or even the official declaration of that desire she finds herself shackled and quite without the necessary means of defending herself.

If under such circumstances Italy is to be forced still to bear devastating blows against which she is practically defenseless, we hope and pray that the military leader will find it possible to spare innocent civil populations and in particular churches and religious institutions the ravages of war. Already, we must recount with deep sorrow and regret, these figure very prominently among the ruins of Italy's most populous and important cities.

But the message of assurance addressed to us by Your Excellency sustains our hope, even in the face of bitter experience, that God's temples and the homes erected by Christian charity for the poor and sick and abandoned members of Christ's flock may survive the terrible onslaught. May God in His merciful pity and love hearken to the universal cry of his children and let them hear once more the voice of Christ say: Peace!

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We are happy of this occasion to renew the expression of our sincere good wishes to Your Excellency.

From the Vatican, August 30, 1943

Pius PP XII Zenit – 9 June 2010

Holy See-Israel Talks take Steps forward Plenary Meets in Vatican

VATICAN CITY - The plenary session of the Holy See-Israel commission to negotiate the terms of the 1993 Fundamental Agreement met today in "an atmosphere of mutual understanding."

A joint communiqué issued after the session by the Bilateral Working Commission Between the Holy See and the State of Israel noted the "progress accomplished by the 'working level' commission since the previous plenary," and said that agreements were made on "the next steps toward conclusion of the Agreement."

The statement revealed no details of the agreements, however, as the meetings operate under the principle of "nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon."

The Fundamental Agreement established diplomatic relationships between the Holy See and Israel. Since then, the two sides have been negotiating the particulars of tax exemptions and property rights for the Church, in particular for the holy sites.

Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, Undersecretary for Relations with states, led the Holy See delegation, and Daniel Ayalon, Israel's deputy minister of foreign affairs, led the Israeli delegation.

The plenary will hold its next meeting Dec. 6 at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The next working commission will take place on July 27-28.

Zenit – 15 June 2010

For Fr. Jaeger, a Dialogue between the Holy See and Israel can prevent Frictions and Uncertainties

Progress has been made, but a global agreement has not been reached despite negotiations that began in 1993. A deal on shared rules would afford the Church the certainty it needs and reduce frictions and problems with the State of Israel. There is an urgent need for a “personal” diocese for Hebrew-speaking Catholics so that they can interact with Israeli society.

Tel Aviv (AsiaNews) – On 15 June, the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the State of Israel met in the Vatican in plenary session. Almost immediately, various Israeli media said that agreements had been

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reached on a series of subjects in the present round of the negotiations that began on 11 March 1999, including the integrity of the Holy Places and confirmation of tax exemptions for Church institutions. Is this so? AsiaNews has asked Franciscan jurist Fr David-Maria A. Jaeger, a noted expert on Church-State relations in Israel. Here is his answer:

The only reliable information is, in this as in all other cases, that given in the joint communiqué published at the end of the session. In this case, the joint communiqué speaks of ‘progress’ having been achieved. This is also the only information that can ever be given, objectively speaking. The subjects of the negotiations are well known. They are already specified in Article 10 § 2 of the Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel (1993), namely property matters, fiscal matters and other economic matters. The latter are known to be, essentially, the participation of the State in the educational and social services of the Church that benefit the population of the State. Of course, under these headings there must be many particular questions. As is also well known, the principle of the negotiations is this: Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. This means that it simply has no meaning to speak of agreement having been reached on any particular subject, since there will be agreement on any subject at all only when there has been agreement on all the agenda items. As long as there are unresolved agenda items, there is not yet agreement on anything. This is the methodological principle wisely adopted by both Parties as the correct interpretation of the mandate, in the Fundamental Agreement, to negotiate a ‘comprehensive agreement.’”

Still there must be some signs as to whether the negotiations are going forward, and how close the Parties are to reaching agreement?

“Yes, of course, the negotiations have been moving forward. It is sufficient to read the Joint Communiqués published after each negotiating session. I believe that a close reading of these Joint Communiqués indicates that the Parties are engaged very seriously in this effort, and that, overall, the talks are indeed going forward. Again, no one, not even the negotiators themselves, can make any predictions as to the outcome and its timing.”

If, when, the negotiations succeed, and the “comprehensive agreement” is in place, what will this mean for the Church in Israel?

“Security Legal and fiscal security. The situation in place for the last 62 years or so has been characterized by the absence of agreed rules on such key subjects as the fiscal exemptions of the Church. The Church herself relies on a solid heritage of international treaties, UN resolutions, and other legal sources, which are not however read in the same way by the State. The result in daily life is a situation of permanent friction and endemic uncertainty, which necessarily has consequences beyond itself. With clear rules in place, clearly agreed by both sides, the Church in Israel should regain a measure of serenity which she has not had for a very long time, and a major irritant to a good working relationship with the State will have been removed. There will be a “rules-based relationship”.

Are Church and State ready for this new “rules-based relationship”?

“The Church has always wished for it, because of the security and the tranquillity that only a “rules-based relationship” can offer. In entering into negotiations on the Fundamental Agreement with the Holy See, already on 29 July 1992, the State in effect

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proclaimed its own acceptance of this principle. Eighteen years have passed since then, and altogether, the movement has been forward. Obviously, at the level of practice, a measure of adjustment will be required of all. Let me give but one example: In the absence of clear rules, a certain amount of case-by-case ‘mediation’ between Church institutions and Government ministries has had to be carried out by Government officials specially designated for the purpose. Once the rules are in place, there will no longer be any need for this, and Church institutions should be able to deal directly with each Government department, on all occasions, on the basis of the mutually agreed rules. Of course, this means that the Church will have to be sure to have sufficient personnel conversant with the language and the institutions of the Hebrew-speaking majority in Israel, and will have to follow much more closely, and interact more with, the life of the nation and its institutions.”

There has been talk for many years now, in various circles, but also in the press, of the possibility of creating a “personal Diocese” for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel, to facilitate such interaction with the Hebrew-speaking majority. How do you see such a project fitting in with the new situation?

“This is a quite different subject. It is a known fact that I personally am among those who have long hoped for the creation of something like this; much more importantly, it is well remembered that Pope John Paul II already took a step in that direction when he appointed an ‘Auxiliary Bishop with special faculties’ for the pastoral care of Hebrew-speaking Catholics (the saintly Fr. J.-B. Gourion, who has since died, without a successor being named so far). However, this is a project that would need to be undertaken with great care and to be defined very precisely. In particular, it is vitally important that the other dioceses existing in Israel (and there are several, for the different Catholic rites, the Latin rite and several Eastern rites) not see this as in any way introducing a ‘division’ into the Church, but rather as an enrichment of the whole, as serving everybody, in being able to interpret the whole Church to the people and the institutions of the Hebrew-speaking majority. I myself believe that this can be done, but of course, only the Holy Father can make such a decision.”

Arieh Cohen AsiaNews – 18 June 2010

Patriarch Twal: Gaza Siege should be lifted Sees Hope for Peace in Education

JERUSALEM - The people of the Holy Land are tired of the ongoing conflict, says the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. He called for an end to the Gaza siege and the violence.

Patriarch Fouad Twal, also the President of Caritas Jerusalem, stated this in an interview published Friday by the aid agency.

He commented on the recent escalation of tension in that region after a May 31 raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a convoy that attempted to break through the Israeli blockade to bring supplies to Gaza.

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"The Gaza siege needs to be lifted," Archbishop Twal stated. "No people should have to undergo this."

He continued: "The conflict has been going on for decades. People are tired." "In the Gaza strip, problems are widespread," the Prelate stated. "Many people are

scarred by war and their houses have been destroyed." "We are receiving a lot of aid and we need it, but we have not received yet what

we need the most," he said. "It's peace." New generation The Archbishop noted: "The aid we receive is like an aspirin. It gives us relief but

it is not a long-term solution. "The occupation keeps us from having a normal life. We cannot move freely to go

to work, to the hospital or to church like everybody else. That is no life." He observed that the "new generation, the young Palestinians and Israelis, were

born in a climate of violence and were raised under these circumstances." "I believe that religious and political leaders have a great responsibility here,"

Archbishop Twal asserted. "They all need to ask themselves what they can do so that this new generation will know peace."

"We condemn any act of violence," he said. "All people should be able to live together in liberty and happiness, whether they

are Muslims, Jews or Christians," the Prelate affirmed. "All actions impeding dialogue and negotiation do not serve peace, no matter who is responsible."

He addressed the question of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, promising his prayers for successful negotiations "so that this land of Calvary will finally become a land of peace."

Common sense "We need to continue hoping," the Archbishop urged. "We are not allowed to give

up hope even though the current situation is not in favor of peace talks." He continued: "In order to achieve progress, a lot of common sense is needed. "We need to have a great vision and a great heart. Violence is never a solution." The Patriarch expressed the hope "that we can help bring people together with our

Caritas initiatives in the Occupied Territories." "Caritas has been working in the Palestinian territories since the Six Day War in

1967," he noted. "Yes, violence continues," Archbishop Twal acknowledged, "but so does our

charity work. Our schools and our hospitals are still open." "Personally, I strongly believe in education," he said. "In our schools, children

play together, eat together and pray together; that is the best dialogue possible, the best way to open yourself."

The Caritas leader observed: "Our organization is 100% Catholic, but it is open to everybody. And our beneficiaries know that."

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"They are grateful for the much needed services we offer in the fields of education, health and social life," he said. "Our charity knows no borders."

Zenit – 14 June 2010

The silent Expulsion

Citizens of Israel can leave the country for any length of time, and their citizenship and all their rights are theirs in perpetuity. But when it comes to Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, Israel applies draconian regulations whose covert intent is to bring about the expulsion of as many Palestinians as possible from their home city.

Dr. Immad Hammada and Dr. Murad Abu-Khalaf are both lecturers in electrical engineering born in East Jerusalem. Their families have lived in the city for generations. They both left years ago, each one separately, to study in the United States, and after graduating and consolidating their careers they want to return to live in their home town.

But their right to be reunified with their families is being denied by the Interior Ministry, as Amira Hass reported in Sunday's Haaretz. Hammada has been living in his city for some three years illegally, without any rights and under constant danger of being arrested and deported, while Abu-Khalaf is finding it difficult to return, even for a visit.

Judge Noam Sohlberg of Jerusalem District Court is hearing their cases against the ministry this week.

Interior Ministry regulations provide for the abrogation of the rights of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem who leave the city for a period of over seven years. Citizens of Israel can leave the country for any length of time, and their citizenship and all their rights are theirs in perpetuity. But when it comes to Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, Israel applies draconian regulations whose covert intent is to bring about the expulsion of as many Palestinians as possible from their home city.

This situation is intolerable: At a time when the prime minister speaks grandiloquently of the reunification of Jerusalem, Israel practices inequality and discriminates against the city's Arab residents. At a time when Benjamin Netanyahu speaks of the economic advancement of the territories, Israel prevents the Arab residents of East Jerusalem from advancing their careers abroad and returning afterward to their home city to contribute toward the development of its economy. The screws have been tightened in recent years: In 2008 the residents' rights of 4,557 Palestinian inhabitants of the city were abrogated, the highest number ever.

Waiting on Judge Sohlberg now is not only the fate of two electrical engineering lecturers, but a far weightier question: Will Israel continue treating the Palestinian inhabitants of its capital as if they were foreign migrants whose rights are conditional?

The rights of the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem must be equal to those of Jews. All Jerusalemites have the right to live in their city, to go abroad and return, as they will, without any danger posed by the authorities lying in wait for them.

By Haaretz Editorial – 22 June 2010

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Well-preserved 14th-Century Aqueduct found in Jerusalem

Archaeologists said Tuesday they have uncovered a 14th-century aqueduct that supplied water to Jerusalem for almost 600 years along a route dating back to the time of Jesus - but unlike most such finds, this time the experts knew exactly where to look.

Photographs from the late 19th century showed the aqueduct in use by the city's Ottoman rulers, nearly 600 years after its construction in 1320. The photo shows an inscription dating back to the aqueduct's early days.

It was uncovered during repairs to the city's modern-day water system. Public works projects here proceed in cooperation with antiquities officials in a city where turning over a shovel of dirt anywhere can turn back the pages of time, said Yehiel Zelinger, the archaeologist in charge of the excavation.

The team has found two of nine arched sections of a bridge about nine feet (three meters) tall on the west side of Jerusalem's Old City, Zelinger said.

Though archaeologists knew the aqueduct was there, the find represents the first time they have had a glimpse of the intricate bridge system used for centuries to combat gravity and shuttle water from faraway sources, Zelinger said.

When the population of Jerusalem in biblical times outgrew nearby springs, leaders began to search farther afield, finding a water source near Bethlehem, a winding route of about 14 miles (22 kilometers) away. They built a first aqueduct dating back 2,000 years on the same path of the one found today, Zelinger said.

"It's really amazing and well-preserved," Zelinger said. "This was the source of water for Jerusalem for all the period dating back to the Second Temple," the era of Jesus.

This aqueduct bridge funnelled water from Bethlehem and across a valley known as Sultan's Pools into the Old City. It provided the biggest part of Jerusalem's water through the Ottoman period when the city's rulers added a metal pipeline to the stone structure. It was buried shortly after, Zelinger said.

The city hopes to incorporate the find into future construction. By Grant Slater

The Jerusalem Post – 13 May 2010

19th-Century Convent uncovered during Work on Jerusalem Railway

Construction work on Jerusalem's light rail system uncovers remains of a convent destroyed during the 1948 War of Independence.

Construction work on Jerusalem's light rail system has unearthed the remains of a convent that was destroyed during the 1948 War of Independence.

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The findings, from Tzahal Square in downtown Jerusalem, include intact bottles of perfume, a British soldier's rusty fife, bronze statues of Jesus and bullet and shell casings.

The story of the Soeurs Reparatrices convent, which was built in 1888, is told in "O Jerusalem!," the monumental work on the war by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.

"The struggle for Jerusalem had brought pandemonium into the lives of a special category of its citizens, those men and women dedicated to a religious vocation," they wrote. "None of them had their life as completely disrupted as a group of twenty-nine cloistered French nuns who had the immense misfortune to live in what was probably the most exposed building in Jerusalem."

The convent was located right between the Israeli lines and those of the Arab Legion, and its commanding height made it sought after by both sides. It was captured several times, going back and forth between the two armies - a shock for anyone, but especially for nuns "so isolated from the world that the only male many of them had seen for half a century was their priest."

The ruins of the convent and the surrounding buildings were uncovered in two salvage digs conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority as part of the light rail project, one in 2005 and one that started in 2008. Dr. Gerald Finkelstein, who ran the latter, had actually been looking for a medieval moat.

"But suddenly I discovered giant, modern walls," he related. "I began to dig, and I discovered an entire world."

The world in question was that of the French community in Jerusalem in the late 1800s. The convent was part of the French Quarter, a religious, political and civil complex built in an effort to create a French foothold in Ottoman Jerusalem - something other world powers were also trying to do at that time. The quarter gained prestige when the New Gate was opened in the Old City's walls in 1889, giving it direct access to the Old City's Christian Quarter. Treating a building that dates from 1888, as an archaeological find is unusual: Until recently, this status was reserved for findings from before 1700. But recently archaeologists have begun to appreciate the importance of more recent findings, and similar digs are taking place in other locales, such as Jaffa Port.

Finkelstein said all archaeological digs should be required to collect any recent findings they uncover. "Until now, we haven't collected these, and it's a disaster for the history of this land."

For instance, he discovered that near the convent were several souvenir shops catering to Christian pilgrims. The products - figurines of Jesus, crucifixes, decorated boxes - show that not much has changed in the souvenir business in the last 60 years.

As the battle for Jerusalem heated up in 1948, the nuns were finally forced to flee the convent to the nearby Roman Catholic Patriarchate. Once there, wrote Collins and Lapierre, "they were installed in the Archbishop's reception hall. Each of the nuns was assigned a huge red velvet chair which she turned to the wall to form a temporary cell in which to practice the meditations of her order. That evening ... in unfeigned joyfulness, they sang an old French hymn: 'It is May. It is the month of Mary. It is the most beautiful month of the year.'"

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A few days later, five of the nuns tried to return to the now empty building. But snipers from both sides, seeing people inside where none were supposed to be, concluded "that the other had occupied the convent" and "opened fire on it."

The nuns managed to flee to safety in the French Hospital across the street. But there they were forced to watch as Israeli sappers, desperate to stop the Arab advance, blew up the convent in a successful attempt to make the road from the Old city impassable to the Legion's tanks.

Some parts of the building survived that explosion, but they were razed after Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967, replaced by a new road and Tzahal Square. All that remains of the convent now is a few boxes full of relics in an Antiquities Authority warehouse.

By Nir Hasson Haaretz – 4 June 2010

IAA excavates Ancient Nazareth Graves despite Haredi Protest

Interfaith dialogue fails to halt work, 49 demonstrators detained for trespassing. In one day of intense work, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) completed on

Sunday the excavation of ancient burial caves, uncovered at a construction site on Paulus Road in the center of Nazareth.

Groups of haredim, who arrived at the site in the early morning hours, protested what they considered disrespect to the dead. Police detained 49 of them for disturbing the peace and trespassing on the private property of the entrepreneur who is erecting a commercial center there.

A variety of bronze tools and bones, some of them human, were found in a series of caves from two periods in the Middle Bronze Age (2,200 BCE and 2,000 BCE), and in a series of caves from the Iron Age (1,000 BCE).

The IAA said in a statement that they “gathered the bones with meticulous care for the respect to be paid to the dead,” and are transferring them to the Religious Services Ministry.

The swift and decisive excavation came after nearly a week of talks between representatives of Atra Kadisha – the haredi organization dedicated to safeguarding the sanctity of graves – and prominent Arab leaders from Nazareth, who helped mediate between the group and Ahmad Afifi, who are developing the plot.

Rabbi Eliahu Caufman, who was asked by the Atra Kadisha to help mediate in the affair due to his experience in interfaith dialogue, blamed Afifi’s legal representation with torpedoing the understandings that were about to be reached between the sides.

“We have different standards than the Antiquities Authority for determining the identity of graves,” Caufman told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. “All we asked was that the works at the site halt, to give us the opportunity to examine the graves.”

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Caufman praised Nazareth Mayor Ramiz Jaraisy, and Hadash MK Muhammad Barakei, who were sensitive to the religious sentiments and did their utmost to help reach understandings with Afifi.

“The situation in Nazareth is sensitive; we didn’t want our objections [to the grave excavations] to come across as a Jewish-Arab dispute. Therefore, it was especially important for us to be in dialogue with the Muslim leadership of the city,” he stressed.

Caufman squarely blamed Afifi’s Jewish attorneys for the failure to reach an understanding, citing anti-haredi sentiments as what caused them to talk their client out of acceding to Atra Kadisha’s request.

“We provide our clients with legal advice according to the law of the State of Israel, and the client can choose to do as he pleases,” Yossi Gilor, one of Afifi’s lawyers, told the Post in response to the allegations.

“If we could deal directly with the Muslims or Christians, without the Jewish mediators, the outcome would have been different,” Caufman asserted, citing past successful conclusions.

Earlier on Sunday, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger had appointed Rabbi Ya’acov Ruzha as an intermediary between the sides. Ruzha, a member of the Chief Rabbinate’s Council and the Hevra Kadisha, is an authority on burials, whose expertise is recognized by Atra Kadisha as well.

The Chief Rabbinate’s involvement as a mediator in an ancient burial dispute is not to be assumed; for example, it simply ruled that the graves near Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital were pagan and could be relocated, without trying to work out any compromise with the Atra Kadisha.

By Jonah Mandel The Jerusalem Post – 7 June 2010

Samaritans seek Opening of Holy Site found in IDF Dig

At the peak of Mount Gerizim in the West Bank is a fenced-off archaeological site, where a dig conducted under the auspices of the Israel Defense Forces Civil Administration recently uncovered a well-preserved 2,000-year-old city, once home to 10,000 people.

Although the site is off-limits to the public, the dig has revealed streets flanked by houses as well as a city center, all of which make it a potentially important tourist destination. The Civil Administration made a decision in May to keep the site closed to visitors, for the time being.

Mount Gerizim is a holy site to the Samaritan community, an ancient sect closely related to Judaism. According to Samaritan tradition, the mountain is the site of the ancient Tabernacle. The archaeological excavations at the site were undertaken in 1982, and continued for 22 years at an investment of tens of millions of shekels, revealing new finds on a daily basis.

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Benny Katzover, who served for many years as head of the Samaria Regional Council, said the excavations began in an effort to find what the Samarians regard as their Holy Temple. Katzover said the ancient historian Joseph Flavius explained that, following disputes with the Jews, the Samaritans moved their spiritual center to Mount Gerizim, near what is now the West Bank city of Nablus, and built their temple on a scope identical to the one in Jerusalem.

"The finds," he said, "reveal a high standard of living, including baths and ceramic tile and heating and mosaics... You can see that it was the capital of a whole kingdom."

Preparations were made to open the site to the public, including a lookout point facing Nablus and the site of the ancient city of Shechem, along with signage explaining the finds. With the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, the plans were shelved, but with the improved security situation the Samaria Regional Council and the Samaritan community have been pressing for the public to be given access to the site.

The secretary of the Samaritan community, Ovadia Cohen, told Haaretz that his community had received the site during the period of Jordanian rule over the West Bank. He complained that every time he wants to visit the site, he has to obtain permission from the authorities. He said the Civil Administration and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority had promised that the site would be opened, but it remains closed.

"We are ready to manage the place," he said. "We have the capacity to manage it. We are losing a lot of money every year [in admission fees] because of this."

During the course of the discussions held in May, it was pointed out how impressive the finds are at the site, and that there had been a series of vandalism incidents there. The deputy head of the IDF Civil Administration, told those present that the Civil Administration was not interested in managing the archaeological site, but ordered that steps be taken to have the site operated by another entity. Sources at the Samaria Regional Council said that the council wished to do so.

By Chaim Levinson Haaretz – 11 June 2010

Western Wall Museum Plans threaten Roman Relics, Archaeologists warn

Jerusalem planning council to rule on controversial project that opponents claim would destroy valuable ancient structures beneath the Old City.

Jerusalem's district planning council was on Sunday set to rule on a controversial museum project that archaeologists claim would destroy valuable ancient structures beneath the Old City.

The new museum is planned for the concourse beside the Western Wall of the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site.

But a group of archaeologists who have petitioned the council says the new building, designed by architect Ada Karmi, would damage an ancient Roman road, flanked by rare and elaborate columns, that runs beneath the planned construction.

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They say that if Jewish relics were under threat, the project would never have been allowed.

"It is impossible to exaggerate the cultural damage and the harm to antiquities that would result if the road is encased by the new building's foundation pillars," the archaeologists wrote in a petition to the planning council.

"It is difficult to escape the feeling that the fact that this find does not belong to Judaism's golden age is aiding the authorities in their decision to enclose it beneath the proposed structure."

Karmi's plans would preserve the Roman relics, which the public would be able to view from a basement gallery beneath the new building. But the group of archaeologists, which includes several members of Israel's UNESCO committee, says that this solution ignores the possibility of developing a unique historical site.

"The plans would destroy the chance to create a continuous passage of road over 200 meters long – originally a colonnade – which could serve as a foundation stone for researchers and students of Jerusalem's history, as well as to tourists and the general public," the archaeologists wrote.

In response to the petition, Shmuel Rabinovitch, the Western Wall's rabbi, said the new building would be essential in providing services to the increasing number of visitors to the site. Far from damaging fragile ruins, the new structures would ensure their preservation, he said.

By Nir Hasson Haaretz – 27 June 2010

Jerusalem’s Herod’s Gate receives Face-Lift

Gate into Old City's Muslim Quarter re-inaugurated. Herod’s Gate, which was opened in 1539 and leads into the Muslim Quarter of

Jerusalem’s Old City, was re-inaugurated during a ceremony on Monday morning after months of rehabilitation and conservation work.

The gate is also known as the Flower Gate, and is a short distance to the east of the Damascus Gate.

Mayor Nir Barkat and the gypsy mukhtar of the Old City, Abed-Alhakim Mohammed Deeb Salim, whose community resides in the Muslim Quarter’s Bab al- Huta section near Herod’s Gate, were on hand for the ceremony, as was Moshe Leon, the chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority, and Shuka Dorfman, director-general of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

Herod’s Gate and sections of the Old City walls adjacent to it were treated during the course of 2009 as part of the Jerusalem City Walls Conservation and Rehabilitation Project, which is funded by the Prime Minister’s Office, administered by the Jerusalem Development Authority and implemented by the IAA’s Conservation Department.

“The rehabilitation work on the gate took four months to complete and was conducted in cooperation with the local residents and merchants so as not to disrupt the

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bustling urban activity that is characteristic of the place,” the municipality said in a statement.

The work on the gate was proceeded by strict preparations that included meticulous conservation and historical survey and documentation.

The IAA’s Conservation Department had to contend with the challenges of working in a busy urban and commercial environment.

The gate’s facades and interior received extensive treatment that included a thorough cleaning, the repair of stones and decorations that had been subjected to years of weathering, and the removal of vegetation, signs of vandalism and moisture.

All of the electrical infrastructure and plumbing that had “adorned” the gate’s facades were removed and properly reinstalled so as not to detract from its appearance.

By Abe Selig The Jerusalem Post – 29 June 2010

Terra Incognita: Nationalism by Proxy

A private Christian school system educates the Arab, mostly Muslim, elite in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The best schools among the Arabs of Israel and the Palestinian territories are the private Christian schools. It may seem a strange irony of history, but the educated elite among the mostly Muslim Palestinians, and to a lesser degree among Israeli Arabs, is almost all a product of a private Christian education. The Christians among these two Arab groups are about two percent of the population. Christian schools provide the tiny minority of Christian students an education, ensuring that they remain among the most cultured members of society (Israeli and Arab), and the schools increasingly cater to Muslims.

Forerunners of the current school system can be found in the 19th century. The first of these was Bishop Gobat’s school, which was founded in 1853 on Mount Zion. It was an Anglican school established at the initiative of Samuel Gobat, a Swiss-born German and Anglican bishop in Jerusalem (1846-1879). His intention was to bring the light to Orthodox and Catholic Christian Arabs in place of the former policy of his Protestant precursors who had concentrated on converting the Jews.

The school was a success, in the sense that it was Jerusalem’s best boys’ school, but it was also a political success and an incubator of extremism. Abdel Khader al-Husseini, the commander of local Arab units around Jerusalem in 1948, briefly attended the school. Israel’s two leading Arab communists from the 1950s, Tawfik Toubi and Emil Tume, were both students. Edward Said’s father and uncle were graduates. St. George’s school at the Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem played a similar role (Emil Ghuri, prominent Christian politician and briefly military commander in Jerusalem and Ibrahim Touqan, a nationalist poet, were graduates).

Another well-known school in the region is the Ramallah Friends School, a Quaker institution founded in 1869 and extended in 1919 to include a girls’ school.

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Famous graduates include Hanan Ashrawi, the female politician, and Raja Shehadeh, the Palestinian writer. Many of the graduates of these schools during and after the British Mandate period would usually continue their studies at the American University of Beirut, which was founded by American Protestant missionary Daniel Bliss in 1866. Graduates of this institution included such notables as the PFLP terrorist, and Arab Christian, George Habash along with Ashrawi.

The German-Catholic Schmidt school and its cousin Lutheran institution, Talitha Kumi, pioneered education among Arab Christian women in Jerusalem. Kumi was founded in 1860 outside today’s Hamashbir department store at the top of Rehov Ben-Yehuda. After 1948 it was transferred to Beit Jala near Bethlehem.

BUT THE premier institution for Arab women in Jerusalem is the Rosary Sisters school in Beit Hanina.

The Rosary Sisters is a unique institution. Founded in 1880, its origins were local. Soultane Ghattas Danil, a Christian Arab woman from a prominent Jerusalem family, was, according to a biography written in 1952, the first Palestinian woman to become a nun. She took the name Sister Marie Alphonsine and was active in founding institutions for poor and married women. Together with Don Joseph Tannous, a Nazareth-born Catholic priest, they realized that a local Catholic school for women run by Arab female clergy could reach out to Arab women and educate them better than foreign-born nuns.

Sister Alphonsine died in 1927 at 84 in a convent in Ein Kerem, but by 1952 her order, the Rosary Sisters, had 32 houses and 150 sisters, all Arab born. Today it has 44 properties and 166 nuns. The schools are located primarily in the West Bank and Jordan, with a few in Israel (Haifa, Jaffa), and outposts scattered in such far off places as the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The flagship school is in Beit Hanina, a wealthy Arab community that has developed in the last 50 years between Jerusalem and Ramallah and is within the municipality of Jerusalem.

The Rosary school in Beit Hanina educates girls from four through 18. By my estimate, it is less than 15 percent Christian. Until 2000 the curriculum was based on the Jordanian system, meaning that graduates had a tough time getting into an Israeli university. Christians and Muslims attend separate classes on religion once or twice a week. The graduates of Rosary Sisters are of the highest calibre and most attend university, which is certainly a departure from the norm among Palestinian women. Several have become important personalities, such as Guevara al-Budeiri and Shireen Abu Akla, the fiery reporters for Al-Jazeera. The general trend is for women to study science (pharmacy and medicine).

The Christian schools have been incubators of Arab nationalism. They have mostly sacrificed their secular and currently non-sectarian stance to please their constituents, who today tend to be Muslim and nationalistic.

A deeper question is why the Muslim community has failed so clearly to create an elite school network, instead relying on others to educate its best and brightest. It’s not charity; the Muslims attending Christian schools pay for the privilege. According to my

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sources, the east Jerusalem school system that caters to local Muslim children is run by Arab functionaries from Israel who does little for the schools they are asked to administer.

Almost all the Christian children in the West Bank and east Jerusalem attend private Christian schools along with the wealthiest most well-connected Muslims. In Israel the pattern is similar, Haifa’s best school from a standpoint of matriculation was, in 2004, the Nazareth Nun’s Catholic school (established 1858) and the third best was the Orthodox School, with 95% matriculating (the national average is 52%). In second place was the Jewish Leo Baeck School. While the private Jewish school Reali charges NIS 10,000 a year, the Christian schools charge only NIS 1,200. The Orthodox School is 50% Muslim.

The Christian school system in the region has provided an education to the Arab elite for generations now. They foster love and pride in the Palestinian nation alongside an excellent education. The Jews, in this respect, could learn something from the nuns at Rosary Sisters: How to create an atmosphere where the cultured elite is devoted to their country and its people.

The writer is a PhD researcher at Hebrew University and a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies.

By Seth J. Frantzman The Jerusalem Post – 15 June 2010

Record numbers of Tourists to Israel in May

Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov announced Wednesday that increased tourism to Israel that has continued for the last six months warrants a significant investment in supply.

309,000 tourists visited Israel in May 2010, a record for the month of May, and a 33% increase over May 2009, according to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The reports also stated that 1.4 million tourists visited Israel since the beginning of the year, an increase of 42% over the same period last year.

Misezhnikov stated that in light of the increased figures, the Tourism Ministry "will allocate half a billion shekels to assist in hotel projects whose total investment cost is estimated at about NIS two billion and will lead to the construction of thousands of hotel rooms that will contribute hundreds of millions of shekels and thousands of jobs into the economy."

By JPost.com Staff The Jerusalem Post – 9 June 2010

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SELECTIONS OF ITEMS FROM VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE

Appeal to Gaza: Violence does not resolve Controversies

VATICAN CITY - At the end of today's general audience, the Pope noted that he has been following "with great trepidation, the tragic events that have taken place near the Gaza Strip. I feel the need to express my deepest condolences to the victims of these sorrowful events that are troubling all those who are concerned with peace in the area. I again repeat, with heavy heart, that violence does not resolve conflict but only increases its tragic consequences and generates more violence. I appeal to all political leaders at the local and international levels to constantly seek just solutions through dialogue in a way that guarantees the best condition of life, harmony, and serenity to the peoples of the area. I invite you all to join in prayer for the victims, their families, and for all those who are suffering. The Lord sustains the efforts of those who never tire of working for reconciliation and peace".

VIS – 2 June 2010

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