Vatican says Mideast crisis must be addressed

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 5/6/04 | AP- Rome

[NormsRevenge]

ROME (AP) - Terrorism will only continue and even increase throughout the Middle East until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, the Vatican's former foreign minister said in an interview published Thursday.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran called the failure to resolve the conflict "the mother of all crises."

"Once this is solved, the Middle East would change. Until then, it is very probable that terrorism will continue and widen," Tauran said in an interview from New York, where he is visiting, with the Turin newspaper La Stampa.

Tauran said terrorism cannot be defeated by violence but by "understanding why some people resort to this arm unworthy of man."

He mentioned Israelis living with the "daily nightmare" of terrorist bombings, but also repeated Vatican concerns over the security barrier Israel is building. "Everyone has the right to build a wall to protect themselves when they feel in danger. But they must do it in their own garden, not the neighbor's," Tauran said.

Tauran, a Frenchman, now heads the Vatican Library after serving for 13 years as the Holy See's foreign minister.

[NYer]

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[FormerACLUmember]

Catholic Ping - Please take me off ping list. Great list, but I am triaging my e-mail. thanks.

[epigone73]

Time was, the Vatican itself would address the Mideast problem itself, and solve it, too.

[Jeff Gordon]

After 1500 years of Holy War against Islam, the Vatican finally gets religion? Give me a break. Just when the danger from Islam is at it's historical high water mark, the Vatican decides to play nice. How nice.

[Thorin]

His Eminence is right. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a major source of terrorism.