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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 February 2000 Issue No. 469 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 February 2000 Issue No. 469
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Papal coup
ISRAEL summoned papal envoy Nuncio Pietro Sambi to an urgent meeting at the Foreign Ministry yesterday to protest what it said was interference in peace talks by the Vatican. In what the Palestinians hailed as a diplomatic coup, the Vatican signed an accord with the PLO on Tuesday, which called the unilateral decisions and actions altering the specific character and status of Jerusalem morally and legally unacceptable.The agreement, signed following a 15-minute meeting in the Vatican between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Pope John Paul 11, called for a "special statute for Jerusalem, internationally guaranteed, and for the proper identity and sacred character of the city and universally significant religious and cultural heritage to be safeguarded".
Although the accord does not mention Israel by name, the Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned it in a statement on Tuesday as an intervention in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. In response, the Vatican said the accord does not enter into questions of sovereignty. The Vatican stance underscores difficulties Pope John may face on his 20-26 March tour of Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. He is expected to leave Rome on 24 February for Egypt where he will visit Mount Sinai.
