Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
The Vatican is
successfully mustering international pressure on Israel to change the
route of the separation fence in Jerusalem.
U.S. Senator Rick
Santorum (Rep.-PA), a Catholic supporter of Israel, sent letters last week
to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on
the problems the fence is causing for the region's Christians.
In
his letter to Sharon, Santorum stressed he supports Israel's right to
build the fence, but is worried by reports that the current route will
interfere with Christian holy sites. As an example, he cited the claims by
Vatican representatives that the fence will impede religious processions
to Jerusalem from the tomb of Lazarus on the Mount of
Olives.
Santorum added that he was happy to hear that Israel and
the Vatican resumed talks in July, but said that such talks were useless
so long as the Israeli team had no mandate to discuss the
fence.
Israeli officials said in response that efforts were being
made to take Christians' needs into account when building the fence, and
that discussions are now underway with Christian representatives over
creating a special gate in the fence near Lazarus' tomb to ensure that the
processions will not be hindered. However, they added, the fence has not
come up in talks with the Vatican.
Meanwhile, the Non-Aligned
Movement of developing countries condemned the fence Wednesday, saying it
infringes Palestinian rights. In a document approved by senior officials,
the 115-member movement, now meeting in Durban, South Africa, called for
dismantling the barrier, in line with a recent International Court of
Justice decision that termed the fence illegal.
"Israel is in
continued violation of international law, this is a flagrant human rights
violation, and this is not acceptable," the document said. The document
was handed yesterday to the movement's 17-member Committee on Palestine,
which is chaired by Malaysia.
PLO Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi
told reporters the Palestinians want the movement to seek international
sanctions against Israel to pressure it to accept the court's decision.
Egypt implicitly backed this call, saying it "calls on the United
Nations... to consider what further action is required to end the illegal
situation resulting from the construction of the wall" and "calls upon the
member states to ensure cessation of the construction of the
wall."