Sign of the Times: Vatican Officially Recognizes Palestinian State In New Treaty

Article Source: Huffington Post 

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday, immediately sparking Israeli ire and accusations that the move hurt peace prospects.

The treaty, which concerns the activities of the Catholic Church in Palestinian territory, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic recognition from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.

The Vatican had welcomed the decision by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012 to recognize a Palestinian state. But the treaty is the first legal document negotiated between the Holy See and the Palestinian state and constitutes official diplomatic recognition.

"Yes, it's a recognition that the state exists," said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

The Israeli foreign ministry said it was "disappointed" by the development.

"This move does not promote the peace process and distances the Palestinian leadership from returning to direct and bilateral negotiations," the ministry said in a text message. "Israel will study the agreement and will consider its steps accordingly."

The treaty was finalized days before Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visits Pope Francis at the Vatican. Abbas is heading to Rome to attend Francis' canonization Sunday of two new saints from the Holy Land.

The Vatican has been referring unofficially to the state of Palestine for at least a year.

During Pope Francis' 2014 visit to the Holy Land, the Vatican's official program referred to Abbas as the president of the "state of Palestine." In the Vatican's latest yearbook, the Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See is listed as representing "Palestine (state of)."

The Vatican's foreign minister, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, acknowledged the change in status, given that the treaty was initially inked with the PLO and is now being finalized with the "state of Palestine." But he said the shift was simply in line with the Holy See's position.

This isn't the first time that the Vatican under Francis has taken diplomatic moves knowing that it would ruffle feathers: Just last month, Francis referred to the slaughter of Armenians by Turkish Ottomans a century ago as a "genocide," prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador.

Pope Francis, Shimon Peres, Mahmoud Abbas June 8 Praying for Peace at Vatican

Article Source: uk.reuters.com

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet at the Vatican and pray for peace together at an unprecedented gathering on June 8, the Vatican said on Thursday.

In one of his boldest political gestures since his election in March, 2013, Pope Francis invited the two leaders to come to the Vatican and hold a joint prayer meeting with him during the pontiff's trip to the Holy Land last week.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the two had accepted that the meeting would take place on a Sunday afternoon. That morning the pope will be presiding at a Pentacost Sunday service in St Peter's Square.

The pope, who made the surprise invitation at the end of a Mass in Bethlehem last Saturday, told reporters on the plane returning to Rome that he was not getting directly involved in the stalled Mideast peace process, something he said would be "crazy on my part".

But he said he hoped the prayer meeting, which comes after flailing diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, would help create an atmosphere that would help the eventual resumption of talks.

"Courage is needed to do this and I am praying to the Lord very much so that these two leaders, these two governments, have the courage to move forward. This is the only path for peace," Francis said on the plane.

The pope said a rabbi and an Islamic official would be present, without giving details. The meeting is expected to take place in either the guest house where the pope lives in the Vatican or part of the modern complex used for papal general audiences.

When he made the invitation in Bethlehem, the pope said he was offering his "home" for the meeting.

The offer came just a month after U.S.-led peace talks collapsed amid bitter, mutual recrimination.

It was not clear, however, how the unusual prayer encounter could break decades of mutual mistrust.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the key Israeli decision-maker, will not be at the prayer meeting. Furthermore, Peres is due to leave office in July.

"We will work together, Jews, Christians and Muslims to bring an end to the conflicts," Peres said on Monday, speaking alongside the pope in Jerusalem.

Palestinian Authority Denies Jewish Right to Western Wall

Article Source: israelnationalnews.com

PA Presidential Guards deny Jewish right to Western Wall – Screenshot: Arutz Sheva

Claim is the latest example in a string of anti-Israel propaganda, as "peace talks" set to begin.

In what is being described as yet another example of Palestinian Authority (PA) denial of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the very legitimacy of the State of Israel, the Presidential Guard of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has claimed the Western Wall as an Arab and Islamic site.

Palestinian Media Watch(PMW), an NGO which monitors incitement, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda on Palestinian Arab TV, has revealed that last week, a picture of the Western Wall was posted onto the PA Presidential Guard's official Facebook page with a PA flag superimposed on it, along with the words "The Al Buraq Wall - Public Relations and Information - The Presidential Guard - Palestinian youth know their rights."

The Western Wall is a relic of the retaining wall of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by Imperial Roman in 70CE. For nearly 2,000 years Jews were prevented from worshipping on the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, and instead prayed at the wall, which has since become a holy site in its own right, at which millions of Jews congregate to pray each year. Ongoing restrictions on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount mean that the Wall is still the primary place of Jewish worship in Jerusalem.

"Al Buraq" is the name given to the Western Wall by Arab rejectionists, who deny the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

They claim that the wall has nothing to do with the Jewish Temples, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary; instead, they assert that it is the place where Muhammed tethered his mythical winged horse Buraq hundreds of years later, when according to some Islamic legends it transported him from Mecca to Jerusalem and back - despite the fact that Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Quran. 

PMW noted that this is only the latest example of PA rejectionism and denial of the Jewish people's claim to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel, as a way of rejecting the State of Israel's very legitimacy and right to exist.

Despite the start of much-lauded "peace talks" between Israel and the PA, Arutz Sheva has reported on the continued campaign of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda and incitement to violence by the PA through its official organs.

For example, last week the PA's official TV station broadcast a crudely anti-Semitic program which legitimized violence against Jews in Judea and Samaria, who were stereotyped as violent thieves. The end of the program glorified the humiliation of a religious Jew by cutting off his peyot side-curls, in a scene chillingly reminiscent of Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda.

Other Ramadan broadcasts include a re-run of a music video encouraging violence against Israelis, and the glorification of the murderer of 61 Israeli civilians on the official Facebook page of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.

Recently, an anchor on the PA's official news station declared that a future "Palestinian state" would extend from Rosh Hanikra in northern Israel to Eilat in the south - effectively wiping Israel off the map.

These incidents and others led to Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahucomplaining directly to US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been pushing the Israeli government to enter into talks with the PA.

Turkey Says a ' New Order ' in the Middle East Must Include Palestinian State