COMMUNIQUE EXPRESSES "HORROR" AT HOLY LAND CONFLICT

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 2001 (VIS) - Made public today was a communique on the situation in the Middle East issued by the Joint Committee of the Permanent Committee of al-Azhar for Dialogue with Monotheistic Religions and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue during their annual meeting which took place at al-Azhar, Cairo, on February 24, 2001, equivalent to 1 Dhu al-Hijja 1421.

Cardinal Francis Arinze and Bishop Michael Fitzgerald, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, signed the English-language communique for the Holy See.

The Joint Committee, reviewing the situation resulting from the conflict in the Holy Land, "expressed its horror at the increased loss of life, the bodily harm, the damage to property, ... especially in the unjustly occupied territories." It also "expresses its solidarity with and compassion for all the victims and their families, ... and the hope that peace based on justice and international legitimacy may prevail, thus bringing an end to those sufferings."

The Committee, continued the statement, "appeals to religious leaders to continue to contribute actively to help promote a climate conducive to peace." Both sides "support the efforts to find a peaceful solution to the issue of the Holy Places in Nazareth" and they "reaffirm the special character of Jerusalem for the three monotheistic religions, and therefore condemn any breaches of the principle of religious freedom, particularly the blocking of access to the Holy Places, violence and profanation, or acts which would endanger the Holy Sites."

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