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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 20, 1982
PAGE 10
opportunity to hear from many of God's ministers. I am also hop
ing to hear you (Mr. Armstrong) again, as we have during the past
two Feasts.
N.S. (Monroe, OR)
"Feast fever" is really running high in our family. We're eager
ly looking forward to the sermons and fellowship, and especially
Mr. Armstrong's vital messages.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
Mr.
&
Mrs. R.S. (Elkhart, IN)
--Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center
ISRAEL AND THE P.L.O.--EUROPE SIDES EVEN MORE WITH THE LATTER
World public opinion, especially that of Europe, is solidly lining up
against Israel in its deepening involvement in Lebanon. No matter what
Israel does it seems to turn out wrong. The smoke is still clearing from
the weekend massacre of Palestinian residents of two urban camps in West
Beirut. Israel has been indirectly implicated in the blood-letting for
permitting Falangist militiamen into the camps in search of P.L.O. guer
rillas. The Falangists instead went berserk killing everyone they saw,
including women, children and the elderly.
The rightist militiamen were seeking revenge for the shocking murder, on
Tuesday September 14, of Lebanon's President-elect Bashir Gemayel and over
a score of his top aides. Significantly, P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat did
not claim responsibility for the dastardly act. He couldn't, surely, for
he was about to embark on another mission to Europe to shore up his role as
a legitimate statesman. On September 15 Arafat topped off an earlier red
carpet welcome in Greece with a real jewel for his black-and-white head
dress: a 20-minute private audience with Pope John Paul II in Rome. The
reception understandably unleashed a storm of protest in Jerusalem.
After the meeting, the Vatican released a communique saying John Paul chose
to meet Arafat because of the Pope's "constant preoccupation to foster the
difficult peace process in the Middle East." The communique added that by
granting the audience the Pope "demonstrated his benevolence towards the
Palestinian people•••expressing the wish that an equitable and lasting
solution be reached as soon as possible to the Middle East conflict which
would, excluding recourse to armed violence in any form and above all to
terrorism and vengeance, lead to the recognition of the rights of all peo
ple and in particular to those of the Palestinians to a homeland of their
own--and of Israel to her security." (Emphasis ours.)
Thus John Paul was careful to distance himself from the P.L.O.'s terrorist
methodology. But even though he referred to Israel's need for security he
once again squarely came down on the side of a homeland--he has used the
Latin word "patria" in the past--for the Palestiniaris, not some sort of
vague, non-sovereign self-rule, the extent to which the Israelis are even
willing to consider. Vatican officials had also taken care to play down the
importance of the Arafat visit. The Pope, said one, granted Arafat's re
quest for a meeting out of "humanitarian concerns," that the meeting "in no
way implies any kind of legal recognition" of the P.L.O.