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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 20, 1982
PAGE 11
Vatican interest in the meeting was intensified by its shock over remarks
attributed to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on Monday, September
13. Mr. Begin accused the Vatican hierarchy of ignoring the Holocaust of
world War II and the killing of Christians in Lebanon for the past seven
years while receiving Arafat, "the man who perpetrated the crime in Lebanon
and is bent on the destruction of Israel, which is the completion of the
work done by the Nazis in Germany." The Vatican struck back with almost
unprecedented fury, calling the remarks "an outrage against the truth" and
"disrespectful of the person of a Pope."
For Arafat, the Papal visit represented yet another diplomatic triumph
following the P.L.O.'s military setback in Lebanon at the hands of Israel a
little over two weeks ago. He is truly "turning lemons into lemonade."
After being ousted from his besieged headquarters in Beirut, Arafat met
almost immediately with Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreaou, the first
head of government in the European Economic Community to receive him.
Arafat was welcomed with full military honors.
Arafat's arrival in Italy, noted the September 16 LOS ANGELES TIMES, "was
not marked by official honors as in Greece, but he was guest of honor at a
luncheon given
!2Y
Italian President Sandro Pertini [the head of state""and
official "welcomer"] in the official presidential Quirinale Palace. His
reception by Per.
tini was'vTewed as another wedge in opening the doors of
other Western European leaders to Arafat's personal diplomacy.
French
External Relations Minister Claude Cheysson already has said that President
Francois Mitterrand will receive Arafat 'at an appropriate time.'"
The ostensible purpose of Arafat's trip to Italy was to lead a P.L.O.
delegation to the annual meeting in Rome of the international Inter
Parliamentary Union.
In a 19-minute address in Arabic to the union
Wednesday morning, Arafat bitterly lashed out at Israel, which boycotted
the session.
"I come � .! messenger of peace," Arafat said to the
parliamentary group, which gave him a 90-second standing ovation at the
end.
(Yet the P.L.O., at the Fatah Revolutionary Congress in Damascus,
Syria in 1980 called for "the extermination of the Zionist entity,
economically, politically, militarily, culturally and ideologically.")
Sharon Speaks Out
While Arafat is banqueted, the Israeli Defense Forces consolidate their
hold on the southern half of Lebanon--probably theirs for the forseeable
future. At the same time, the IDF is looking suspiciously at surrounding
countries {such as Jordan) for any sign that the newly arrived P.L.O.
gunmen might be attempting to overthrow their host governments, and thus
provide a threat once again to Israel. Here are a few key excerpts of an
interview with Israel's Defense Minister Ariel Sharon conducted by the
famous razor-sharp Italian interviewer, Oriana Fallaci, printed in the
August 30, 1982 TIMES of London. The interview gives quite an insight into
the character not only of Sharon but of the P.L.O. and its "messenger of
peace," Arafat.
FALLACI: Why do you call them terrorists? A terrorist is someone who
distributes terror among the unarmed, for instance a defenseless
citizen walking in the street••••Yet in Beirut they were soldiers who
faced you as soldiers.