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Diplomatic forces now at work give the Vatican an
opportunity to play an important new role in an Arab–
lsraeli settlement and, simultaneously, increase Roman
Catholic influence in the Holy Land.
by
Jeff Calkins
NEW VATICAN ROLE IN THE MIDEAST?
O
NE OF
the long-festering issues
of the Middle East is the
problem of who governs Je–
rusalem and its religious sites.
Jerusalem is a city of paramount
religious and emotional signiticance
to the world's three great mono–
theistic religions. Within an area of
no more than 1
~
square miles are
the special holy places of Islam,
Chr istianity and Judaism. The
Dome of the Rock, the Al Aqsa
Mosque, the Church ofthe Holy Se–
pulchre and the Wailing Wall are
the cruef places of religious import.
Israelis consider the site of the an–
cient temple of Solomon to have
spiritual importance. Many believe
Jerusalem is their most holy city.
An lnternational City?
As long ago as August
1947,
the
United Nations Special Committee
FOUR VIEWS of Jerusalem's holy
places: Interior of Al Aqsa Mosque,
exterior of Dome of the Rock (top
left and right), interior of Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, the Wailing
Wa/1 (bottom, left and right).
PLAIN TRUTH May 1974
on Palestine proposed an inter–
nationalized Jerusalem. The same
idea was echoed again in
1967,
after
Israel captured the Old City.
Just prior to the outbreak of the
October war, U.S. Secretary of State
Kissinger reportedly presented Arab
leaders with a six-point plan for a
Mideast settlement. Certain planks
of the platform, such as joint Egyp–
tian-Israeli rule in the Sinai or
Sharm el-Sheikh, immediately
aroused concern for one or the other
Mideast antagonists.
But there was one part of the plan
which produced a different reaction.
J erusalem, the plan proposed,
would remain part of Israel, but
Christian and Moslem holy places
would be administered and pro–
tected by the Vatican and the king–
dom of Jordan respectively.
Golda Meir has said Israel, under
any circumstance, will not consider
dividing Jerusalem with the Arabs,
largely because it fears for the safety
of Jewish synagogues and shrines.
"Arab sovereignty in Jerusalem just
cannot be," she concludes. Con–
versely, King Hussein of Jordan still
maintains his claim to the city as
political ruler.
An indication of outside interest
in Jerusalem was the decision of
severa! world leaders to visit the
Vatican in late
1973.
Emperor Haile
Selassie of Ethiopia and President
Jaafar Numeiry of Sudan had cho–
sen to protest "the continued armed
occupation of Jerusalem by a single
religious sect." A statement issued
in Khartoum said that tbese two
leaders, along with King Faisal of
Saudi Arabia, believe that Jerusa–
lem is a Moslem and Christian
shrine "as well as a Jewish one."
While the question of política!
control over Jerusalem seems
insolvable for the time being, the
problem of supervision of the city's
holy places may be the only aspect
of the whole Middle East problem
on which most parties can agree.
Israelis have long cbampioned
in–
temational control over Jerusalem's
holy places but not the city itself.
Before the
1967
war, the fsraelis
commitled themselves to surrender–
ing holy places on their territory to
international control. fsraeli Foreign
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