Posted on 11/28/2007 1:47:52 PM PST by Alouette
A Vatican official said Wednesday that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their homeland, and said he hoped Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would address the issue.
Cardinal Renato Martino, who heads the Vatican's office for migrants, said an agreement to restart peace talks, reached Tuesday in Annapolis, Maryland, was encouraging and that he hoped by this time next year concrete measures would be under way.
"It is my hope that all the parts of the problem are taken into consideration such as that of the Palestinian refugees, who like all other refugees, have the right to return to their homeland," Martino said.
The Palestinian refugee issue, which has bedeviled previous Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, was not directly mentioned in the Annapolis statement, though the agreement pledges to resolve all "core issues" by the end of next year.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would agree to a return of the refugees only within the borders of a future Palestinian state.
"Israel also believes that Palestinian refugees should have the right to return to their homeland, which is the Palestinian state, which will be established within the framework of the negotiations," he told The Associated Press in Washington.
Martino spoke at a news conference to launch Pope Benedict XVI's annual message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which the Catholic Church marks on January 13.
In his message, Benedict called for countries that receive immigrants to help young migrants in particular to better integrate into society.
"The school system itself should take their conditions into consideration and provide specific formative paths of integration for the immigrant boys and girls that are suited to their needs," he wrote.
Benedict said students on study abroad programs also constitute a group of "temporary migrants" who need particular pastoral care.
"Be respectful of the laws and never let yourselves be carried away by hatred and violence," Benedict wrote.
He did not mention the slaying of a British student studying in Perugia, which has captured headlines in Italy and elsewhere. However, at the news conference, Monsignor Novatus Rugambwa, Martino's undersecretary, cited the Perugia slaying as an example of some of the dangers that can come with students living abroad.
"Many undergo a sort of culture shock and instability living in new countries, communities and academic worlds," he said, noting that new languages, religions, cultures as well as economic problems and severed links with family can contribute to the culture shock.
"Many experiment for the first time with a type of 'freedom' that on the one hand can liberate them, but on the other can disorient them," he warned.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Martino - won’t he ever go away? He was a leftie blight when he was in NY, hanging out at the UN, and he hasn’t changed one bit.
“Vatican official backs right of return”
What business is it of his?
What about the Reconquista in Spain? The Vatican (or at least some of them) have gone off the way.
Good form must count as well as accuracy..
Israel should not ever grant any "right of return." Such a decision would be national suicide. This man's opinion should be ignored until he acknowledges that former Catholics should be allowed to participate in electing the next Pope. That would be fair, right?
Congressman Billybob
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
When the Romans defeated the Jews in AD70 (around) they named the Palestinians after the Jews worst enemy, the Philistines ... and Israel was renamed Palestine. So basically the Palestinians have no claim to a country inhabited by Hebrews for 4,000 years or so ....plus not all the Jews were driven from Israel - just mostly those who lived in Jerusalem - there always were Jews living there.
The RC meddler is irrelevant.
I guess being a cardinal doesn’t mean that you have to be particularly well-informed about important issues.
What has happened in the old Palestine mandate is partition and a partial exchange of populations. I say partial because while Israel allowed Arabs to stay if they wanted, all Jews were expelled from the West Bank and Gaza, and almost entirely cleared out of the Middle East.
This is no different from what happened around the same time in India and Eastern Europe. Muslims went to Pakistan (mostly) and Hindus to India (almost entirely). Germans left Eastern Europe and went to Germany. In each case the refugees were given citizenship rights and absorbed into the population.
What is different here is that the surrounding Arab states refused to give their refugees citizenship rights, which makes them essentially stateless, and kept them cooped up in refugee camps, aided and abetted by the UN.
IMHO what the Arabs have done is a gross violation of the Pali's human rights, done deliberately to try to destabilize the region and block the chances of peace with Israel. If the Cardinal cared a fig for human rights and world peace, this is the crime he would denounce.
Most of the Jewish settlements were close to the Israeli border. Why didn’t Sharon (and the rest of the Israeli establishment) incorporate them into Israel, simply making “Gaza” smaller, build a wall around the settlements, similar to the West Bank, and then attack the isolated Palis. It’s not that we or Israel are carpet bombing... the (relatively) few Pali targets, Israel attacks can be attacked pretty precisely.
I have to see it first, before I can join your praises.
Let’s wait and see. You could be right, but I disagree fundamentally with the “land-for-peace” policy. Sharon undoubtedly is one of Israel’s greatest military heroes, but his Gaza disengagement and Kadima split from Likud have me raising serious doubts on his political wisdom.
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