wfn.org | Holy Land Custodian Tells Powell, "Don't leave us alone!"

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For more information:
Fr. Raed Abusahlia
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
P.O.Box  14152 - Jerusalem 97500
E-mail address: latinpat@actcom.co.il 
Personal e-mail: nonviolence@writeme.com 

CHURCH LEADERS AFFIRM ARAFAT'S LEADERSHIP IN POWELL MEETING

JERUSALEM, APRIL 14, 2002 -- At the end of the meeting between church leaders 
in the Holy Land and the U.S. secretary of state, the Franciscan Custodian of 
the region told Colin Powell: "Don't leave us alone!" 

Power, a former military man, seemed moved, according to the Rome-based Zenit 
news agency.  Powell shook Father Giovanni Battistelli's hand firmly. 

The Franciscan expressed concern about the Franciscan brothers confined in 
Bethlehem's Basilica of the Nativity, besieged by the Israeli army, ever 
since 200 Palestinians, many of them armed, sought sanctuary the sacred 
premises. 

Powell met for an hour with the 13 leaders of Christian churches.   They gave 
him a memorandum proposing a solution to the basilica siege: "to have a 
three-day truce declared in which the Israeli army will withdraw from 
Bethlehem, including the area of the basilica.  Then the Palestinian 
Authority will be asked to collect the weapons and allow the people to go 
outside the basilica and to go safely home." 

The document calls for recognition of Yasser Arafat as the "elected president 
and the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" and explains 
that "counterviolence will end when a political solution is implemented and 
guaranteed by the international community." 

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