Psak 5769 Nisan 1 Appendix A
- While the nascent Sanhedrin has not attempted to ascertain the veracity of any of these claims, it did see fit to reiterate the halachic position forbidding the transfer of national, religious, and spiritual assets to foreign sovereignty. The court also pointed out the illegality, illegitimacy and potentially disastrous results of the efforts of those both inside the government and outside it which appear to be doing so. - Webmaster
The direction of the religious policy of the Vatican.
Summary of issues presented by Dr. Daisy Stern
Starting with the founding of the state, 61 year ago, the Church has seen as an unacceptable fact that the State of Israel is the sovereign of Jerusalem, and its religious properties, from a political perspective, but mainly in from a theological perspective, and this is not the place to expand on this matter.
This reality became more intense 41 years ago in the wake of the Six Day War, and after the formal application of Israeli sovereignty on all of Greater Jerusalem. As a historical reminder, we shall note the visit of Pope Paul the Sixth in the "Holy Land" in 1963, in which he completely disregarded the sovereignty of Israel and its government.
At the beginning of the 1990's, the Church's policy of opening of dialogue with the World Jewish Congress was strengthened, as an extension of the challenge of Bronfman for normalization of ties between the Church and the Jewish People. These relations being opened, a dialogue began between the Church and the government of Israel. The Foreign Ministry, headed by Shimon Peres and his deputy Yossi Beilin, held talks and arrived at certain classified agreements, about which the Israeli public does not have clear data, except from leaks. In parallel to the secret channels, there have been political talks since then with the Church for the normalization of relations with the Jewish Nation and with the State of Israel - a matter from which it is expected that the Church, with its great influence on its community of believers, will reduce the hate and the anti-Semitism towards the Jewish Nation and to the State of Israel.
On the opposing side, the Church, in a systematic way, expects from the State of Israel recognition of its ownership and rulership hold on religious institutions and churches in Jerusalem and throughout the state. (For example, on Mount Zion, and in Kfar Nachum by the Sea of the Galilee) As an expression of this recognition, as an action that comes out from this demand, is to cancel payments of municipal taxes that the Church owes to the institutions of the State.
In the last few years, with the rise to power of Ehud Olmert, the talks went made much positive advancement, as far as the Church is concerned, and a continuous dialogue has been conducted between the sides with a goal of completion before the visit of the Pope in the near future. The Church does not hide its intention to bring about the internationalization of Jerusalem. As an interim step, it strives to create governmental control in its "religious properties", but its goal first and foremost is to remove control of Jerusalem from the State of Israel and to move it to the international control of the U.N., that without a doubt could bring the Church's stamp in a much more realistic way on all of Jerusalem.
Recently, the outgoing Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Olmert, made statements in line with the above when he announced that he offered the Palestinians, in the framework of a solution to the problems between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the matter of Jerusalem, to transfer the ownership of Jerusalem to an international entity headed by the U.N.
In light of this, action should be taken to reveal and prevent these plans by the new government of Israel, headed by Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman, who are faithful to full Jewish control of Jerusalem, and to refrain from approving any document that grants the Church any hold in Jerusalem.
The day before the end of the (outgoing) government, there was a meeting between people from the Foreign Ministry and the Vatican, as preparation for the Pope's visit. It should be investigated if there was any advancement towards a signing (of an agreement).
Aharon Abramovitch, an authority from the Foreign Ministry, and Shmuel ben Shmuel and Bahid Mantzur were in Rome. It should be clarified what was signed between them in secrecy.
There are rumors that on July 4th there will be a meeting between the Vatican and the Foreign Minister (from Catholic newspapers in Italy), which will be to discuss the continuation of the process and signing of documents.
Ms. Dr. Daisy Stern has labored greatly, and in her efforts she has gathered together the attached documents for this summary, that by them the Church's policy in this matter can be seen as above.
See also
External links
Dr. Daisy Stern has provided as series of documents to the court. An informal review of this information follows:
The most relevant are these:
- Vatican offers swap deal to regain site of Last Supper (The Times Online - October 13, 2005)
- Fundamental Agreement - Israel-Holy See Israeli Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (30 Dec 1993)
Dr. Daisy Stern also provided analysis and other documents to the court which attempt to provide context to the above reports. Some of the documents include:
- The Vatican Agenda Analysis by Joel Bainerman
- Hope for a conclusion in Holy See-Israel talks before Pope's arrival in Holy Land (AsiaNews)
- ...to continue negotiating a treaty that would confirm the fiscal status of the Church in Israel, and safeguard her properties, especially the sacred places, as well as bring about restitution of some that have been lost over time.
- Interest has been aroused by the fact that this time the communiqué speaks of "progress" that was achieved, beyond repeating the usual references to an atmosphere of "great cordiality"
- Olmert to tell Pope about Israel’s high regard for Catholic Church, says Israeli diplomat (AsiaNews)
- According to some sources, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak had promised to hand over the Cenacle to the Church to Pope John Paul II during his historic visit to Israel in March 2000.
- Whatever the case, it has been known for quite a while that the issue is on the agenda of the Joint Holy See-Israel Commission. In fact, the Joint Commission is scheduled to meet tomorrow in Jerusalem to iron out some issues relating the 1993 Fundamental Agreement which has not yet been implemented in Israel.
More information can be obtained by writing Dr. Daisy Stern or the Secretary of the nascent Sanhedrin.