|
|
Pope John Paul: absolute need to
put an end to all types of violence |
Pope John Paul II today told Mr Yasser Arafat the Middle East had reached unheard-of violence and urged Arabs and Israelis to break a cycle of attacks and reprisals.
The Pope and and the Palestinian president, who is on a 24-hour visit to Rome, talked for 25 minutes at the pontiff's summer residence at Castelgandolfo, southeast of Rome.
A statement issued at the Vatican said: "His Holiness . . . firmly repeated that there is an absolute need to put an end to all types of violence, be they attacks or reprisals, and to get the much hoped for negotiations on the table".
President Arafat's visit to Italy has assumed added urgency with the killing of eight Palestinians, including two children, by Israel on Tuesday in a missile strike on the town of Nablus which it said was in self defence.
The Vatican statement made no reference to papal support for international monitors for the Palestinian territories.
President Arafat is trying to drum up support for outside monitors, which he told an Italian newspaper were needed because the violence in the region had reached the point where it could have international repercussions.
In a wide-ranging interview with Italy's La Stampanewspaper, the Palestinian president also accused the Israel of planning to assassinate Palestinian leaders.