VATICAN CITY (Zenit): For the first time in five years, those responsible for negotiations between the Holy See and Israel will meet after Israeli representatives cancelled a March meeting at the last minute.
The meeting is planned for tomorrow (May 28) in the Vatican, and will take place during the plenary session of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the state of Israel, an organization that last met in 2002, www.AsiaNews.it reported Thursday.
The Holy See’s delegation will be headed by Monsignor Pietro Parolin, undersecretary for the Vatican Secretariat of State’s Section for Relations with States, according to Vatican Radio.
The meeting will address negotiations on the “comprehensive agreement”.
Discussions will include the security of the Church’s religious properties in Israel and the confirmation of historical tax exemptions, which the Church had at the time of Israel’s establishment and that the United Nations ruled Israel must uphold.
This “comprehensive agreement” was mandated by the Fundamental Agreement, which Israel and the Holy See signed in 1993. Despite this agreement, negotiations since 1999 have had little progress.
