Prelate Vows Visit to Israel Despite Canceled Talks

Cardinal John J. O’Connor, archbishop of New York, said Tuesday he plans to go to Israel even if he cannot meet its leaders because of a disagreement between the Vatican and Israel over the status of Jerusalem.

“The Israeli government has invited me to come. I’m still coming,” said the Roman Catholic prelate. But he added, “I could not imagine a trip would be useless simply because I didn’t talk to every government official.”

O’Connor, who was in Jordan on Tuesday, is due to cross the Jordan River into the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday.

Last week, he canceled scheduled meetings in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, leading to criticism and demonstrations by Jewish groups in New York City.

A Vatican spokesman said that protocol rules out meetings between cardinals and Israeli officials in Jerusalem, which the Vatican does not accept as Israel’s capital. The church favors international status for the city.

On Tuesday, O’Connor met King Hussein of Jordan over lunch. O’Connor said he was “very impressed by his majesty’s . . . sense of urgency about trying to develop some terms for achieving a just and lasting peace (in the Mideast).”