Jerusalem

The Vatican-PLO agreement on the “morally and legally unacceptable” status of Israeli control of Jerusalem gives me a feeling of deja vu (Feb. 16). As long as Israel did not control Jerusalem, there was no Vatican concern for the nightmare of an “internationalized” holy city.

We should not forget or forgive the specter of a “green line” that was the barbed-wire-delineated target area for Jordanian snipers, as Jews tried to visit their holy places. The siege of Jerusalem in 1948, in which countless souls starved to death or succumbed to disease while the world did nothing, was the real “morally and legally unacceptable” condition. Destruction of Jewish graves on the Mount of Olives and synagogues in the “international city of Jerusalem” and the building of latrines with the detritus engendered not a peep from the Vatican.

The Vatican professes it is trying to build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis. This agreement is not the way, particularly as the two sides are attempting to fashion a delicate formula for trust and understanding.

SHERRI LIPMAN

Fullerton