Italian President Alessandro Pertini, in a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance Monday, compared the situation of the Palestinians with that of Jews before World War II.
“Four million Palestinians today represent to a certain degree, what Jews represented before the Second World War, a people without land and without a country, paying for a guilt that is not their own, ” the President said, according to a release by his press office yesterday. ” It is absolutely necessary for us to understand and make every effort, to solve this problem by peaceful means.”
The press office released the text of Pertini’s remarks after he was quoted on Italian television Monday night as comparing the conditions of Palestinians to that of Jews under Nazism Following a storm of protests, the press office said the quotation was an error made by ANSA an Italian news agency.
Vance also met with Pope John Paul II yesterday. While no official statement on the meeting was made by either the Vatican or Vance, sources said the discussion was mainly on the situation in the Middle East. The Pope, who supports the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, reportedly said he was willing to help efforts for a Mideast settlement. The sources said the Vatican reiterated its position that there should be “international guarantees” for Jerusalem’s holy places and for free access to them.
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