In an unprecedented move, Pope John-Paul II has agreed to meet with a delegation of El Al representatives to discuss Christian pilgrimages to Israel.
The Vatican decision, reported by the Israeli daily Ma’ariv this week, reflects the growing contact between Israel and the Vatican, and their gradual progress toward better relations.
Representatives of Israel’s national airline have gathered in Rome to investigate ways of encouraging higher levels of Christian pilgrimage to Israel.
Tourism to Israel is already at an all-time high. In 1992, 1,499,200 tourists arrived in Israel, a 60 percent increase over 1991 and a 9 percent increase over the previous record year of 1987, according to figures in the newspaper Davar.
Last year, 23 percent of the tourists came from the United States, 11 percent from Germany, and 10 percent from both Britain and from France, the reports said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
