Pope Paul VI has apparently dropped the Vatican’s long-held demand that Jerusalem be internationalized and instead is asking for international guarantees of the rights of Christians and Moslems in the ancient city. The Pope reportedly made his request during a 70-minute meeting he had yesterday with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger at the Vatican in which the Pope was briefed on the American-Soviet summit talks in Moscow and the Middle East situation.
According to Vatican sources, the Pope stressed to Kissinger that Jerusalem represented supreme values for Judaism. Christianity and Islam and that this must be taken into account in the future status of the city. The Pope reportedly indicated that the Vatican is no longer insisting that the city be a separate entity from Israel, Jordan or any Palestinian state that may be created on the West bank but that it was not enough for Israel alone to guarantee that all faiths have access to the holy places.
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.
