Bush Asks Sharon to Veto Nazareth Mosque
JERUSALEM, Mar. 23, 01 (CWNews.com/Fides) - This morning
Israel Radio announced that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has
been asked by US President George W. Bush to withdraw
permission to build a mosque in front of the Church of the
Annunciation in Nazareth, granted by the former Israeli
government.
The request was made during a meeting between the president
and the prime minister at the White House on March 20.
Father David Jaeger, an Israeli Franciscan and a member of
the Custody of the Holy Land, said: "I am delighted and
very grateful to President Bush, to the American Catholic
bishops, and American Christian leaders in general. Many
Protestant churchmen I met on several visits to the United
States had assured me of their backing for the request made
by the Franciscan Custodians. The President's support echoes
voices raised all over the Christian world."
It was the former government led by Ehud Barak that
responded positively to a request by fundamentalist Muslims
for a mosque on the doorstep of the world famous Nazareth
Basilica of the Annunciation. The decision created friction
on various occasions between Christians and Muslims in
Nazareth and elsewhere in the Holy Land. To protest against
the laying of the foundation stone on November 23, 1999,
Christian churches and holy places throughout the Holy Land
closed their doors for two days.
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March 24, 2001
volume 12, no. 83
News from the Universal Church
www.DailyCatholic.org
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