Eliminating problems and
misunderstandings between the religions and governmental entities
has enormous importance. Too many times, erroneous and inflammatory
press reports have created artificial obstacles. We know when there
are genuine disagreements to engage without having the artificial
problems created by those with a different agendas make matters
worse.
Pave the Way remains
diligent, to counter erroneous press reports, by responding
immediately and eliminating the questionable policy or clarifying
the issues.
An unauthorized
policy was put into place, demanding that anyone wishing to enter
the Palestinian territories must have written authorization from the
Israeli government. A
handout was given to all newly arriving
tourist. PTWF was notified that this policy will create a
major clash between the religions and further depress the already
decimated tourism industry. We immediately inquired with the Israeli
Ambassador to the Holy See Oded Ben-Hur and he acted immediately to remove this
potentially damaging policy.
A change in the
ministry of the Interior of Israel, caused a temporary backlog of
visa renewals. PTWF was contacted about some very damaging
press reports in Italy. The reports claimed that none of the visas were being
renewed, of the Catholic caretakers in Israel. It further said that
they were all subject to arrest and expulsion. We immediately
contacted f the Ministry of the Interior, and alerted him to this
press report. An emergency session of the Ministry was called and
50% of the visas were renewed within 2 weeks ending the problem.
