Top cardinal denounces Israeli plans to complete security wall

Published: 2003-11-12

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Israel's construction of a wall to separate its territory from Palestinian lands would institute a "geography of apartheid" and foment more violence, a leading cardinal said. French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, a frequent papal envoy and former head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, made the comments in a statement released Nov. 9 in Jerusalem and printed in the Nov. 11 issue of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. The cardinal said he had visited Palestinian sites that would be affected by Israel's effort to install a permanent security barrier that would stretch deep into the West Bank, in what Israel says is an effort to prevent militants and ordinary Palestinians from illegally entering its country. "I share in the protestations of numerous leaders of various churches against such an intolerable project," Cardinal Etchegaray said.

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