Joint Communiqué on the bilateral meeting between the Holy See and the Palestine
Liberation Organization.
Following to the resumption of the bilateral
negotiations between the Holy See and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),
an official meeting took place at the headquarters of the Palestinian President in
Ramallah on the 28th of January 2012.
The talks were co-chaired by Msg. Ettore
Balestrero, Under-Secretary for the Holy See’s relations with States and Minister
Ziad Al-Bandak, Palestinian President’s advisor for Christian relations.
The
Palestinian side handed to the Holy See Delegation the response to the draft agreement
proposed by the Holy See in the previous meeting, and the talks took place in a positive
atmosphere to strengthen further the special relations between the two sides. The
Delegations agreed to set-up technical teams to follow up on the draft, in preparation
of the plenary session in the Vatican City in the near future.
The Holy See
Delegation was composed of H.E. Archbishop Antonio Franco, Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem
and Palestine, Msgr. Maurizio Malvestiti, Under-Secretary of the Congregation for
Oriental Churches, Msgr. Alberto Ortega, Official of the Secretariat of the State
of the Holy See, Msgr. Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, Counsellor of the Apostolic Delegation
in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Delegation was composed of Dr. Nabil Shaath,
Member of the Fatah’s Central Committee, Dr. Bernard Sabella, Member of the Palestinian
Legislative Council, Mr. Issa Kassissieh, Deputy Head of PLO’s Negotiations Affairs
Department, and Mr. Wassim Khazmo, Policy Advisor at PLO’s Negotiations Support Unit.