Deliberations of the Holy See-Israel bilateral commission are set to resume today in Jerusalem after being stalled for a long time. The resumption, permitted by the Olmert government, has raised hopes even in the Vatican that the Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel that dates back to the distant 1993, may finally be implemented.
The two delegations are meeting at the headquarters of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry to continue negotiations aimed at finalising the so-called “economic” agreement, stipulated by the Fundamental Agreement since 1993 to safeguard the fiscal status of the Church in Israel and to protect holy places and other church properties. The parties are also planning a “plenary” session early next year (in January or February) at the Vatican to resolve outstanding differences and to finalise the treaty that should without a doubt be enshrined in Israeli legislation.
AsiaNews asked the Honorable Oded Ben Hur, Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, why the process has been riddled with delays and difficulties.
The ambassador said the difficulties could be attributed to the fact that the Catholic Church believes these accords should be considered as international treaties and absorbed as such into Israeli law. In Israel, there is unwillingness to accept these accords as a proper international treaty whose norms are not liable to unilateral changes by the Israeli legislator. For Israel, it seems, there can no international treaties that could condition the exercise of national legislative power.
More, from another AN article:
The Catholic perspective is understanding more and more that Israel’s difficulties to realize and to fulfil – through enactment of laws –the 1993 Fundamental Agreement hinge on the Israeli government’s conception of this agreement and its ensuing unwillingness to recognize it as an international treaty.
A source of the Israeli Catholic Church and expert in international law, told AsiaNews: “Any student of international law, even first-year students, will immediately see that the Fundamental Agreement is an international treaty and thus a juridical and totally binding agreement. After all, it was negotiated, signed and ratified in this form before the whole world. Whether it should be transferred to Israeli law in all its details is up to the State, but the Israeli government cannot describe the treaty as ‘non-binding’ before courts and the Supreme Court just because it has not been translated into law.”
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