POPE SCANS GLOBAL PROBLEM FOR DIPLOMATIC CORPS

VATICAN, Jan. 15, 01 (CWNews.com) -- In his annual address to the diplomats accredited to the Holy See, Pope John Paul II pointed to several trouble spots, including the Middle East, Indonesia, and Spain.

Regarding the Middle East, the Pope warned that the international community should not accept the "banalization of a sort of guerilla warfare, the persistence of injustice, the contempt for international law" that still prevails there. He added that Israelis and Palestinians "cannot contemplate a future except their future together."

"It is high time to return to the principles of international law," he said. In a clear rebuke to the government of Israel, he spelled out the violations that should be ended: the acquisition of territory by force, the right of all people to self-determination, and the need to respect UN resolutions and Geneva conventions. If these principles of international law are not respected, he continued, "everything is at risk," and the potential for "an escalation of violence that will be difficult to control."

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