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1. More proof, if ever more proof was needed, that this terrorist State is essentially no friend of the Catholic church.

   Posted By: Nathan Socci

2. Israel should heed the maxim "what the Lord giveth..." or perhaps, more to the point "what the West protecteth..."
   
   The line between Zionism, liberty and terrorism is becoming greatly blurred. Soon many in the West will not care.

   Posted By: James Knight

3. Perhaps the Church should build great big walls around the sacred sites and "send in the troops". It would seem such behaviour is what Israel understands the best.
   I am perplexed as to what good use the Israetlis will make of such sites: what does 'infrastructure purposes' mean?
   I have been a sudent of history for many years and, looking back, can see the gradual hardening of the Israeli Government to the point where it is becomming intransigent, lacking flexibility and the will to compromise eg the Berlin Wall comes down, the West Bank wall goes up.
   Israel can't continue to rely on Western sympathy forever. I deplore the Holocaust like anyone else, and continue to deplore the mistreatment of any person, regardless of race, colour, religion, etc., but there has to be give and take in even proportions. The value of the sites referred to in the article is self evident: they are sacred sites. What would happen if they decidd to remove the Wailing Wall for 'infrastructure purposes'?

   Posted By: paul

4. I agree with Paul. It won't be unimaginably sensitive to a billion plus humans on earth if they felt like demolishing a Christian sacred site just for infrastructure.

   Posted By: Aaron

5. This is interesting - at least dialogue is taking place and I hope the Israeli government is both respectful and sympathetic to the Catholic Church. We need to pray that the Lord's will be done.

   Posted By: Ted

6. I agree with Ted. At least if the sacred sites are under Israel, you can rest assured that Christians will be always allowed there, as opposed that if Jerusalem is divided and under Muslim rule, those sites will disappear in no time, as they are saying that even the Temple never existed. Remember the Jewishness of Jesus.

   Posted By: monica

7. Why does Isreal continue to do things which make the rest of us hostile to them? Can they not accept that we all want to honor God as they do? We believe in Jesus and they should accept that even if they do not. His existence is historical and should be respected on that issue alone especially in view of what He accomplished in spite of the persecution of His church. Stop the persecution!

   Posted By: vin

8. What would Israel think if the the Catholic church owned a site important to their religion and would not let them have it. To Christians, especially Catholics, that is a place that is very central to our faith. It is very disrespectful for them to hold it back from us.

   Posted By: Anita

9. It is an interesting comment on the state of contemporary Catholic culture when, in an article on the "Last Supper room" and several postings, the word "Cenacle" does not appear once.
   
   
   
   

   Posted By: Marco Elliott

10. Well said; I find myself in agreement with the previous writers. The point is that these are Sacred Sites, not merely infrastructure.

    Posted By: L.

11. To MonicaL The Palestinians are Christians and Muslims. The Palestinian Christians are the ones who have been maintaining the Church's holy sites all these years. They are being driven out of Israel because of the difficulty of dealing with the wall and not being allowed to freely attend services at some of the holy sites if they are on the other side of the wall from where their community is. The Palestinian Muslims always respected the Palestinian Christians.

    Posted By: Rosemary

12. What belongs to Israel on the West Bank?

    Posted By: henry

13. If Israel does not respect Christianity, Christian sites and customs, the United States should stop supporting them with our generous yearly donations.

    Posted By: Wanda

14. It is Israeli land and property and no one else's. Unless of course it was bought and paid for by others, including BXVI

    Posted By: Rich

15. Excellent point, Henry! Israel does not legally possess the West Bank, therefore has no real say to the Vatican over sacred sites there.
    While this doesn't address the Cenacle itself (not in the West Bank, after all) it does still bring up the very salient point of where Israel gets off precisely dictating who owns what and who pays taxes over territory that isn't legally theirs to start with.
    Hard to see who the State of Israel is truly allies of exactly, except itself.
    

    Posted By: Taynia

16. Taynia: The Cenacle is in the Old City of Jerusalem which is outside of Israel's internationally recognised 1967 borders. The only part of Jerusalem which is in Israel is the modern western suburbs. Israel has unilaterally claimed the whole Jerusalem metropolitan area as part of Israel, but no other country recognizes this claim, which is absolutely rejected by the Palestinians. Israel has no legal claim over the Cenacle.
    The Geneva Conventions and other international laws specifically prohibit a country which occupies an area as a result of war from changing the legal status or ownership of any portion of the occupied territory or imposing taxes on its inhabitants.

    Posted By: Peter G

17. As Roman Catholics, we have Christ's represenative on earth, Christ in the confessional, the Saints and more importantly we have Christ in The Blessed Eucharist. What more do we need?
    

    Posted By: L Newington

18. When the Jews rejected Christ and the True Faith, they lost all rights to sacred sites.

    Posted By: R.D.

19. When I was studying in Jerusalem, I was told that the main reason that Israel keeps control of the Christian holy sites is because of Christian bickering over who 'owns' them. Deaths have occurred.
    That's why the keys to the Holy Sepulchre are in the custody of a Muslim family. Tension between Christian groups was palpable. At least, if Israel holds the key, we all have access. There is only one part of the Holy Sepulchre that is truly ecumenical and that's the toilets. Oh, and the Upper Room is only opened on one day, and that's in Christian Unity Week (now there's an oxymoron). The Cenacle is below. I was lucky enough to get to the Upper Room. I think I'd rather the Israelis keep control than have the Christians fight over them again.

    Posted By: MaryAnne Needham

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