TFLE01: HOLY SEE ASKS USG TO PREVENT INFRASTRUCTURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L VATICAN 000162

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/3/2016
TAGS: PREL VT LE
SUBJECT: TFLE01: HOLY SEE ASKS USG TO PREVENT INFRASTRUCTURE
DESTRUCTION IN LEBANON

REF: Vatican 160 and previous

CLASSIFIED BY: Christopher Sandrolini, Charge d'affaires a.i.,
EXEC, State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)

1. (C) Summary. Holy See acting foreign minister called Charge
d'affaires August 3 to express concern over remarks attributed
the the Israeli army chief of staff in which he threatened to
destroy Lebanon's infrastructure (including in Beirut). The
acting FM urged the USG to prevent such destruction. The events
at Qana have intensified Vatican feeling about the conflict and
we expect continued pressure for an end to violence. End
summary.


2. (C) The Holy See's acting foreign minister, Monsignor Pietro
Parolin, called Charge d'affaires August 3 to express alarm over
comments reportedly made by Israeli Army Chief of Staff Dan
Halutz to the effect that Lebanese infrastructure could be
targeted and destroyed in Beirut and elsewhere. Parolin did not
have a copy of the remarks but said they had been reported by al
Jazeera yesterday.


3. (C) Parolin urged the United States to stop the violence
before Lebanon is left in ruins, and repeated pleas that the USG
do whatever it can to bring about an immediate ceasefire. He
thanked Charge for providing information (reftel) on the USG
position, especially including expressions of regret made by the
President and Secretary of State for loss of innocent life in
Lebanon.

Comment
--------------


4. (C) Post has not seen the remarks mentioned by Parolin,
though we did locate (via internet) recent reports of comments
by Halutz -- including August 2 remarks that "if we have to go
deeper into Lebanon, then we'll go deeper", and a Jerusalem Post
article from July 24 reporting that Halutz had ordered the
Israeli Defense Force to destroy ten buildings in Beirut for
every Katyusha strike on Haifa; that article went on to note
that the IDF Spokesman's office issued a statement of denial.


5. (C) The Holy See has advocated a cessation of violence since
the conflict began, but since the events at Qana has intensified
its efforts to lobby post. The FM or Acting FM has contacted us
frequently to express alarm over the bloodshed, and a desire
that the US press Israel for an immediate halt to violence.
Qana took this conflict to another level for the Vatican; we
would now expect this diplomatic line to continue. Vatican
criticism and calls for an end to violence could intensify
further if civilian casualties continue to mount. (For its
part, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican official newspaper,
printed a front-page editorial August 2 suggesting that people
should not avoid photographs of bloody corpses, but should
instead see and be outraged by them.) Publicly, the pope and
the foreign minister have deplored the violence and called for a
ceasefire but have not mentioned the US in this context, except
by implication. The Holy See has also offered its good offices
to the US in communicating with Syria. Our contacts have
not/not intimated that the Holy See will seek to play a more
overt active role, such as an attempt to mediate directly.

SANDROLINI