RAMALLAH – President Mahmoud Abbas instructed a ranking Palestinian delegation to travel to the Vatican to discuss reports about a projected Vatican-Israeli agreement that may also include Catholic Church property in occupied East Jerusalem, according to a statement issued Saturday by Abbas’ office.

Senior Palestinian officials met with the Apostolic delegate in Jerusalem to discuss this issue and it was decided after the meeting that a ranking delegation, headed by the prime minister, the foreign minister and chief negotiator in the PLO, along with other senior officials, will travel to the Vatican to get clarification about the projected agreement.

The purpose of the visit “is to make sure that the position of the Vatican was and remains supportive of the inalienable Palestinian rights, particularly that which has to do with the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and to confirm assurances by the Apostolic delegate that the agreement, which will be signed with Israel, will not include Catholic Church property or any affiliate organization in East Jerusalem,” said the statement.