O’Connor Visit to Israel Erupts in Controversy

New York Cardinal John O’Connor’s planned visit to Israel erupted into a diplomatic fracas today when Israeli leaders demanded the Roman Catholic prelate meet them officially in their Jerusalem offices.

The squabble over the visit was prompted by O’Connor’s New York office saying the Israeli stop on his 10-day Mideast tour was downgraded from “official” to “private” and he would meet top Israeli officials only on an informal basis.

“We assume the instructions to change the nature of his visit came from the Vatican,” said an official source in Jerusalem.

The Vatican, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel and refuses to acknowledge Israeli control over Jerusalem, will not allow the cardinal to pay official visits to Israel’s leaders in the holy city.

‘Puzzled and Concerned’

“We are puzzled and concerned at the changes in the character and schedule of O’Connor’s tour,” another official Israeli source said. “He says his schedule will be finalized on arrival here so we are waiting to hear from him.”

Spokesmen for Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, President Chaim Herzog and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the three would meet with O’Connor only in their Jerusalem offices.

O’Connor arrived in Jordan on Monday for an official meeting with King Hussein and Israel complained that it deserves equal status.

“If he wants to meet the prime minister, it has to be in his office,” said Yosi Achimeir, Shamir’s spokesman. “O’Connor didn’t insist King Hussein meet him outside Amman and we are asking for equal treatment.”

The squabble was seen by some diplomatic sources as an unfortunate result of O’Connor stumbling into the extremely sensitive relations between Israel, the Vatican and Jordan.

O’Connor agreed.

“Has this been an unfortunate sequence of events? Of course it has. Has this been a mistake made in the scheduling? Absolutely no question,” the cardinal said before leaving New York on Sunday.

“I should have researched this more carefully. . . . I don’t blame them (the Israelis). I would be upset.”