<html> <br> <font size=3><a href="http://www.the-times.co.uk/" eudora="autourl">http://www.the-times.co.uk/</a><br> <br> April 17 2000 <br> EUROPE <br> <br> <br> 'Mossad' warns of attack on Vatican <br> FROM RICHARD OWEN IN ROME<br> <br> <br> AS the Pope led Palm Sunday ceremonies before 100,000 people in St Peter's Square <br> yesterday, police were on high alert after a warning to Italy and the Vatican <br> that there could be an "Islamic terrorist attack" on him over the Easter period. <br> The tip-off is said to have come from Mossad, the Israeli security service. <br> The exchange of intelligence is said to be one of the first fruits of the warmer relationship <br> between the Holy See and Israel after the Pope's trip to the Holy Land. <br> <br> As part of tightened security measures, all those entering St Peter's Square <br> must now pass through one of 35 metal detectors placed between <br> its magnificent 17th-century marble columns. <br> Police said that the detectors would be used whenever the Pope was inside the basilica <br> or in the square. <br> Hidden video surveillance cameras have been installed <br> and the number of plainclothes police in the square and on surrounding rooftops increased. <br> <br> Commander Roberto Scigliano, the former chief of police in Brindisi, <br> Catania and Bari - all seen as crime "hot spots" - has been appointed to <br> co-ordinate Italian and Vatican security services at St Peter's. <br> <br> The Pope, who is nearly 80, is to travel to the shrine of Fatima in Portugal <br> next month to give thanks to the Virgin Mary for saving <br> his life on May 13, 1981 - the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima - when he was <br> wounded in an attempted assassination. <br> <br> Italian intelligence sources told Il Messaggero, the Rome daily, that terrorists <br> were planning to "strike at the heart of the Catholic Church during the Holy Year". <br> The target was "probably the Pope himself", <br> although other targets were possible, since "what matters is <br> the symbolism of an outrage . . . an attack in or around the Vatican would be enough". <br> Diplomats said that it would be intended to disrupt the Middle East peace process and <br> overshadow the Pope's triumph in the Holy Land, when he not only altered Jewish <br> perceptions of the Church but also backed the moderate Palestinian leadership of Yassir Arafat and <br> endorsed the Palestinian right to a homeland. <br> <br> <br> The Vatican is facing embarrassment over the prospect of Jörg Haider, the Austrian far-Right leader, <br> standing next to the Pope when the pontiff blesses a Christmas tree in St Peter's Square to be <br> donated by the region of Carinthia, of which Herr Haider is governor. <br> The square's tree is usually donated by one of the countries or regions of Europe with a <br> sizeable Catholic population. Two years ago, Carinthia was selected for 2000. <br> </font></html>
