Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II called upon the leaderships of Israel and Palestine. In the document addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Ysser Arafat he expresses the Armenian Apostolic Church's uneasiness about the situation in the Near East. As it is known, the hostilities engulfed holy places in Bethlehem. In particular some Armenian cloisters, as well as members of the Armenian Apostolic Church clergy are threatened. The statement says that the Patriarch prays "for the God to save the Holy Land and spread peace and accord in Israel and Palestine, as well as in all Near-Eastern region peoples."