JERUSALEM: Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko visits Jerusalem's shrines and meets Israel's leadership

Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko toured Jerusalem's holy sites on Wednesday (November 14) and met Israel's leaders to discuss bilateral relations and Israel's recognition of the 1930s famine in Ukraine. Yushchenko toured the Mount of Olives and the Gethsemane Church in Jerusalem before paying a visit to Judaism's holiest site, the Western Wall. Though he was swarmed by photographers, Ukraine's president placed a note into a crack in the wall, and spent a few moment in silence. Yushchenko later met with Israeli President Shimon Peres where he was greeted with a fanfare of horns, and participated in a review of Israeli soldiers. During a news conference, Yushchenko presented the Israeli President with documents related to Jewish mass graves in Ukraine dating from the Holocaust and earlier in the 20th century. "Mr. President, I wish to give you all those documents which detail the places of burial of Jews and leaders of Jewish organisations that operated in those years," Yushchenko said. Peres said the presentation of the documents was a meaningful event for Israel and Jewish people. He said the documents would shed light on one of the darkest episodes in the history of the Jewish people and the history of Ukraine. "These are symbolic things that symbolise the new chapter and relationship between our two countries," Peres said. The Ukraine leader met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and attended a working lunch. He was due to meet Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni after an official visit to Jerusalem's Holocaust memorial site, Yad Vashem. Ukraine and Israelis officials have said they plan to reach a memorandum between their economic ministries on cooperation. Yushchenko is also reportedly seeking Israel's recognition of the 1930s famine in Ukraine as an act of genocide. Yushchenko is scheduled to travel to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday to meet Palestinian leaders.

ITN Source | November 15, 2007

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