170 Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale

Article 2

§ 1. This Agreement shall not prejudice, detract, or derogate from the applicable principles, rules and norms of international law recog- nized and accepted by both Parties.

§ 2. The Holy See, while maintaining in every case the right to exercise its educational, spiritual and moral mission, and while being com- mitted, among other, to the promotion of human rights, justice and peace and of the compliance with international law by all States, deems it opportune to recall that, owing to its own character, it re- mains extraneous to all merely temporal or political conflicts and claims no competence to enter into territorial disputes between na- tions, unless the contending parties or the international institutions make concordant appeals to its missions of peace.

§ 3. The State of Palestine herein re-affirms its commitment to the pro- visions of the Declaration of Independence of 15 November 1988 and Palestinian Basic Law with regard to the guarantee of freedom of religion, belief, worship and the performance of religious func- tions. The State of Palestine therefore confirms that it shall, in ac- cordance with Palestinian law and internationally accepted human rights standards, permit without undue restrictions the exercise of the above freedoms of religion, belief, worship and the performance of religious functions to the Catholic Church, to any canonical legal person and to any Catholic person. The State of Palestine further confirms that it will take all possible legal measures to protect and guarantee the exercise of these freedoms.

Article 3

Once signed and ratified by both Parties, this Agreement shall enter into force and its operative paragraphs shall be applicable in all territory administered by the State of Palestine without prejudice to Palestinian de jure sovereignty over all Palestinian territory in accordance with international law.

Chapter II FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND CONSCIENCE

Article 4

§ 1. The State of Palestine re-affirms its commitment in the Basic Agree- ment to "uphold and observe the human right to freedom of religion