E/CN.4/2000/65 page 37 and Muslims as worthy of esteem on the part of Christians, the Pope calls on Christians to use a great variety of human and spiritual means to come closer to other believers: “dialogue, contacts, prayers in common, the search for treasures of human spirituality”. 143. Apart from undertaking many visits to Muslim States, the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue has each year sent a letter of congratulations to Muslims for the festival of Breaking the Fast (Id al-Fitr), except in the year 1991, when, in view of the destruction and suffering brought about by the Gulf War, the Pope addressed the Muslims personally. Many fellowships for Christian studies are also granted to Muslims through the Nostra Aetate Foundation set up by the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. On 22 June 1995, an Islamic-Catholic Committee was set up, immediately following the inauguration of the Rome Mosque. The first meeting of the Committee, in Cairo in May 1996, was organized by the International Islamic Council for “Da’wah” and Humanitarian Aid, and was attended on the Muslim side by the Muslim World League and the World Muslim Congress. Following that meeting, a cooperation agreement was signed with the Al-Azhar Institute of Cairo in May 1998. Discussion meetings were also organized with the Al-Albait Foundation and the International Society for Appeal to Islam. Relations between Christians and Muslims appear particularly important owing to their shared history and their spiritual links, despite their differences. 144. With regard to the Jews, the Vatican provided the Special Rapporteur with a document entitled “Letter from John Paul II to Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy. We remember: A Reflection on the Shoah”, dated 12 March 1998, and a document entitled “The tragedy of the Shoah and the duty of remembrance “by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews dated 16 March 1998. In the above letter, Pope John II points out that on numerous occasions during his Pontificate he had recalled the sufferings of the Jewish people during the Second World War and the crime which has come to be known as the Shoah. He also expresses the hope that the Commission’s document on the Shoah will help to heal the wounds of past recent misunderstandings and injustices. “May it enable memory to play its necessary part in the process of shaping a future in which the unspeakable inequity of the Shoah will never again be possible. May the Lord of history guide the efforts of Catholics and Jews and all men and women of good will as they work together for a world of true respect for the life and dignity of every human being, for all have been created in the image and likeness of God.” 145. The Commission’s document on the tragedy of the Shoah and the duty of remembrance also raises the question of the relation between Nazi persecution and the attitudes down the centuries of Christians towards the Jews. It considers that the history of relations between Jews and Christians has been quite negative. In this respect it draws a distinction between anti-Semitism, based on theories contrary to the teaching of the Church, and anti-Judaism, characterized by sentiments of mistrust and hostility, of which Christians have also been guilty. It recalls the efforts made by the Vatican and Christians to assist Jews during the Second World War, while regretting the errors and failures of certain Christians. It concludes: “We pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people had suffered in our century will lead to a new relationship with the Jewish people. We wish to turn awareness of past sins into a firm resolve to build a new future in which there will be no