Getty Vs. Italy: The War of Words Escalates

This just in from a press conference held today in Rome by Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli, who said that he recently received the an opinion from his government’s legal authorities backing his position:
We have documented that these works [the Getty-owned antiquities sought by Italy] were stolen, carried off, clandestinely exported and then acquired by the Getty. For months we have negotiated with great patience. Now the end has arrived. The works stolen from Italy must be restituted. An accord that surrenders only a portion of the works [26 of the 46 sought by Italy] would not be an accord; it would be a unilateral decision that the Italian government cannot accept. They can decide to keep them, but they will find themselves confronting a very strong reaction from our ministry.
And this just in from the Getty, responding to Rutelli’s comments:
While we look forward to reviewing the documents cited by Minister Rutelli at his news conference, we are saddened that our efforts to resolve our differences have been stalled by a 40-year old claim for a Greek statue found in international waters.
The other objects the Minister spoke about to the media have already been discussed at previous meetings between the Getty and the Ministry, and an approach to dealing with them was included in the October agreement signed by both sides. We continue to look forward to resolving any outstanding issues. That was the goal of the meeting in November which ended abruptly when the Ministry insisted that no agreement could be reached without the return of the Statue of a Victorious Youth, which we have made clear, in documents provided to the Ministry, rightfully belongs to the Getty.
Can someone please get James Wood to postpone his vacation to India? We need to tone down the accusations and ramp up the negotiations.