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Pope Benedict XVI traveled Wednesday to this town that Christians revere as the birthplace of Jesus, telling Palestinians that after decades of suffering, they had a right to a sovereign homeland “in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, within internationally recognized borders.”
Confronting the region’s political tripwires, he evoked “the loss, the hardship and the suffering” of Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, saying he prayed for the lifting of the economic embargo that Israel has imposed there since the militant group Hamas took control in 2007.
U.S. President Barack Obama will urge Palestinian, Israeli and Egyptian leaders to take the steps necessary to achieve peace in the Middle East when they visit Washington this month, the White House said on Tuesday.
The White House said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would visit on May 18, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on May 26 and President Mahmoud Abbas on May 28.
Pope Benedict XVI has offered his support for the Palestinians' right to a homeland, as he continues a Middle East tour in the West Bank.
Speaking in Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, the Pope called for a "just and lasting" peace in the region.
He urged Palestinians not to resort to violence and terrorism.
He then held a Mass in Bethlehem's Manger Square before visiting a nearby Palestinian refugee camp.
One of the aims of the pontiff's visit is to preserve a diminishing Christian presence in the Holy Land.
"I don't have photos taken with Arabs," jokes Amir Habshush, a Jew, before flinging his arm around his Muslim friend Abouda Gheth and grinning at the lens.
Internet footage of the Pope visiting the Jewish holy site, the Western Wall, just a couple of hundred metres away, plays on a computer monitor.
But the two young cafe managers are more interested in the business they are losing because of the vast security operation for the pontiff's trip.
Road closures and security checks have meant long walks to work, and left Jerusalem's bustling Old City unusually quiet.
Progress in peace negotiations must come before Arab recognition of Israel, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview with Israel TV broadcast late Tuesday.
Mubarak also addressed American suggestions that the 2002 Arab initiative, offering Israel normal relations with the Arab world if Israel withdraws from all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and Golan Heights, could be amended. He categorically rejected that idea and said the only road to peace is the creation of a Palestinian state.
Standing in the cradle of Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI told Palestinians on Wednesday he understands their suffering and offered the Vatican’s strongest and most symbolic public backing yet for an independent Palestinian state.
To get to Jesus’ traditional birthplace of Bethlehem, Benedict had to cross through towering concrete slabs, part of a separation barrier Israel has erected to wall off the West Bank’s Palestinian areas.
The Arab Initiative is on the table anew; it is a source of controversy and the subject of intense debate, amid talk about requests that some of its provisions should be "amended." These requests are made by the Israelis and Americans, but they have been met with a clear Arab rejection.
It was entirely expected but nonetheless totally outrageous when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to endorse the idea of a two-state solution during his first bilateral meeting as Israel's head of government with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak this week. Netanyahu refused to discuss the previous Israeli government's position that Palestinian statehood should eventually come about, which was linked to Israel's security requirements.
Anti-Christian banners and billboards have sprung up along the main route to Nazareth’s Roman Catholic church days before Pope Benedict XVI is due to arrive in Israel’s largest Arab city to conduct an open-air mass.
The signs, including one denouncing those who “harm God or his messenger”, have been posted by a radical Islamic group in the city as part of a campaign to stop the Pope’s visit.
As President Barack Obama's special Middle East envoy, former United States Senator George Mitchell, learned during his visit to the region, America's efforts at Israeli-Palestinian peace-making are running up against three major obstacles. They will, no doubt, also arise in Obama's upcoming meetings with the region's leaders.
Israel Police on Tuesday detained Haaretz correspondent Amira Hass upon her exit from the Gaza Strip, where she had been living and reporting over the last few months.
Hass was arrested and taken in for questioning immediately after crossing the border, for violating a law which forbids residence in an enemy state. She was released on bail after promising not to enter the Gaza Strip over the next 30 days.
Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday branded the West Bank separation fence as a symbol of "stalemate" between Israel and the Palestinians, urging both sides to break a "spiral of violence".
"Towering over us, as we gather here this afternoon, is a stark reminder of the stalemate that relations between Israelis and Palestinians seem to have reached - the wall," he said standing by the fence at a refugee camp in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus.
"How we earnestly pray for an end to the hostilities that have caused this wall to be built."
Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Abdullah Ramadan Shallah said Palestinian recognition of Israel would be "more dangerous than the Nakba of 1948", the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Wednesday.
In a speech delivered by telephone for an event in Gaza on Tuesday, Shallah said: "What is more dangerous than the Palestinian people's Nakba is that the ones with the rights recognize their enemies and deny their own rights. Everything that is happening in Jerusalem is the result of the deals, agreements and negotiations with the Zionist enemy."
Four years after the IDF's unilateral disengagement from Gaza, some 1,500 people returned Tuesday night to the West Bank settlement of Homesh.
During the rally, which was authorized by the IDF, former settlers read letters drafted by cabinet members especially for the event.
"I want to bless the participants and support them in the realization of the Zionist way," wrote strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon of the ruling Likud party.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/6964
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/6964
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/6964
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.americantaskforce.org/gala_2009
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/world/middleeast/14pope.html?ref=middleeast
[7] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051201294.html
[8] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8047134.stm
[9] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8046738.stm
[10] http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=16706
[11] http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090513/FOREIGN/705139998/1002
[12] http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=16713
[13] http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/region/10313095.html
[14] http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090511/FOREIGN/705109813/1002
[15] http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=101871
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084996.html
[17] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1085216.html
[18] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3715194,00.html
[19] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3715028,00.html
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