BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Just yards from the barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians, Pope Benedict XVI expressed solidarity on Wednesday with “all the homeless Palestinians who long to be able to return to their birthplace, or live permanently in a homeland of their own.”
It was not the first time the pope had endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state, but the location, with the concrete-and-barbed-wire barrier and a checkpoint towering in the background, was deliberately chosen to strengthen his case. Benedict called the structure, which is loathed by Palestinians but which Israel says is key to its security, “a stark reminder of the stalemate that relations between Israelis and Palestinians seem to have reached.”
“In a world where more and more borders are being opened up — to trade, to travel, to movement of peoples, to cultural exchanges — it is tragic to see walls still being erected,” Benedict said. “How we long to see the fruits of the much more difficult task of building peace!”
Benedict, who on Wednesday made his first trip into Palestinian territory since arriving in Israel on Monday, has sought to express sympathy with victims on both sides of the intractable conflict. Even as Palestinians made use of the attention around the pope’s visit to highlight their grievances, Benedict said that young people should “have the courage to resist any temptation you may feel to resort to acts of violence or terrorism.”
But his remarks and actions during the trip have come under criticism from both sides, though in the last few days more sharply from Israelis.
Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said Benedict’s words in Bethlehem had been “partial.”
“He seemed to cater to Palestinian political claims more than any evenhandedness we’d expect from such a high-ranking leader,” Mr. Palmor said.
The pope spoke on a stage inside the walled compound of a United Nations-run school at the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, a town that Christians revere as the birthplace of Jesus.
The Palestinian Authority asked Benedict to come to Aida because its proximity to the barrier would give it a “political message,” said Issa Qarage, a member of the Palestinian Parliament from the Fatah Party. On his visit to the Holy Land in 2000, Pope John Paul II visited a different refugee camp.
The organizers originally wanted Benedict to speak on a stage up against the barrier, but they moved the speech to the school after Israel protested.
Israel began building the separation barrier in 2002, saying that it was necessary to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from reaching Israeli cities. Military officials insist that it has saved hundreds of Israeli lives. But much of it runs through the West Bank, across the pre-1967 armistice lines.
At the refugee camp, Benedict was greeted by young Palestinians who sang and danced for him. The children of parents who are prisoners in Israel presented the pope with gifts. Earlier this week, the pope met the father of an Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Speaking before the pope, Palestinian officials noted that his visit coincided with the 61st anniversary of the 1948 war leading to the creation of the state of Israel, which several officials referred to as “the naqba,” or “catastrophe.”
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, speaking before Benedict at the refugee camp, also used the opportunity to assail Israel’s separation barrier, saying more than five million Palestinians were living in “a large prison, amid the siege, destruction and desolation.”
In earlier remarks, Benedict told Palestinians celebrating Mass in Manger Square 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.”
The preoccupation with Palestinian issues served, however briefly, to shift the focus away from what some Israelis have considered an even more contentious aspect of the papal visit — the German pope’s record as a youth in the Nazi era and criticism of a speech he made at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on Monday.
Benedict’s words on Palestinian statehood reflected longstanding Vatican policy and are in line with the Obama administration’s public support for a two-state solution. Yet the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the hawkish Likud Party, has refrained from endorsing such a proposal.
Palestinians seemed glad for the pope’s visit.
“It brings tourist activity, which is good,” said Johnny Rishmawi, 19, who was visiting his native Bethlehem from South Carolina, where his family had immigrated for work.
Because of the barrier, reaching Bethlehem now involves long lines at a concrete checkpoint, reducing the number of visitors to Manger Square, which holds the Church of the Nativity that stands on the site Christians believe to be the birthplace of Jesus.
The overall number of Christians in the faith’s biblical homeland has sharply fallen in recent years. In 1948, Jerusalem was about one-fifth Christian. Now it is 2 percent. Across the Middle East, a region that a century ago was 20 percent Christian is about 5 percent today and dropping.
Rachel Donadio reported from Bethlehem, and Sharon Otterman from New York. Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris, and Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/world/middleeast/14pope.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print
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