Pope Francis of the Vatican, in his first official visit since his enthronement, has decided to venture into the Holy Land, where politicians from both sides of the divide are eager to make capital on his presence. He calls it a “pilgrimage of prayer”, but the fact that he was offered an armoured car for his public appearances — an offer he flatly rejected — shows the amount of bitterness this biblical land seems to have accumulated over the years. The Palestinians are already festooning Bethlehem with banners bearing the likeness of the pontiff and President Mahmoud Abbas, hoping that the visit will bring international attention to their plight, accentuated by the recent collapse of peace talks. The pope will arrive in Jordan on 24 May and head the next day for Bethlehem, where top Palestinian officials will be lining up to greet him. Father Jamal Khadar, of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, told journalists that the visit must be seen as “a message of solidarity” with the Palestinians. The pope will be accompanied by a media delegation of 75 Rome-based journalists, but dozens more journalists from all around the world are expected to converge on Israel and the Palestinian territories for the spectacle. According to Father Khadar, the pope will lead a mass in the courtyard of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, then meet selected Palestinian families whose members have been killed or imprisoned in the course of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Pope Francis will also visit Dheisha Refugee Camp, near Bethlehem, and talk to Palestinian children living there. He is also scheduled to have lunch with several Palestinian families, selected from various cities, at a restaurant affiliated with the Franciscan Monastery in Bethlehem. Bethlehem's governor, Abdel-Fattah Hamayel, told the Palestinian news agency WAFA that the visit will offer the pontiff first-hand knowledge of the plight of Palestinians. “The visit will be a real opportunity for His Holiness to see the unusual and inhuman conditions that exist in Bethlehem because of the annexation wall and the racist expansion (of settlements),” Hamayel added. This is the fourth visit by Catholic popes to the Holy Land, following those of Pope Paul VI in 1964, Pope John Paul II in 2000, and Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. On 25 May, the pope will leave Bethlehem by helicopter to Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. After an official welcoming ceremony, he will fly to Jerusalem where he will confer in the same evening with the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Their meeting is timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the ecumenical encounter between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in the Basilica in 1964. The next day, the pope will tour Haram Al-Sharif and meet the Jerusalem mufti and Muslims religious leaders. Later on, he will also meet Israeli President Shimon Peres at his residence in Jerusalem. The pontiff will also receive Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the Notre Dame Centre in East Jerusalem. Although the general sentiment among the Palestinians is of excitement over the pope's visit, some voiced concern over the advantages Israel may obtain as a result. “Having reviewed the itinerary of the pope's visit, one is left in no doubt that the Vatican has succumbed to the fait accompli of the occupation. It is ... dealing with this as a de facto situation ... irrespective of justice,” writer and analyst Nicola Nasser said. “One can understand politicians when they compromise, but a moral authority as that of the Vatican capitulating to sheer power is beyond comprehension,” he added. Nasser noted the irony of the pope having to make a detour of 160 kilometres to go from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, a distance of only 10 kilometres. “The political significance of the pope agreeing to this course ... and his arrival into Jerusalem from the gates of (Tel Aviv) is a reversal of the Vatican's earlier policy towards Jerusalem,” Nasser added. The fact that the pope will visit key Jewish sites, including Yad Vashem, the Wailing Wall, and the tomb of Theodor Herzl also grated against Palestinian sensitivities. On the Jewish side, emotions also run high, as police promise to tighten security to avoid assaults by Jewish extremists on Christian sites. Opposition by Jewish extremists to the visit grew following reports of an agreement between the Vatican and Israel, granting the Catholic Church control over the Cenacle of Jesus, the presumed site of the Last Supper, which is situated on top of King David's Tomb in Jerusalem. King David's Tomb, situated in a major complex of Ottoman and Mameluk monuments, has been the cause of several political disputes in the past, one following Israel's conversion of one of the mosques on site into a synagogue. Israeli newspaper Haaretz voiced concern that extremist Jewish groups may try to launch a “high profile” attack during the pope's visit.
