RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority has scrapped plans to receive Pope Benedict XVI during his Holy Land visit next week on a stage next to Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, a Palestinian lawmaker said today.
Officials in the Aida refugee camp hoped that the spot, next to a guard post and a towering concrete section of the barrier, would highlight Palestinian suffering under the Israeli occupation.
Palestinian lawmaker Essa Qaraqie said the committee organizing the West Bank portion of the visit moved the location to a United Nations school inside the camp “after huge Israeli pressure.” The pope’s convoy still will pass next to the wall, which can be seen from inside the school courtyard, Qaraqie said.
Israel says the barrier is a security measure needed to keep out Palestinian attackers. Palestinians call it a land grab, since it cuts off large chunks of land the Palestinians seek for an independent state.
Israeli officials had accused the Palestinians of trying to politicize the pope’s five-day visit to the Holy Land, and the army had ordered the Palestinians to take down the stage on the grounds that it was built without proper permits.
Palestinian leaders this week also made public a long-simmering dispute over Israeli plans to demolish part of a Catholic church that Israel says was built without the proper permits.
“It will serve the cause of peace much better if this visit is taken for what it is, a pilgrimage, a visit for the cause of peace and unity,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
While visiting spots in Jerusalem, Nazareth and the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Benedict hopes to promote relations between Israelis and Palestinians and strengthen the church’s frayed ties with Muslims and Jews.
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