The Committee for Unity in the Camp issues a call to cancel Pope Benedict’s upcoming “personal pilgrimage” to Israel, as it has been billed, saying it is more political than personal.

MKs to Meet Tomorrow

A meeting held last night in Jerusalem by Committee members and others produced an initiative to garner the support of Knesset Members on the issue.  A meeting on the topic will be held in the Knesset on Wednesday. Another goal is the arousal of public awareness of the Vatican’s role in the international campaign to weaken Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Land of Israel.

The Pope will visit the Aida Refugee Camp near Jerusalem - which has a giant key installed atop one of its gates, symbolizing the Arab demand for the "Right of Return."

The Visit’s Political Overtones

Father David-Maria Jaeger, a leading member of the Vatican’s negotiating team with Israel and a top expert on Israel-Vatican relations – he was born a Jew in Tel Aviv, converted to Christianity, and became a Catholic priest in 1986 – has said, "Everybody in the Church very much hopes that the visit of the Pope will greatly promote the complete insertion into Israeli legislation [by the Knesset] of the two agreements already signed and ratified” (translation courtesy of Dr. Daisy Stern).  

This hope clearly links the Pope’s visit with controversial negotiations over taxation of Church properties and the demand that Israel give some of these properties to the Church – and appears to belie the visit’s official description. The Catholic News Service reports, “Pope Benedict is going to the Holy Land first and foremost as a religious pilgrim.” Pope Benedict has said that his visit is a “mission of peace and reconciliation.” 

Prof. Yitzchak Minerbi, an author and expert on Israel-Vatican relations, told Israel National News on Monday, “We should do our homework better – especially in realizing what they [Catholic Church officials – ed.] mean when they use certain terms. For instance, the word ‘reconciliation’: When we talk about reconciliation between Catholics and Jews, we mean an understanding between equals – but the Catholics understand it to mean that they will swallow and convert us.”

Another indication that the Papal visit is not only personal was given by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal. In an interview two weeks ago, Twal said clearly, “We mustn't fool ourselves: there is 100% a political dimension … everything will have a political connotation.” However, he rejected the idea of pushing off the visit: “What should be done? Wait for better times… until the Palestinian question is resolved? I'm afraid that two or three Sovereign Pontiffs will pass before it is definitively settled.”



Pope to Visit Refugee Camp Symbolizing “Right to Return”

An outright political stop on the papal itinerary will be the Aida Refugee Camp near Jerusalem. Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal has said that the camp, which has a giant key installed atop one of its gates, symbolizes the "right to return" – a key Arab demand for the immigration of a half-million Arabs who left Israel in 1948, and millions of their descendants, to the State of Israel.

Two weeks ago, the Vatican signed an agreement with the 22-member League of Arab States (Arab League) to "strengthen joint projects to promote peace and dialogue, especially on a political and cultural level." The memorandum of understanding was signed by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.



Despite all the above, Catholics in Gaza are peeved that the Pope will not be visiting there. Forty leading Christians from Judea, Samaria and Gaza wrote a letter to the Vatican asking that Gaza be added to the Papal itinerary. The letter asked how he could pay a visit to Auschwitz but not to Gaza. In addition, Father Manuel Mussallam, pastor of the only Catholic church in Gaza, said, “We will ask him why he came, what he intends saying to the Christians, the Jews, the Muslims and why he isn't coming to Gaza," he said. "We'll tell him that this is not the right moment to come and visit the holy places, while Jerusalem is occupied."

Attacks Against Christians

Gaza's 3,000 Christians have suffered attacks by Muslim terrorist groups since Hamas took control of Gaza in the summer of 2007.  These included the murder of the manager of Gaza's only Christian bookshop, a bomb that destroyed a library in the Gaza City premises of the Young Men's Christian Association, and a bombing at a Christian school.