International
BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Pope Francis’ visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories quickly turned political Sunday after the pontiff invited the Palestinian and Israeli presidents to the Vatican to work on mending broken relations and made an unscheduled stop to pray alongside Israel’s separation wall in the West Bank.
“In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, [Palestinian] President Mahmoud Abbas, together with [Israeli] President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace,” he said during a Mass he led at Bethlehem’s Manger Square.
While both sides accepted, Israel’s presidency is largely a symbolic position, with no real authority to negotiate on behalf of the state.
A crowd of 10,000 people was ushered into the square — among them Palestinian Christians from the Occupied Territories, including Gaza, as well as some from Israel. Immigrants from Africa and Asia also packed the square to take part in the Mass.
Palestinian Christian Elias Michael, 62, who runs a shop in Manger Square, said the event marked the fourth time he has witnessed a pope visit Bethlehem.
“In 2009 when Pope Paul came, he gave Holy Communion to my father, who was 98 years old at the time before he died,” Michael said. “Now it’s 2014, and we hope he will do something for the peace, inshallah [God willing] — the Palestinians have been suffering since 1948, until now.”
Francis is on a three-day trip to the Middle East. He began his journey Saturday in Jordan, where he called for peace in war-stricken Syria.
Earlier, in his address to Abbas at the presidential palace in Bethlehem, Francis called for a concerted effort to reach a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
“I wish to state my heartfelt conviction that the time has come to put an end to this situation, which has become increasingly unacceptable,” he said.
“For the good of all, there is a need to intensify efforts and initiatives aimed at creating the conditions for a stable peace based on justice, on the recognition of the rights of every individual and on mutual security.
“To this end, I can only express my profound hope that all will refrain from initiatives and actions which contradict the stated desire to reach a true agreement.”
He called on both parties to pursue a peace agreement with “tireless determination and tenacity.”
“It must resolutely be pursued, even if each side has to make certain sacrifices,” Francis said.
After meeting Abbas and leading Mass on Sunday, the pope toured the West Bank, passing directly beside a portion of the controversial separation wall that cuts across a Hebron road that, before the barrier’s construction, led directly from Hebron in the West Bank to Jerusalem. Palestinian refugees from the Aida and Deheisheh camps lined both sides of the road to greet him.
Francis made an unexpected stop to examine one of the wall’s watchtowers blackened by firebombs and pray beside the imposing structure. Above him, graffiti by Palestinians read, “Pope we need some 1 to speak about justice” and “Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto.”
Pope Francis prayed for five minutes and then touched the wall with his forehead before departing.
Later on Sunday, five Palestinian families lunched with Francis at Casa Nova, a traditional Palestinian guesthouse run by the Franciscan order. As they broke bread together, the families had the opportunity to share with him stories of how Israel’s military occupation and treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel has affected their lives.
George and Shadia Sbait, and their children Caesar, 13, and Nicole, 15, were selected to represent the plight of Palestinian Christian villagers from Iqrith and Kufur Biri’im, who have been displaced by Israel for 66 years.
“I don’t believe we are going to be able to swallow the food. We will be so excited, and it’s a short meeting. We eat every day, but we don’t meet the pope every day,” Shadia Sbait told Al Jazeera just before the meal.
The villagers have been engaged in a popular and legal struggle for the right to return to their homes in the Galilee since they were evacuated by Israel and barred from returning six months after the state was founded in 1948.
Sbait said villagers were told by the Israeli army to evacuate so that military exercises could be carried out in the area and were promised they could return within two weeks, but that never happened.
The villagers appealed to the Israeli High Court in 1951, and in a landmark ruling the Supreme Court ordered Israel to allow them to return to their homes, but the government ignored the order. Instead, Sbait said, on Christmas Eve their homes and buildings were all destroyed except for churches and cemeteries.
In 1992, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called for a ministerial inquiry that recommended the state permit the villagers to return and compensate them for the loss of their homes. That, too, never happened.
The Sbait family has been calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to comply with the Israeli High Court ruling and the ministerial committee recommendations.
“We asked the pope because he will meet Netanyahu tomorrow to talk in our name as Christians and as the people of the Church of the Vatican to convince Mr. Netanyahu to sit with us and try to end this struggle of more than six decades.”
Each of the families that lunched with the pope face their own set of challenges — none, however, unique to Palestinians. Some struggle with family reunification issues, and others are at risk of losing access to their lands. One family has a son who was sentenced to life in an Israeli prison, and another was exiled to Gaza for political reasons.
“It’s a very bizarre reality in Palestine. I think that Pope Francis is holding the message of peace and love as a man of the church. I hope that by visiting Palestine and by hearing the story of the Palestinians inside Israel he will come to understand the real suffering of the people and not the well-known big examples of suffering but in the tiny details of our ongoing daily lives,” said Sbait.
Christians hope Francis will address Israel’s military occupation and the peace process on his trip to the region
Aside from meetings with high-ranking religious leaders, the pope will visit several Palestinian refugee camps
The West Bank and Gaza faithful bemoan Israeli restrictions they say deny them their right to worship in Jerusalem
An international photography collective documents the evolution and conflicts surrounding the barrier wall
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