Pope Benedict XVI visits the Holy land
- 00:02:24
- ITN
Pope Benedict XVI visits the Holy land
Pope Benedict has called for the formation of a sovereign Palestinian homeland. After arriving at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's palace in Bethlehem, the Pope said: "The Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbours, within internationally recognised borders." Palestinians hope the Pope's one-day visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and to the birthplace of Jesus in particular, will draw attention to their plight under Israeli occupation. The German-born Pope was welcomed to Bethlehem by Mr Abbas on the third day of a visit to the Holy Land that has been marked by Israeli complaints that he has failed to show enough sympathy for Jewish suffering in the Nazi Holocaust. Security forces closed off many city streets and hundreds of people gathered outside the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in Manger Square where the Pope will later hold a morning mass. Patriarch Fouad Twal, during a mass the Pope attended in Jerusalem on Tuesday, reiterated the Palestinian people's aspirations for a "free and independent state". But new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been reluctant to accept the concept as a necessary outcome of negotiations. To dramatise the impact of Israeli occupation on their lives, Palestinians have set up a small, open-air theatre beside a high concrete wall that forms part of the barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank. Israel says it needs the barrier to keep out suicide bombers and other threats to its people. The Palestinians said they ignored Israeli orders not to complete the theatre. It remains unclear if the Pope will use it when he speaks at the Aida refugee camp. On Tuesday, Israel's parliament speaker brought up the Pope's teenage membership of the Hitler Youth and berated him over his address a day earlier at Israel's memorial to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. A Vatican spokesman said the German-born Pope was not an "active participant" in the Nazi movement and was enrolled against his will. He later served with the German armed forces. The Pope will hold a mass at Nazareth in northern Israel, where Jesus grew up, on Thursday. The surrounding Galilee region is where most of the country's 154,000 Christians live and where he will meet Mr Netanyahu before flying home on Friday.
ITN | May 13, 2009
