PALESTINIANS SEEK PAPAL PRESSURE ON ISRAEL

Associated Press Online
May 8, 2009 Friday 8:56 AM GMT

Palestinian officials are using Pope Benedict XVI’s visit next week
to spotlight their disputes with Israel, and in doing so, are drawing
criticism that they are playing politics with an event meant to bridge
differences in the Holy Land.

Palestinian leaders this week made public a long-simmering dispute
over Israeli plans to demolish part of a Catholic church that was
allegedly built illegally. That followed an argument with Israel over
a plan to host the pope in an outdoor theater the Palestinians were
building alongside Israel’s massive West Bank separation barrier.

A Palestinian official said on Thursday that the plan has been scrapped
due to Israeli pressure.

The pope will start his five-day visit Monday after a stop in Jordan
over the weekend. He said he will be visiting as a "pilgrim of peace."

On Wednesday, Rafiq Husseini, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, told a news conference the pontiff "should come to see the
suffering of the Palestinian people and not just to see the stones
and historical churches in Palestine."

Husseini said Palestinian officials would raise a list of grievances
with the pope, including Israeli restrictions on access of Palestinian
Muslims and Christians to places of worship in Jerusalem.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor accused the
Palestinians of trying to reap "propaganda gains" from the pope’s
visit. "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," he said.

During stops 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. He is also expected to meet a small group of Catholics from
Gaza in Bethlehem.

Hatem Abdel Qader, the Jerusalem affairs adviser to Palestinian
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, has led the campaign to publicize the
pending demolition order for two floors of dormitory housing built
atop the Armenian Catholic Church in Jerusalem’s Old City. The shrine
is located in the Old City, along the Via Dolorosa, the path that
tradition says Jesus took to his crucifixion.

Abdel Qader said it is part of a bigger effort to draw attention to
Israel’s policy of demolishing illegally built homes and structures
in Arab areas of Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem municipality says the top floors of the church were
built without a permit, and Israeli maintains all demolitions are
strictly a legal matter. But Palestinians say it is almost impossible
to obtain a building permit and the demolitions are meant to reinforce
Israeli control over the disputed city.

"It’s not only a case of houses. It’s also a case of mosques and
churches.

It’s not a political issue anymore. It’s also a religious issue,"
said Abdel Qader.

Abdel Qader did not explicitly say the pope’s visit was behind his
decision to announce the demolition order now, two years after Israeli
authorities issued the order.

But both Jerusalem City Hall and church officials said they have
been working quietly to resolve the dispute and criticized Abdel
Qader for taking the issue public. Both sides suggested the church
would be able to seek retroactive approval for the additional floors,
which contain rooms for monks and church workers.

"They have until November to either take down the additional structure
themselves or to file for the additional permits," said mayoral
spokesman Stephan Miller.

Another dispute arose last week over a Palestinian plan to receive
Benedict in the Aida refugee camp in the West Bank, next to the
towering cement wall that is part of Israel’s separation barrier. The
Palestinians say they chose the spot to highlight life under Israeli
military occupation.

Israel says the barrier separating the West Bank from Israel is
a security measure needed to keep out Palestinian attackers. But
Palestinians have denounced it as a land grab, since much of the
barrier is located inside the West Bank, slicing off large chunks of
land the Palestinians seek for an independent state.

The Israeli government ordered the construction to stop, saying
organizers in Aida lack the necessary permits and the site’s proximity
to the wall poses a security risk.

On Thursday, Palestinian lawmaker Essa Qaraqie said the organizing
committee had changed the spot to a U.N. school in the camp "after
huge Israeli pressure."

Wadi Abu Nassar, a local spokesman for the pope, said the Roman
Catholic Church is concerned that such disputes will overshadow the
spiritual meaning of his trip. "I urge all parties to collaborate
to make this visit as successful as possible and not to abuse it,"
he said.