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Pope supports establishment of Palestinian state

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Gaza City, May 11, IRNA -- On the fourth day of his first trip to the Middle East as pope, Benedict XVI arrived Monday in the occupied territories, calling for a solution to the conflict that would yield a “homeland of their own” for the Palestinians.

According to IRNA reporter in Gaza City, he made clear in a brief speech that he was underscoring the Vatican’s support for the creation of a Palestinian state.

“The eyes of the world are upon the peoples of this region as they struggle to achieve a just and lasting solution to conflicts that have caused so much suffering,” he told Israeli leaders who met him at the airport when he arrived from Jordan.

“The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” he said.

“In union with people of good will everywhere, I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own, within secure and internationally recognized borders.”

His five-day visit to the Palestinian territories is likely to prove the most contentious part of his journey in places laden with symbolism and charged with emotion for Muslims, Jews and Christians alike.

Benedict plans to visit sites including the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, the Western Wall and the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

He has also scheduled ceremonies in a Palestinian refugee camp and in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

“I take my place in a long line of Christian pilgrims to these shores, a line that stretches back to the earliest centuries of the church’s history and which, I am sure, will continue long into the future,” Benedict said on Monday.

“I come, like so many others before me, to pray at the holy places, to pray especially for peace — peace here in the Holy Land, and peace throughout the world.”

He spoke out against anti-Semitism as “totally unacceptable.”

“Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism wherever it is found,” he said.

During his visit later on Monday to Yad Vashem, Benedict said, “I will have the opportunity to honor the memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah, and to pray that humanity will never again witness a crime of such magnitude.”