Holy May

"Although walls can easily be built, we all know that they do not last for ever. They can be taken down." Thus spoke Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the Holy Land this May. In Bethlehem, where he delivered his most sensitive speech of an eight-day tour of the Holy Land, the Pope acknowledged the suffering of the Palestinian people following the establishment of Israel in 1948.

Vatican has always been supportive of an independent Palestinian state. The pontiff reasserted this by spending an entire day in the occupied West Bank: from a morning address alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to a late-afternoon visit of the Aida refugee camp, home of misplaced Palestinian families who were, in fact, driven from their residences through the creation of Israel in the second half of the 20th century. Pope Benedict is one of very few individuals who openly support the “two-state solution” and consider it the right solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Seeing that 2009 has not been a very productive year for the Palestinians, the Pope’s encouraging words and message of solidarity managed to lift these people’s impoverished spirits.

Adding on to the imagery is the fact that the in order to cross into the occupied West Bank where Bethlehem is located, the Pope had to pass through the 10-yard-high concrete wall built by Israel around the city. (Deemed illegal under international law, Israel has nevertheless pressed on with its construction on the grounds that it deters suicide bombings and other security threats.) An Israeli military watchtower was also included in the landscape which surrounded the Pope as he was delivering his speech.

"Towering over us ... is a stark reminder of the stalemate that relations between Israelis and Palestinians seem to have reached - the wall,'' the Pope said.
"In a world where more and more borders are being opened up - to trade, to travel, to movement of peoples, to cultural exchanges - it is tragic to see walls still being erected.''

Such statements clearly implied that the Pope is very much against the current Israeli policy of alienating the Palestinian people from their own territory and their own identity.

As he spoke, the Pope delved beyond present-day issues, tracing the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute to Israel's May 1948 declaration of independence and the Arab-Israeli war that followed. Palestinians refer to those events as the naqba, or catastrophe, in which tens of thousands were driven from or left their homes. Many of their descendants live as refugees in such places as Aida, overcrowded camps with no decent living conditions, often marked at their entrances by a large house key symbolizing an intended return. Although Pope Benedict did not explicitly apply such conspicuously Palestinian terminology to the events of 1948, the mentioning of the year in itself was daring, and it indeed spurred some negative reactions. "By going back to 1948 -- that is going down a very slippery slope," Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor said. "That is on the verge of saying something not about Israeli policy, but on the very existence of Israel.”

In addition to calling for international pressure to establish a Palestinian state, Pope Benedict also urged young Palestinians to reject terrorism. In remarks aimed at the many militant groups within the Palestinian community, he strongly advised them to "resist temptations to resort to acts of violence''.

Pope Benedict’s visit to the Holy Land and his open support of the Palestinian people was undoubtedly one of the hallmarks of 2009. His kind words and many blessings will hopefully act as an incentive to the Palestinians to strive and work for a better future for themselves, and their children.