POPE Benedict XVI delivered a symbolic boost to the Palestinian cause yesterday, declaring against the backdrop of Israel's daunting West Bank separation barrier that his "heart goes out" to suffering Palestinians.
Speaking at a United Nations school here on the third day of his Holy Land pilgrimage, the Pope voiced "solidarity with all the homeless Palestinians who long to be able to return to their birthplace or live permanently in a homeland of their own".
The remarks and a moving mass earlier for the dwindling West Bank Catholic community in Bethlehem's Manger Square came after two days in Israel that were mired in controversy over a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial – many Israelis thought he had not gone far enough in identifying with the enormity of the tragedy for Jews.
Yesterday, in a Palestinian refugee camp, he seemed to have greater success in connecting with his audience. "I know many of your families are divided and many have experienced bereavement," he said. "My heart goes out to all who suffer this way. Please be assured that all Palestinian refugees across the world, especially those who lost loved ones in the recent hostilities in Gaza, are constantly remembered in my prayers."
With an abandoned military watchtower behind him, he said: "Towering over us is a stark reminder of the stalemate Israelis and Palestinians have reached. In a world where more and more borders are being opened up, it is tragic to see walls still being erected. How earnestly we pray for an end to the hostilities that have caused this wall to be built."
Not all Palestinians were satisfied with the remarks, which did not blame Israel for building the wall inside occupied territory and did not mention the word "occupation". But refugees from the establishment of Israel in 1948, and their descendants in this impoverished enclave of 3,000 inhabitants, seemed to have their spirits lifted by the chance to present a glimpse of their often denied history and culture to the leader of the world's one billion Catholics.
They told him about Palestinian suffering and alleged Israeli massacres in Gaza, and spoke of the right of refugees to return to the homes from which they were expelled or fled in 1948. Israelis consider the right of return – specified in UN General Assembly resolution 194 – a recipe for destroying the Jewish character of their country by flooding it with an indeterminate number of the world's five million Palestinian refugees.
Yesterday's event started with the release of 61 black balloons, one for every year of the Palestinian catastrophe of displacement. Issa Karakeh, a Palestinian MP from the camp, in his welcoming remarks to the Pope, claimed Jesus "was the first Palestinian refugee in history".
One elderly refugee, Daoud al-Azrak, whose son is serving a life sentence in prison for an attack on Israelis, draped a scarf around the pontiff's shoulders that was emblazoned with two keys – one the symbol of the Vatican, the other of the longing of refugees to return to their former homes.
Samir Odeh, a refugee leader, told the Pope: "
Your presence convinces us you look on our camp as a holy place and our rights of return and self-determination as also holy."
