The Pope in Palestine

I am a Christian and I teach at a Catholic University in the occupied West Bank but I doubt the Pope will hear views of people like me. His trip is scripted by the Israeli foreign ministry, itself under a direction of a Russian racist who lives in an illegal colonial settlement on the land of the Bethlehem District, the birthplace of Jesus. We do not know if he will ask Israel privately to end the occupation but it is likely his visit is dominated by the usual politics of history (and Jewish-Catholic issues). We do know that the Pope’s visit is looked at as a big PR success for Israel as it legitimizes the state of apartheid and the mistaken notion that Zionists represent “the Jewish people”. As the Pope stands next to war criminals like Shimon Peres and Binyamin Netanyahu, he utters words of contrition and friendliness to “the Jewish people”. Jesus would not stand next to the murderous Herod and utter such words. Jesus would be with the poor (in this case the people of Gaza would be a perfect target group, like the lepers of his time). The Pope at least should meet with more decent Jews like Ezra Nawi, a peace activist who stood up to the demolition of poor Palestinian homes near illegal colonial settlements and was arrested by occupation soldiers who were laughing about the demolition of homes (Must see video at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/06/israel-human-rights-police. Help to free him is needed.). Or he could meet with the Israeli artists who declared in 2002: "If the state of Israel aspires to perceive itself as a democracy, it should abandon once and for all, any legal and ideological foundation of religious, ethnic, and demographic discrimination. The state of Israel should strive to become the state of all its citizens. We call for the annulment of all laws that make Israel an apartheid state, including the Jewish law of return in its present form"

I wonder if the Pope will speak out against the war crimes committed and still being committed by Israel in Gaza?[1] Will he call on the International community to end its complicity in war crimes and stop paying for the occupation?[ 2] Will he understand when he prays for peace that there are entrenched Israeli Interests against peace that need to change?[3] As he prayed today at Yad Vashem, did he know that just down the hill sits the ruins of the ethnically cleansed Palestinian village of Deir Yassin where a massacre was committed by some of those Israeli elders tatesmen who stood next to him speaking about crimes of another people? Did he know that Yad Vashem fired an employee for simply mentioning this curious tragic fact?[4] Will he say anything about the fact that people like me are denied entrance to Jerusalem and the very few who get “Israeli permits” to enter their own city face draconian measures?[5] And will the Pope even utter one word to admonish Israeli officials for their shameless push for endless wars (from South America in the 1970s to Iraq to most recently to their military support of Sri Lankan government massacres of hundreds of Tamil civilians)? The Israel-first lobby is now pushing for shameless US congressional resolutions on Iran (HR 2194, sponsored by Berman and Ros-Lehtenin, and S908, sponsored by Bayh and Kyl). The Obama administration maybe the most open administration to lobbying on this issue. Israel is now worried that the U.S. will treat it like any other favored ally and not like a master of U.S. foreign policies [6]. Will the massive media visiting the Holy Land come interview us (the native people) or treat the Pope’s visit as a visit to dead stones now under the care of War criminals Lieberman and Netanyahu? Will this visit come and go with its only effects being the increased restrictions on the native people? Will enough people finally wake up and raise their voices before it is too late? (already the last Palestinian Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem are targeted for evictions to Judaicize the city).

Action: Tuesday May 12: National call in day to Congress to stop funding wars. Use it to ask them to resist AIPAC's calls for conflict with Iran and for a cut-off of military aid to the apartheid state of Israel. Call 1-800-517-5696, the Washington Switchboard and ask for your representative. We suggest expanding this action to write to all politicians especially in Europe and in the Vatican (benedictxvi@ vatican.va and Find all Vatican Emails: http://www.tldm. org/email/ vatican_emails. htm ) and to all media outlets (many have been regurgitating Israeli government talking points). Silence is complicity!

[1] U.N. report calls for accountability, reparations for Gaza war lies, damage, deaths and injuries

Israel says it won't apologize for Gaza war

U.N. report calls on the U.N. to seek Israel's acknowledgment that several statements it made were untrue, to seek accountability, and pursue reparations or reimbursement for damage, deaths and injuries.

http://www.daytonda ilynews.com/ news/nation- world-news/ israel-says- it-wont-apologiz e-for-gaza- war-109452. html

[2] Palestinian and Israeli Human Rights Organizations call for End to International Donor Complicity in Israeli Violations of International Law http://www.pchrgaza .org/files/ PressR/English/ 2008/06-05- 2009_2.html

[3] Israel knows that peace just doesn't pay By Amira Hass
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1084656. html

[4] Yad Vashem fires employee who compared Holocaust to Nakba
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ objects/pages/ PrintArticleEn. jhtml?itemNo= 1080456

[5] My cousin Rana has a “permit” to enter Jerusalem (less than 6 miles from Bethlehem) and she just sent this message:

I just returned home from a nice three week vacation abroad. For me, it was more of a vacation from the checkpoint than a vacation from work! I returned to the drudgery of the dreaded daily checkpoint crossing from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to find that the Israelis have created a new rule that is making travel in and out of Jerusalem even harder than before! The new rule says that each Palestinian crossing to Jerusalem/Israel has to register at the checkpoint on the way in and on the way out. Anyone caught in Jerusalem without an entry registration at the checkpoint, as well as anyone who registered in the morning and didn’t register going back later in the day, will be detained and prosecuted. So now, thanks to the new rule, people can no longer stay overnight in Jerusalem. It also means that people cannot return home through the Beit Jala (tunnels road) checkpoint, since you can’t register there. Now there is at least a doubling of the number of people crossing the checkpoint in the morning as all the daily workers who used to stay overnight at their workplaces inside Israel are no longer able to do that. And on the way back in the evening, there will be more than triple the number of people who usually cross back from the checkpoint due to all of those who used to take the other road or stay overnight. A significant number of people that travel from distant villages around Hebron will no longer be able to keep their jobs in Jerusalem, including one staff member of the Jerusalem YWCA, as the trip may take two hours just to get to the checkpoint. They used to travel through the checkpoint once a week or once a month, but to be forced to go through every day will probably be too much for most of them. The rest of us must put up with longer lines of frustrated waiting people, waste even more time waiting to cross and start out the work day with even higher levels of frustration. One has to admire Israeli creativity in coming up with new ways to pressure us and make our lives even more miserable. What will they think of next?

[6] The title in Haaretz is misleading but the contents are enough to make you sick: Ultimate definition of Chutzpah in demanding Israel dictate policy of a superpower http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1083998. html

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

http://qumsiyeh. org

 

So.... Palestinians have been there for decades and they have to go work for Jews? Why don't they get a life?? The Jews are surrounded by a sea of people that want them slaughtered, driven into the sea, etc... and they have lives [when nobody is blowing up their children in the pizza parlor or the school bus]

On another topic, I'm just curious, you're Catholic, what would you think of the idea of the Pope moving his HQ from the Vatican to Jerusalem?

 

No sameeh, my little islamo-nazi friend, the pope is <b>not</b> with terrorists - you can only fool a small number of brain-washed idiots with your anti-Israel hysteria, cheap lies and dishonest propaganda. Pope is no fool. And your arab brethren has once again demonstrated to the entire world their uncivilized and barbaric nature.


Sheikh attacks Israel, pope walks out: A leading Palestinian cleric commandeered an evening devoted to interfaith dialogue with Pope Benedict XVI on Monday to rant against Israel...