Pope calls for Palestinian state

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Wednesday

Pope Benedict went to the West Bank on Wednesday, offering Vatican support for a Palestinian state alongside Israel and his prayers for an end to Israel's embargo on the Gaza Strip.

He travelled to Bethlehem, the town of Jesus' birth, through the snaking Israeli security barrier that separates it from nearby Jerusalem on the third day of a tour of the Holy Land.

There he was met by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who denounced Israel's "apartheid wall" as part of efforts by the Jewish state to drive out Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

Benedict, speaking in bright morning sunshine, renewed the Vatican's support for a two-state solution to the conflict -- a solution supported by Abbas and Western powers but on which new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been hesitant.

"I know how much you have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of the turmoil that has afflicted this land for decades. My heart goes out to all the families who have lost so much," the pope said, noting he would visit a refugee camp for families who fled what is now Israel at its founding in 1948.

He had particular words of concern for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who suffered during an Israeli offensive in January.

At a lmass in Manger Square, next to the Church of the Nativity that marks the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born in a stable, he won applause from worshippers when he said: "My heart goes out to the pilgrims from war-torn Gaza."

"Please be assured of my solidarity with you in the immense work of rebuilding which now lies ahead, and my prayers that the embargo will soon be lifted."

To President Abbas earlier, he said: "The Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with your neighbours, within internationally recognised borders."

On his first visit to the region as pope, he recalled the message given on a similar trip in 2000 by his immediate predecessor, John Paul II: "There can be no 'peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness'," Benedict said.

Abbas anger

Abbas, who like most Palestinians is Muslim, described the hardships faced by his people, including tens of thousands of Christians whose community is shrinking through emigration.

"On this Holy Land, there are those who continue to build separation walls, instead of bridges, and who try with the occupation forces to compel both Christians and Muslims alike to leave the country, so that our holy places change into mere archaeological sites, rather than places of worship, alive and bustling with believers," Abbas said in Arabic.

"Jerusalem ... is surrounded by the apartheid wall which prevents our people from the West Bank from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and al-Aqsa Mosque," he added.

Thousands of Christians from Bethlehem have gone abroad since a Palestinian uprising in the years after 2000 saw an Israeli security clampdown and construction of the barrier that runs through and around the West Bank, restricting movement.

Acknowledging Israel's security concerns, Benedict said: "It is my earnest hope that the serious concerns involving security in Israel and the Palestinian territories will soon be allayed sufficiently to allow greater freedom of movement."

He urged people not to "resort ... to terrorism."

The move to the West Bank may relieve Vatican officials of the strains that have dogged the German-born pope in Jerusalem, where Israeli leaders have complained that he did not go far enough in offering emotion in remarks he made on Monday at the Yad Vashem memorial to the Jewish dead of the Holocaust.

The pope flies back to Rome on Friday. (Reuters)