Israeli and Palestinian tourism officials seek meeting with Pope

by Michele Green
Ecumenical News International

JERUSALEM — Israel and the Palestinian Authority have asked the Vatican for an audience with Pope John Paul II to win his support for a campaign to bring Roman Catholics from across the world to the Holy Land for religious pilgrimages.

      "We believe that the time is ripe to further encourage pilgrimage to the Holy Land," Israeli tourism minister Abraham Hirchson and his Palestinian counterpart Metri Abu Aita wrote in a joint letter to the Vatican.

      They said that if the Pope publicly supported pilgrimage to the Holy Land it would spur a tourist boom that would help both peoples' economies and improve efforts to sow peace in the region.

      They referred in the letter they signed on Thursday to "the new prospects for positive political developments in our region".

      Dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians on political issues is slowly being renewed amidst efforts to establish a cease-fire since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took over after Yasser Arafat's death in November.

      But there is one area where Israelis and Palestinians have already made progress - improved cooperation on tourism.

      Over Christmas, they worked together for the first time in four years to help pilgrims visit Bethlehem by allowing free travel and open access to the West Bank town. Around 5000 Christian tourists visited the town of Jesus' birth over the holiday, a far greater number than in the years since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000.

      Ties are being renewed again this week in Spain at a seminar attended by Israeli and Palestinian tourism officials.

      The meeting is being sponsored by the Franciscan Order and is aimed at encouraging large numbers of Roman Catholics, especially from Latin America and Spain, to make pilgrimages to the land of Jesus.