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Pope's sermon of defiance sparks Bethlehem riots
The Pope became the instant
hero of the Palestinian people yesterday after he plunged into the political
cauldron of the Middle East with what amounted to a stinging indictment of
Israel's conduct.
But only an hour after uttering his words – at a
Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem – the place erupted into riots with
running street battles between stone-throwing Palestinians youths and baton-
wielding Palestinian police, who were also hurling stones.
Emotions – stoked high because of the pontiff's visit
– spilled over half an hour after the Popemobile had drawn out of Bethlehem,
bearing its 79-year-old occupant back to a helicopter and nearby Jerusalem. If
proof was needed of the perils of John Paul II's mission to the Middle East –
and the risk he is taking personally, despite a huge security operation – then
this was it.
As dusk turned to darkness, large chunks of concrete and
rocks flew through the air, as about 700 youths charged out of the camp to
confront the police, who engaged in the battle as enthusiastically as the youths
they were trying to quell.
At first the police were driven back, but then they
returned, with shields, wooden batons and, in some cases, large planks of wood
and heavy bits of metal pipe. Some of the security officials began brawling with
their colleagues, apparently urging restraint.
Only an hour earlier, the pontiff himself – a picture of
frail vulnerability for all his splendour and power – had been standing before
a crowd in the same camp, Deheisheh, the squalid and overcrowded home of most of
these rioters.
In words that acquired a new resonance as the fights
began, he spoke mumblingly, but graphically of the "degrading
conditions" that Palestinians have endured since being driven from their
homes during the 1948 Israeli-Arab war, and emphasised their "unalienable
right to justice".
"You have been deprived of many things which
represent the basic needs of the human person: proper housing, health care,
education and work," he told them. He cannot have known that these
deprivations – which much surely play a big part in the tensions here –
would take violent expression so soon.
"This is very, very bad," said a middle-aged
Palestinian man as the fighting raged to and fro. For two hours we were trapped
together inside a restaurant while the fighting raged only a few yards away.
"I have never seen anything like it in my life," he said, shaking his
head. He did not want to be named. For good reason. These were scenes – such
an ugly contrast to the flagwaving and joy of their brief moment in the
international limelight earlier – the security police did not want to be seen.
Earlier, the sight of his Popemobile drew warm cheers and
applause from the waiting crowd as it drew into the camp, the final stop in a
day which saw him preside over an outdoor mass before a large crowd in
Bethlehem's Manger Square.
"You bear the sad memory of what you were forced to
leave behind," the pontiff told the refugees, who are a small percentage of
the 3.5 million Palestinian refugees scattered around Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
"Not just the material possessions, but your freedom, the closeness of
relatives and the familiar surroundings and cultural traditions which nourished
your personal and family life." It became clear that John Paul II intended
to pull no punches from the moment he arrived in Palestinian-controlled
territory, yesterday morning. Addressing Yasser Arafat at the Bethlehem helipad,
before going on to the mass, he stressed that "there would be no end to
this sad conflict in the Holy Land without stable guarantees for the rights of
all people's involved on the basis of international law and the relevant United
Nations resolutions and declarations."
These words were aimed squarely at Israel, which has long
defied key UN resolutions. Mr Arafat himself was restrained; the case was being
made for him.
The Pope also made pointed reference to Israel's approach
to peace talks with the Palestinians, which resumed this week. "Only with a
just and lasting peace – not imposed but secured through negotiations –will
legitimate Palestinian aspirations be fulfilled." The Holy See had always
recognised Palestinians' right to a homeland, he said, adding that Deheisheh
served as "a reminder to the international community that decisive action
is needed to improve the situation".
The Israeli reaction was dismissive. "We see nothing
new in the Vatican's position," said Shlomo Ben-Ami, the Public Security
Minister. "We will not look at the petty details of the visit through a
microscope."
But even if the Palestinians do not make the connection
between his appearance and the ensuing riots, some Israelis will do so. He will
be blamed for stoking up the mood, and the behaviour of the Palestinian police
will be cited as evidence that they are not yet ready for their own homeland.
The Pope's one day in Palestinian-controlled territory was
always going to be the controversial part of his programme, and certainly the
day which was most likely to jar with the Israelis. Even the Manger Square mass,
conducted yards away from the church marking the presumed site of Christ's
birth, almost had the flavour of a rally, in which the thousands of Palestinian
worshippers waved a sea of national flags at the world's television cameras. But
Deheisheh, – more a township than a camp these days, which houses 10,000
Palestinians in dismal conditions – was the most precarious of all.
Its walls, still carrying Arabic writing from the Intifada,
were festooned with fresh grafitti and banners, outlining the full panapoly of
Palestinian grievances for the Pope to see.
