13 May 2009

Pope Benedict XVI has responded to a Palestinian chief judge calling attention to Israeli crimes by staging a walkout.
 
Mufti - Chief Islamic Judge - of the Palestinian Authority Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi in a speech delivered at the Notre Dame Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem (al-Quds) fired a shot at Israeli conduct in occupied Palestinian lands. Tamimi’s remarks sparked outrage among Israelis.
 
In the presence of the Pope, the Palestinian judge hit out at Tel Aviv for "killing Gaza's children", "bulldozing Palestinian homes" and "destroying mosques". "We look forward together to liberation and independence and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state."
 
Tamimi also called for the immediate return of all Palestinian refugees, and went on to urge Christians and Muslims to unity against political Zionism then declared Jerusalem the everlasting Palestinian capital.
 
Addressing the pope at the end of a six-minute address, he said: "Your Holiness, I call on you in the name of the one God, to condemn these crimes and press the Israeli government to halt its aggression against the Palestinian people."
 
Tamimi shook the pope's hand as he left the podium and the meeting broke up as scheduled immediately afterwards.
 
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said: "The speech by Sheikh Taysir Tamimi was not scheduled by the organizers of the meeting. In a meeting dedicated to dialogue, this intervention was a direct negation of what a dialogue should be. We hope that such an incident will not damage the mission of the pope aiming at promoting peace and also interreligious dialogue."
 
The pope told a gathering of Catholic bishops in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday that the survival of Christian communities in the Middle East is of "vital importance".
"Catholic communities in the Holy Land... in their faith and devotion, are like lighted candles illuminating the holy places that were graced by the presence of Jesus our living Lord," he said. "This presence is of vital importance for the good of society as a whole," the pontiff told an assembly of bishops from several Catholic denominations in the room in the Old City where Jesus is believed to have held the Last Supper.
  
Concern over the fate of the region's rapidly dwindling Christian communities has been at the heart of Benedict's week-long visit to Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories, his first since becoming pope.