_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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A No to a Nazareth mosque
Government decision is final
The government of Israel has announced that it will put a permanent stop to plans for the construction of a mosque on land adjacent to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.

The Israeli government announcement, which came after weeks of delays and amidst a heated dispute, was greeted with pleasure by Catholic Church officials.

The decision came after a special panel commissioned to study the dispute voted 18-1 to stop the construction permanently. The Israeli government had ordered a halt to the construction on January 10, and promised a final answer on the legality of the building project within three weeks. The postponement of that final decision had raised concerns among Christians in the area.

In Rome, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls issued a formal statement saying that the final decision was an important step to “re-establishing legality, respect of the holy places, and consideration for the respective communities of believers.”

Navarro-Valls pointed out that the decision was not directed against the Muslims of the region, since most Muslim leaders had opposed the effort by a militant group to build a mosque on that site. He expressed relief that “a provocative initiative” had been stopped, and hoped “that the traditional harmonious coexistence between Muslims and Christians” could be restored in Nazareth.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal nuncio in the Holy Land, said that the government had made “a wise decision, which reflects respect for the holy places.” The Vatican envoy told the Fides news service that he hoped to see a restoration of “the atmosphere of coexistence that existed previously, and was ruined by the project for the mosque on this site.”

The mosque construction had begun in 1999, after a small group of Muslims had occupied the plaza outside the Annunciation basilica, insisting that they had the right to build a mosque there. Despite court decisions indicating that the Muslim group had no legal claim to the property, the Israeli government—under Prime Minister Ehud Barak—had allowed construction to begin.

Christian groups had bitterly protested that decision, and complained that, even in the early stages of the construction process, pilgrims visiting the Annunciation basilica were facing intimidation and abuse. Christian leaders—with the backing of most Muslim officials—had recommended the construction of a new mosque on another site in Nazareth.

Archbishop Sambi, while welcoming the government’s resolution of the dispute, reminded Israeli officials that they would need to be vigilant in preventing new conflicts in Nazareth in the wake of their decision.

No message but violence?
Paper scores international apathy
In a sharply worded article appearing early in March—at a time when the Holy Land was exploding in new violence—the official Vatican newspaper said that continuing bloodshed is “a profanation of God and man,” and criticized international leaders for being “slow to intervene.”

L’Osservatore Romano expressed surprise that the latest rash of violence—”100 deaths in one week”—had not been enough to convince the leaders of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples that it is time “to welcome appeals for peace.”

But the Vatican newspaper added some pointed criticism of other world leaders. Pointing out that the violence in the Holy Land “threatens to throw an entire region into chaos,” L’Osservatore Romano asked rhetorically why “the international community—which on other occasions has been prompt to mobilize itself—is so slow to intervene in a decisive manner.”

Just a few days after that article appeared, Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships attacked the city of Bethlehem, concentrating their fire on two refugee camps. The Israeli offensive left at least four more Palestinians dead and 20 wounded in the Dheisheh and Aida refugee camps. Israeli officials said that the camps harbor Palestinian terrorists. The Dheisheh refugee camp was the site of a visit by Pope John Paul in March 2000. The camp, founded in 1948 by Palestinians who had been ousted from their homes in the campaign to establish the Israeli state, is now home to at least 8,000 refugees, many of whom have lived in the camp for two or more generations.

From the Vatican, L’Osservatore Romano issued another denunciation of the violence, and called particular attention to another incident: the bombing of a Palestinian hospital in Hebron. The Vatican newspaper observed that “killing without pity is sometimes seen as the only means of communicating with the other side” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.