Mass on Manger Square to begin `Palestine Day' of visit

Pope John Paul begins his day today with a Mass on Manger Square in Bethlehem this morning. It is in Palestine National Authority territory. So is the Deheisha refugee camp he will visit this afternoon.

Today is the "Palestine Day" of his visit. So much so that in Jerusalem last night those Israelis helping to organise the pilgrimage and related events were protesting total ignorance about what would be happening today. However, the Pope will also visit another claimed site of Christ's baptism. It is in Israeli-controlled lands at Qasr Al Yahoud on the West Bank of the Jordan.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat urged the Pope to visit the sit, when he was at the Vatican last month. It has also been reported that the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, put in a similar request.

However, it is unclear whether there will be any Palestinian representation today.

There has been speculation as to why Mr Arafat would be so anxious for the Pope to visit the Israeli-occupied site. Mr Arafat is, after all, a Muslim and so may not be motivated by spiritual concerns totally in this instance.

An emerging consensus indicates that Mr Arafat believes the site may yet come under Palestinian control and could prove a valuable source of tourist revenue.

An incentive for the Pope to visit the site, the second "authentic" location of Christ's baptism by John the Baptist he will have visited in as many days, was his inclusion in the original schedule of a visit to the other "traditional" site at Wadi Kharrar in Jordan.

He was there yesterday. So, last week the Vatican announced he would also include the West Bank site. It was inserted somewhat hastily into today's schedule.

Needless to say some Jordanians were not very happy with this. Their archaeologists had found the "real" site in 1997. "We do not need a seal [approval]. This is where the first Christian community on earth emerged, because the baptism of Jesus was the dawn of Christianity, said Jordan's Tourism Minister, Mr Akel Biltaji.

To avoid the risk of "a dispute that could tear apart the Jordanian and Palestinian people's", as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, who is loyal to the Pope, said, the Vatican adopted a neutral position on the issue.

"The whole Jordan river is holy for us. Neither the Vatican, the Holy Father nor the Catholic Church has any official position concerning here or there. These archaeological findings should not be a cause of dispute," he said.

And so the Pope will, by his presence, endorse the claims of two locations to a single event.