Israeli army shuts down preparations to bring pope to refugee camp in Bethlehem

Link

Date: 23 / 04 / 2009 Time: 17:15

The gate of Aida Camp / Pope Benedict XVI

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli soldiers attempted to stop the work of a committee preparations for a visit by Pope Benedict to Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Thursday morning.

The press officer for the official Palestinian committee to welcome the Pope to the camp, Munjid Jado, said five Israeli military vehicles entered the camp and stopped the committee from working, questioning them and videotaping them.

The workers had been erecting a stage in an open area in between the camp and the Israeli separation wall, which partly encircles the camp.

Jado said in a statement that camp official Ibrahim Abu Srur then arrived at the scene. He was told by the soldiers that Aida camp lies in Area C of the West Bank, under Israeli military jurisdiction, and that the committee would therefore need a special permit for its activities.

Following this, another Israeli official arrived and attempted to distribute a written order to stop work. The committee workers refused to accept the paper, at which time soldiers posted the order on the walls of buildings near the square where the pope is to be received.

UN maps show that Aida Camp lies within Area A, a zone supposedly under the full control of the Palestinian Authority.

The Pope is scheduled to visit Jordan, the West Bank, and Israel from 8 to 15 May. In Bethlehem the pontiff will visit the Church of the Nativity. The Palestinian Authority planned to bring Benedict to the refugee camp in order to explain the plight of Palestinians under occupation.

The Aida camp’s 5,000 residents are closed in on three sides by the Israeli separation wall, which encroached on Bethlehem’s city center at the site of the tomb of the biblical matriarch Rachael.

***Get breaking news from Palestine: Click to follow Ma’an on Twitter.