Pope To ‘Recognize Palestine’?

Palestinian Authority (PA) and Arab Christian sources are already celebrating Pope Francis’s visit to Israel starting next Sunday, saying his choice to begin the trip directly in PA-held Bethlehem is meant to “recognize Palestine” and “oppose the occupation.”

 

“He is taking a helicopter directly from Jordan to Palestine – to Bethlehem. It’s a kind of sign of recognizing Palestine,” Father Jamal Khader of the Latin patriarchate in Jerusalem told AFP.

 

The claims that his trip will begin in a “recognition of Palestine” comes amid reports from February by Rabbi Sergio Bergman, a member of the Argentinian parliament and close friend of Pope Francis, who said that the pope intends to define himself as the “Che Guevera of the Palestinians” and support their “struggle and rights” during his visit.

Read More: Pope To ‘Recognize Palestine’? – Middle East – News – Arutz Sheva.