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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Pope unimpressed by US ire
By Samia NkrumahPope John Paul II's intention to visit Iraq, among other countries in the Middle East, for millennium celebrations, has been known for over a year. But this week the United States made its disapproval of the impending trip public as it has become clear that the Vatican organisers are going ahead with arrangements for the visit.
The Holy See has taken a crucial step that indicates the pontiff's determination to embark on what he has called his millennium pilgrimage. The Vatican has contacted the United Nations requesting a waiver of the air embargo over Iraq, which has been in operation since the Gulf War in 1990, to enable the pope to fly over Iraq.
The US State Department issued a statement urging the Vatican to consider the political implications of the visit. If the pope goes to Iraq he will inevitably be personally welcomed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The United States and Israel are strongly opposed to the photo opportunity with Saddam Hussein which would boost the Iraqi leader's image and send a message that is diametrically counter to their approach to the Iraqi leadership.
The head of the Iraqi Catholic Church, Raphael Bidawi, announced this week that the Vatican and the Iraqi government are discussing the proposed papal visit which will take place sometime at the beginning of December.
Even though Bidawi said that the visit is still in the planning stage and the exact time has not been set, it will probably take place before the year 2000. Joaquin Navarro Vals, Vatican spokesman, confirmed that negotiations between the Vatican and the Iraqi authorities are under way. The Vatican is at pains to impart only a spiritual interpretation to the impending papal visit and has cautiously announced that the visit to the Middle East may be scaled down. The pope himself on several occasions has stressed that the controversial visit is an exclusively religious affair.
Pope John Paul, who has endeavoured to improve the Roman Catholic Church's relationship with other faiths, received a string of Middle East leaders last year, including Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz in May 1998.
Aziz, himself a Christian, said last week in a video-recorded message shown in Rome that the United States and Britain must stop the bombing of the southern and northern no-fly zones. Aziz also said that the raids must at least stop during the papal visit. He suggested that the only threat to the pope's safety would be the bombings by allied American and British planes patrolling the no-fly zones.
The pope, who is known for his outspokenness for human rights, has condemned the continued UN sanctions against Iraq, just as he had criticised the United States for its trade embargo against Cuba on his visit there in early 1998. The pontiff was opposed to the 1991 Gulf war.
Moreover, the news of US attempts to intervene in the pontiff's pilgrimage comes at a sensitive time for Washington. A US congressional delegation arrived in Baghdad a few days ago to assess the effect of the sanctions on Iraqi citizens, thereby ignoring their government's advice to stay away.
As part of a series of pastoral visits to biblical sites, the pope's millennium pilgrimage is also taking him to Egypt, Syria, Greece and Holy Land sites ruled by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The Vatican's position on the status of Jerusalem has been consistent and in line with Security Council resolutions considering East Jerusalem as occupied territory. The Holy See has always insisted that the territorial question regarding Jerusalem "should be resolved quickly through negotiation" and that the section of the city militarily occupied in 1967 and declared an integral part of the capital of Israel is occupied territory.
It is unlikely that the most well-travelled pope in history, who has already visited more than 100 countries, will heed US pleas. Last year, he visited Nigeria, a country that was shunned by the United States at the time.
