Pope Shenouda To Visit Jerusalem Only At Arafat's Invitation
WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (IslamOnline) - Pope Shenouda, Head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, said that he will not visit Jerusalem as long as it remains under Israeli control and will go only at the invitation of Yasser Arafat, reports Arabic News.
Shenouda, speaking at the 33rd annual Cairo International Book Fair, said that he would, "only go to Jerusalem at Arafat's invitation, with a visa issued by the Palestinian National Authority and hand in hand with Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Mohamed Sayed Tantawi."
He said that a visit at this time will mean normalization of ties with Israel and added, "we will not gain anything by it, only the Israelis will gain economic prosperity and what will follow when millions of Christians begin to go on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem."
"Jews have no rights to claim in Jerusalem, they did not rule it except for a short period before the birth of Christ and most of the time, the Persians, Romans and Arabs reigned," he said.
"In the Bible, there is no evidence or reference to their rights, nor the presence of the so-called Mount Temple," he added.
Shenouda also informed that he was happy that he has received an invitation from the Iraqi government to visit Iraq and expressed his solidarity with the Iraqi people, adding that the Middle East Council of Churches is planning to hold its upcoming meeting in Baghdad.
