VATICAN CITY, Nov 25 (AFP) - Israeli ministers are putting pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Barak to revoke a decision to allow a mosque near a Christian shrine amid deep rifts among his government over the issue, a Vatican report said Thursday.
The Israeli government "is divided over the Nazareth mosque issue," David Jaeger, a Franciscan monk of Jewish origin and one of the key masterminds behind the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Vatican and Israel, told the FIDES news agency.
"All civil servants to whom I have spoken for the past months, all officials in charge of relations with Christian churches in the various ministries and even senior officials of the security forces are totally opposed to (Public Security Minister Shlomo) Ben Ami's initiative," said Jaeger.
Ben Ami gave the go-ahead for the mosque last month despite Christian objections, sparking protests and tensions between Nazareth's Muslim majority and Christian minority amid preparations for the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims expected to visit in the year 2000.
Nazareth's Christian mayor Ramiz Jeraisi wanted to create a plaza in front of the Church of the Annunciation, where according to Christian tradition Mary learned she would give birth to Jesus. But local Muslims insisted the site was their property.
The planned mosque is to honor Shihab a-Din, said to be a nephew of the Islamic hero Salah a-Din (Saladin) who drove the Crusaders out of Jerusalem in the 12th century.
Church leaders have warned the row could imperil a visit by Pope John Paul II planned for early next year, although the Vatican said last week it would go ahead.
"Ben Ami is isolated among the government establishment which is incredulous and horrified by his decision," added Jaeger, speaking after a visit to Jerusalem. FIDES said Israeli police and army officials "have condemned Ben Ami's decision" because it was taken "too lightly." An unspecified number of generals had allegedly threatened to resign.
"Ehud Barak's government is divided and the rift is in the open," said FIDES. Jaeger called Ben Ami's decision "a mistake of judgment by a minister without any government experience. But there is hope as the prime minister is realizing the seriousness of the faux pas," he added. "The government must go back on its decision and revoke this inconsiderate initiative."
FIDES said the decision was also being criticized by ordinary people in Israel as "support for Moslem extremists, considered by many Jews as their 'arch-enemies.'"
Jaeger called on the Israeli government "to take more reasonable steps toward the entire Muslim community, and not only toward fundamentalist groups. It could return Muslim religious property, confiscated by Israel after the 1948 war, restore their abandoned mosques and cemeteries, build new mosques in appropriate places and not on the threshold of the basilica of the Annunciation at Nazareth," he suggested.
Meanwhile, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and Prince Hassan of Jordan on Thursday appealed to Muslims to defuse tension in Nazareth by finding a new location to build the mosque of Shihab a-Din.
"I hope that the Muslim community will find another place to build their mosque because there are intense Christian worries," over Nazareth, Carey told a news conference in Amman on the sidelines of a forum on world religions and peace. "I want to represent that Christian concern. Nazareth means a lot to us. On the eve of a new millennium we want there to be a true celebration in the Holy Land," Carey said.
He hoped the brewing conflict will "give religious groups the opportunity to show what they are made of by willing to negotiate afresh in order to find reconciling points".
Prince Hassan echoed him saying: "We appeal on the ulemas [religious scholars] in Nazareth... on the eve of the millennium to give a clear picture of coexistence between Muslims and Christian Arabs." He later said he was "full of admiration for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for having made this great and generous offer" last week to finance the construction of a mosque away from the disputed site.
This Tuesday Muslims laid the cornerstone for the building after Israel approved plans for the mosque to be built after the end of 2000.
