Bethlehem, West Bank - Pope Benedict XVI visited a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem Wednesday afternoon, hours after telling Palestinian refugees "my heart goes out to all the families who have been left homeless."The tour of Aida refugee camp was considered by Palestinians to be the highlight of the papal tour of the biblical West Bank city, during which he had voiced strong and unequivocal support for an independent Palestinian state.
The pontiff, making a one-day stopover in Bethlehem on his five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas, was to address the camp's 5,000 refugees from the courtyard of a local school run by the United Nations.
A huge sign in the schoolyard proclaimed: "It is time to enable Palestinian refugees to exercise their fundamental right of return." Small Vatican and Palestinian flags also decorated the school buildings.
The pope's address would also be held against the backdrop of the controversial barrier Israel is building along the West Bank, which Israel says is necessary to keep out suicide bombers, but Palestinians say is part of an Israeli "land grab".
The future of the Palestinian refugees is one of the thorniest issues Israel and Palestinian peace negotiators have to face.
Palestinians insist they be allowed to return to the homes they abandoned in the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war. Israel refuses, saying to do so would lead to a demographic imbalance between Jews and Muslims which would mean the eventual end of Israel as a Jewish homeland.
