Aida refugee camp, West Bank - Pope Benedict XVI called Israel's West Bank security wall "tragic" Wednesday, as he paid a solidarity visit to a Palestinian refugee camp cut off by the wall. "Towering over us, as we gather here this afternoon, is a stark reminder of the stalemate that relations between Israelis and Palestinians seem to have reached - the wall," the pontiff told the inhabitants of Aida refugee camp, just outside Bethlehem.
"In a world where more and more borders are being opened up - to trade, to travel, to movement of people, to cultural exchanges - it is tragic to see walls still being erected," he said in the courtyard of the camp's UN-run school, adding:
"How earnestly we pray for an end to the hostilities that have caused this wall to be built."
Keeping up his careful balancing act, the spiritual leader however refrained from blatantly condemning the wall.
Already on his reception in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem in the morning, he had expressed support for a "sovereign Palestinian homeland ... within internationally recognized borders."
But in the Aida camp he went further and used the phrase "independent Palestinian state."
"Your legitimate aspirations for permanent homes, for an independent Palestinian state, remain unfulfilled," he told the refugees, in his most political address since he started his five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories Monday
He also urged the international community to use its "influence to bear in favour of a just and lasting solution."
The audience of refugees, as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, greeted with applause an indirect reference to the Palestinian demand for the return of refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
In the reference, Benedict expressed solidarity with "all the homeless Palestinians who long to be able to return to their birthplace, or to live permanently in a homeland of their own."
