JERUSALEM (CNS): US President George W Bush told residents of the West Bank city of Bethlehem he hoped someday the creation of an independent Palestinian state would eliminate checkpoints and walls at the Israeli border.
“Someday I hope that, as a result of a formation of a Palestinian state, there won’t be walls and checkpoints, that people will be able to move freely in a democratic state,” Mr Bush said on January 10 during his visit to the birthplace of Jesus.
“That’s the vision, greatly inspired by my belief that there is an Almighty, and a gift of that Almighty to each man, woman and child on the face of the earth is freedom. And I felt it strongly here today.”
Bethlehem residents have said a wall surrounding the city has left them feeling imprisoned.
Israel says the wall has proven its effectiveness against suicide bombers.
Mr Bush thanked the residents of Bethlehem for “enduring a presidential trip,” and thanked the leadership of the three churches – Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic – who share in the care of the Church of the Nativity for welcoming him.
Following two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Mr Bush spent one-and-a-half hours in Bethlehem visiting the church. He was accompanied by Palestinian Tourism Minister Kholoud Daybis and Church leaders of the three denominations that share authority over the church.
Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who heads the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, was the Catholic representative.
Mr Bush called his visit to the church “a moving moment.”
“For those of us who practice the Christian faith, there’s really no more holy site than the place where our Savior was born,” he said.
As elsewhere during the president’s three-day visit to the Holy Land, security was high in Bethlehem.
Mr Bush visited the Church of the Nativity, then went down to the grotto underneath where Christian tradition holds the Jesus was born, Fr Dides said. He also spent time at the Franciscan-run St Catherine Church.
