wfn.org | Churches Question Whether Holy Land Is Ready for Pilgrims

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26-February-1999 
99086 
 
    Churches Question Whether Holy Land Is Ready 
    for Six Million Pilgrims 
 
    by Ross Dunn 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
JERUSALEM--After spending nearly a week in the Holy Land, Barry Weetman was 
tempted to conclude that fellow Christians would be well advised to stay 
away from the region during the year 2000 celebrations. 
 
    Weetman was one of 500 clergy, theologians and Christian journalists 
from around the world who attended a conference in Israel last week to 
observe and discuss preparations for celebrations of the 2000th anniversary 
of the birth of Jesus Christ. Millions of pilgrims are expected 
to arrive here to celebrate. 
 
    The Israeli and Palestinian ministries of tourism, which hosted the 
conference, clearly hoped that delegates would return home with a more 
optimistic view. 
 
    "My impression is neither the Palestinians nor Israelis are ready," 
Weetman, a journalist and Methodist lay preacher from the United Kingdom, 
told ENI. "I don't think they have prepared the [holy] sites well enough. 
The infrastructure such as toilets can't cope. When 500 of us showed up in 
one day, we started to overcrowd." 
 
    He said difficulties would be far worse next year when many tour groups 
were expected to visit holy sites around the country. 
 
    Weetman said that the situation was particularly acute in Nazareth -- 
the village in Galilee, in northern Israel, where Jesus spent his childhood 
-- which is still in the process of being redeveloped for the year 2000 
celebrations. 
 
    "There did not seem to be many parking places. I think even if they 
improve [Nazareth] and complete the road works, [Nazareth] won't cope, even 
though they have spent many millions of dollars on it," he said. 
 
    Nazareth is one of the three main places for Christian pilgrimage. The 
others are Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, and Jerusalem, where he was 
crucified, buried and rose from the dead. 
 
    Jerusalem, like Nazareth, is under Israeli jurisdiction. But Bethlehem, 
in the West Bank, is under the control of the Palestinian Authority, and to 
reach it, one has to pass through Israeli military checkpoints. 
Palestinians claim this means they are still under occupation. 
 
    "I felt sorry for the Palestinians," Weetman told ENI. "There is a lot 
of feeling for them. They did well with their presentation [at a seminar on 
their preparations for the year 2000]. But I felt [Bethlehem] left a lot to 
be desired in terms of organization. And again the facilities were not too 
good." 
 
    Asked what he would advise fellow Methodists, he replied: "I am almost 
inclined to say `come the year after,' but I think they [the local 
organizers] will catch up to some extent. And if things are prepared well 
in advance, then it might not be as bad as I make it sound. But if they try 
to jam too many [people] in, that's when they will get this log-jam 
effect." 
 
    Another delegate who had reservations about the preparations was 
Marieke den Hartog, a Dutch Reformed Protestant. 
 
    She said there was a lot of goodwill between Israelis and Palestinians 
to work together to promote the year 2000 celebrations. 
 
    "But whether they are ready for it, I am not sure. A [Palestinian] 
tourist operator from Bethlehem told me: `The peace process [with Israel] 
started too late for us, so we are not really ready for the year 2000, but 
we will see what we can do," Den Hartog told ENI. 
 
    According to Monsignor Librio Andriatta, the director of the Vatican's 
official travel agency, up to six million Christian pilgrims will visit the 
Holy Land to celebrate the year 2000. He called on Israel to take special 
care when checking on the pilgrims as they crossed through military areas 
en route to holy sites in the West Bank. 
 
    "It is important that the tourists feel secure and as welcome guests 
when they arrive at the various crossing points," Andriatta said. 
 
    Shabtai Shai, director of Israel's Tourism Ministry, told the gathering 
that hundreds of millions of dollars had been invested to prepare the 
infrastructure for pilgrims next year. But, he said, even with such 
expenditure Israel could not cope with too many visitors. 
 
    "We have the infrastructure for four million tourists," he said. "If 
six million arrive, this would create problems in some places." 
 
    He and other officials said the ministry was working on an "ecumenical 
basis," and rejected reports in the Israeli media that the conference and 
the year 2000 celebrations were "primarily a Catholic affair." 
 
    While the Roman Catholic Church has its own calendar of events to 
celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, the calendar 
includes interfaith activities and ecumenical prayer services. 
 
    Protestant and Orthodox churches will hold their own celebrations, but 
will sometimes invite other churches to participate or attend certain 
events, including processions to holy sites. 

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