JERUSALEM (CWNews.com) - As one protest that could have disrupted the papal visit to Israel ended, another group promised on Friday to protest Pope John Paul II's visit to the Temple Mount.
In Nazareth, garbage workers ended their strike on Thursday that left piles of garbage sitting on the city's streets. The workers were demanding back pay of $3.75 million which the Israeli government agreed to cover.
Nazareth city spokesman Ramzi Hakim said the city had received the money and the workers would return to their jobs Friday. «We will work 24 hours a day in order to prepare the city for the visit of the pope,» he pledged. Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel, with about 70,000 residents.
Meanwhile, a group of extreme nationalist Israelis said they will hold a mass prayer protest at the Temple Mount in an effort to stop the Holy Father from visiting the holiest site in Judaism. The Temple Mount includes the remains of the Jewish Temple as well as the Dome of the Rock, Islam's third holiest shrine. The Pope will meet the Muslim grand mufti at the site.
The group, Zu Artsenu, said it will line the route the Pope will take in a peaceful protest. A spokesman said the meeting will bring to «Judaism's holiest place a representative of the religion that is responsible for rivers of Jewish blood and (a representative of Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat, who has murdered more Jews since World War II than anyone else.»
Ultra-Orthodox rabbis have dismissed the protests against the papal visit by some splinter groups as not representing the majority. The rabbis said they welcome the pontiff, but would prefer he remove his cross while visiting Judaism's holiest site.
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs