Palestinian Wah Machine in good order for Pope

The Palestinians are apparently physically incapable of doing anything but complaining about, well, everything. The hypocrites who are responsible for the mass emigration of Christians from the West Bank and Gaza are pretending that they give a damn about Christian holy sites while the Pope visits Israel.

Palestinian officials are using Pope Benedict XVI’s visit next week to spotlight their disputes with Israel, and in doing so, are drawing criticism that they are playing politics with an event meant to bridge differences in the Holy Land.

Palestinian leaders this week made public a long-simmering dispute over Israeli plans to demolish part of a Catholic church that was allegedly built illegally. That followed an argument with Israel over a plan to host the pope in an outdoor theater the Palestinians were building alongside Israel’s massive West Bank separation barrier.

Note that the AP’s adjective, “massive,” suits only a tiny proportion of the separation fence. Most of it is, well, a fence. Less than ten percent is concrete. But of course, the AP puts that fact far below the lead (above).

[…] On Wednesday, Rafiq Husseini, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told a news conference the pontiff “should come to see the suffering of the Palestinian people and not just to see the stones and historical churches in Palestine.”

Husseini said Palestinian officials would raise a list of grievances with the pope, including Israeli restrictions on access of Palestinian Muslims and Christians to places of worship in Jerusalem.

And again, the Palestinians don’t give a damn about Christian holy sites, except to use as grievances against Israel. For instance, a two-year-old demolition order that’s being negotiated between Israel and Christian authorities is suddenly a Palestinian grievance:

Abdel Qader did not explicitly say the pope’s visit was behind his decision to announce the demolition order now, two years after Israeli authorities issued the order.

But both Jerusalem City Hall and church officials said they have been working quietly to resolve the dispute and criticized Abdel Qader for taking the issue public. Both sides suggested the church would be able to seek retroactive approval for the additional floors, which contain rooms for monks and church workers.

And the Israelis are calling them on it:

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor accused the Palestinians of trying to reap “propaganda gains” from the pope’s visit. “It will serve the cause of peace much better if this visit is taken for what it is, a pilgrimage, a visit for the cause of peace and unity,” he said.

As for the Pope himself:

The pope will start his five-day visit Monday after a stop in Jordan over the weekend. He said he will be visiting as a “pilgrim of peace.”

Yeah, but the Wah Machine is in full crisis mode. Expect more Wah stories from the Wah-er services.