c. 1999 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ Thousands of Muslims Tuesday (Nov. 23) attended a dedication ceremony for the construction of a controversial new mosque adjacent to Nazareth’s Basilica of the Annunciation, while Christian sites in the Holy Land remained closed for a second day in protest.

Top Israeli and Palestinian representatives both stayed away from the ceremony unveiling a cornerstone for the new mosque _ whose construction was approved by Israel against opposition from the Vatican and local Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian church leaders.

The dispute has prompted Vatican warnings that Pope John Paul II might skip Nazareth during his expected visit to the Holy Land in late March. U.S. Roman Catholic bishops have also voiced their displeasure over the mosque construction.

Surrounded by green flags signifying Islamic renewal, Nazareth’s Muslims listened to Koranic recitations and speeches by local Islamic leaders lauding the construction as a turning point in the city’s history.

Muslims claim the mosque site is holy land because it is the burial place of Shahab el-Din, a nephew of Saladin, the Muslim warrior who drove the Christian Crusaders out of the Holy Land some 800 years ago.”With our blood and spirit, we will redeem you, Shahab el-Din,”the Muslim crowd chanted as a green cloth was removed from the cornerstone.

Meanwhile, Palestinian and regional Arab public opinion seemed to be gradually building against the construction plans _ which some see as threatening generations of peaceful coexistence between Muslim and Christian Arabs in the Holy Land.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz has reportedly offered to finance the construction of a mosque elsewhere in Nazareth if the plan to build alongside the basilica is abandoned. The basilica stands on the site where Christians believe the Virgin Mary was told by the Angel Gabriel that she would give birth to Jesus.

The prince’s initiative, reported by the Palestinian Wafa news agency, was greeted by local Christian leaders as a way out of the impasse.

Muslims, who constitute a majority of Nazareth’s citizens today, have long felt oppressed by the influential Christian Arab minority whose churches,schools and monasteries dominate the historic city skyline.

But Salman Abu Ahmed, leader of the United List Islamic renewal party in Nazareth, denied that construction of the 700-square-foot mosque on the strategic half-acre parcel next to the basilica had soured relations between Nazareth’s Muslim and Christian residents.”I can clarify to everyone that there is no tension in Nazareth,”said Abu Ahmed.”Even some Christians are participating in the ceremony with us.” Monday, however, Jerusalem’s Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch Michel Sabbah described the Muslim act as a”provocation”that he blamed on the Israeli government. The government, he said, had permitted a small group of Muslims to camp on the site, which is state-owned, for nearly two years, effectively legitimizing their claims to the land.”If such a crisis had happened in a Jewish city, it wouldn’t have lasted more than a few hours,”added Wadie Abu Nasser, a spokesman for Sabbah.”The same thing could be said if this had happened in an Arab country. There are many questions about why this dispute was extended for two years in Nazareth.” Many Christian Arabs here believe that Israel’s government permitted the mosque development largely to gain the political favor of the numerically dominant Muslim Arab population in Israel.

Israel’s Minister of Internal Security Shlomo Ben Ami has consistently denied that charge, saying that the decision to permit the mosque construction was made after extensive government deliberations over the fate of the parcel, which had originally been designated for a millennial pilgrims’ plaza.

Israel, Ben Ami said, remains committed to”safeguarding the interests and the freedom of the access of Christians to the basilica.” But other Israeli politicians, as well as observers in Nazareth, have insisted that the decision did have political roots. On the eve of elections last May, those sources claim, workers for the competing Likud and Labor parties both suggested to Muslim voters in the Nazareth area that they would move forward with the mosque if their party won the elections.

Christians _ most of them Arabs _ comprise less than 3 percent of Israel’s population.

Meanwhile, tourists in Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and elsewhere in the Holy Land were disappointed for a second day when they showed up at churches and other Christian sites and found them locked in protest of Israel’s decision to allow construction of the mosque.

IR END FLETCHER