TEL AVIV, Israel — Pope Benedict XVI arrived here on Monday (May 11) and quickly condemned anti-Semitism while calling for reconciliation in the fractiousMiddle East.

“The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” said Benedict at this city’s airport, where he was welcomed by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own, within secure and internationally recognized borders,” the pope said.

The 82-year-old pontiff is on the second leg of a weeklong pilgrimage to the Holy Land. During a three-day visit to Jordan that concluded Sunday, Benedict praised the interfaith efforts of King Abdullah II and appealed to the region’s millions of Muslims.

“My visit to Jordan gives me a welcome opportunity to speak of my deep respect for the Muslim community, and to pay tribute to the leadership shown by his majesty the king in promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam,” the pope said.

During Benedict’s first papal visit to the Middle East, he also visited a Catholic center for the disabled, a site on the Jordan River where many believe Jesus was baptized, and Mount Nebo, from which Moses viewed the Promised Land, according to the Bible.

But on Benedict’s first day in Israel, Bible history took a back seat to geopolitics and the continuing turmoil over his rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop in January. Jews worldwide were outraged when the pope welcomed Bishop Richard Williamson, an excommunicated priest who has questioned the extent of Jewish deaths during the Holocaust, back into the church.

The Vatican has since demanded that Williamson apologize and correct his remarks.

As soon as Benedict stepped foot on Israeli soil, the German-born pontiff condemned anti-Semitism.

“Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism wherever it is found, and to promote respect and esteem for the members of every people, tribe, language and nation across the globe,” he said.

The theme resurfaced at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, where the pope met six Holocaust survivors and a Christian who risked his life to save Jews.

“May the names of these victims never perish. May their suffering never be denied, belittled or forgotten,” the pope said at the foot of a memorial that contains the ashes of some of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, chairman of the Yad Vashem Council and a childhood survivor of a Nazi death camp, said Benedict’s speech “was important” because the pope “stressed the prohibition to deny the Holocaust, to diminish from it, or forget it. These three `do nots’ are very important, especially in an atmosphere of Holocaust denial,” Lau told Israel TV.

Even so, Lau said the speech lacked some key elements.

“There was no mention of the Germans, or Nazis, who carried out the massacre…. He never said six million,” Lau added. “I missed hearing, `I’m sorry, I apologize.”‘

The Vatican and Jews also disagree about the actions of Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust. Benedict calls Pius a “great churchman” and supports his candidacy for sainthood. Jewish leaders say the former pope failed to use his moral platform to fight the Nazis.

On Tuesday the pope is expected to meet with the mufti of Jerusalem, pray at the Western Wall and visit the Church of the Dormition. He will end the day with a Mass at the Garden of Gethsemane. He will go to Bethlehem on Wednesday and Nazareth on Thursday.

“I take my place in a long line of Christian pilgrims to these shores, a line that stretches back to the earliest centuries of the church’s history and which, I am sure, will continue long into the future,” Benedict said here on Monday. “I come, like so many others before me, to pray at the holy places, to pray especially for peace — peace here in the Holy Land, and peace throughout the world.”

Benedict also tried to repair interfaith relations in Jordan, three years after he angered Muslims by quoting a medieval text that refers to Islam as “evil and inhuman.” The pope later apologized for causing offense and the Vatican is involved in a high-level dialogue with dozens of Muslim scholars.

In Jordan the pope commended Muslims for trying to “curb extremism” and promoting understanding between people of various faiths.

At an open-air Mass attended by about 30,000 Catholics, Benedict acknowledged the many challenges they face.

“The Catholic community here is deeply touched by the difficulties and uncertainties which affect the people of the Middle East. May you never forget the great dignity which derives from your Christian heritage, or fail to sense the loving solidarity of all your brothers and sisters in the church throughout the world.”