World

Vatican Angry Over Nazareth

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 22, 1999 / 11:23 AM EST / CBS

The Vatican Tuesday bluntly accused the Israeli government of fomenting religious divisions by allowing a mosque to be built in Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus.

Chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls made his accusations in a statement issued on the day a cornerstone of the controversial mosque was to be unveiled.

Undeterred by Christian protests that shuttered key holy sites, Muslims in the town of Jesus' boyhood Tuesday unveiled the massive cornerstone for a mosque next to a major Christian shrine, the Basilica of the Annunciation.

Several thousand Islamic activists held prayers and listened to speeches before the uncovering of the slab of yellowed stone, draped in a green cloth embroidered with a Koranic verse. "God is great!" some of the celebrants chanted, while others shook their fists in the air.

Christian leaders in the Holy Land ordered all churches to close on Monday and Tuesday in protest of an Israeli decision last month to approve the construction of a mosque in next to the main church in Nazareth.

CBS News Correspondent Jesse Schulman reports that Israeli officials agreed to the mosque after a two-year Islamic pray-in on the disputed site and an outbreak of Muslim-Christian violence in the town last Easter.

The Israeli government has tried to cool passions - any hint of conflict could dash hopes for a millennium tourism boom.

But Israel's efforts have thus far left the Jewish State caught in the verbal crossfire between Muslims, Christians and the visiting faithful, who are left praying before closed church doors.

The Vatican had threatened the pope might cancel his planned millennium trip to the Holy Land in protest. But just last week, the Vatican announced the pope's pilgrimage will go ahead.

But whether the pontiff visits Nazareth is still an open question.

Dozens of workers had labored into the night under floodlights at the site, next to the basilica, marking the spot where tradition says the Angel Gabriel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus.

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Celebrating the unveiling of the cornerstone, in the shadow of the Basilica of the Annunciation.

When the green cloth was removed, fireworks lit the late afternoon sky and the crowd chanted, "With our blood and spirit, we will redeem you, Shahab el-Din!" Shahab el-Din, a 12th-century Muslim sage and deputy of the anti-Crusader hero Saladin, is said to be buried at the site.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had asked church leaders not to include in the strike churches in territories under Palestinian control, suc as in Bethlehem, which is gearing up for millennium celebrations some 40 days away.

But bolted doors at the three main Christian shrines in the Holy Land -- the Church of the Nativity, Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Nazareth's Basilica of the Annunciation -- brought tears to the eyes of pilgrims.

"It's our Jesus. We want to see the place where he was," complained German tourist Renate Borchers outside the basilica.