By Thomas O'Dwyer


Pope John Paul II arrives today, but yesterday he set the tone of his visit at Mount Nebo.

Yet many Israelis still do not get it - eyes have they and see not, they have ears and hear not. The Pope is not coming today as a Crusader, or an Inquisitor, or a missionary, or an agent of Yasser Arafat. He is coming as a pilgrim, an old and holy man - but no one's fool for all that.

The Pope is not coming to Israel to squabble with the Jews over history. This is a man who almost single-handedly has metamorphosed Catholicism from a religion that held Jews in contempt to one that fights anti-Semitism and embraces the Jews as brothers of Christianity's founder.

The late Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder, editor in chief of Encyclopaedia Judaica, constantly asserted that under John Paul II "the Catholic Church has not only ceased to be part of the problem of anti-Semitism, it has become part of the solution." It may be that many Jews and Catholics still do not accept that - but it is a fact nonetheless, and it secures John Paul a significant place in history.

By concentrating on the "incidents" surrounding the papal visit here - vandalizing at the Mount Scopus helipad, graffiti, the controversy over the Magen David Adom emblem, the "pontifications" of various rabbis for and against - the Israeli public may miss a rare opportunity to learn a little more about the beliefs of the people that John Paul II leads.

From the sunny top of Mount Nebo yesterday, with its warm spring breeze and flourishing greenery, it was possible to share some of the perspective the Pope has brought to his pilgrimage. The pontiff makes masterly use of the symbols that are the signposts of his faith. The context of his journey does not exclude the narrow path of Jewish-Christian dialogue, where nudging elbows are more common than helping hands. But it is not the whole story, as the vista from the top of Nebo should have reminded everyone.

Pope John Paul II's journey is not a tourist trip, and Israel is only part of it. Denied an opportunity to visit Iraq, the Pope last week made what he called a "spiritual pilgrimage" to Ur, the home of Abraham. He mentioned that at mount Nebo yesterday, along with his trip to Mount Sinai, where Moses received the law.

His pilgrimage is a symbolic journey through the history of Jews and Christians from Abraham through Moses to Jesus, reconnecting the fates and faiths of the Old and New Testaments.

Jordan was the inspired starting point for a very simple reason - it is the only known place in this region through which passed some of the great commonly-shared prophets - Abraham, Moses, Elijah - and on to John the Baptist's greeting of Jesus at the start of his mission.

Today, before traveling on to Israel, John Paul will end his 27-hour stay with prayers at Wadi Kharrar on the east Bank of the River Jordan, one of the most likely sites where tradition and the New Testament suggest that Jesus was baptized. The Pope will bless some water and douse the faithful at a brief ceremony.

There was heavy symbolism too in the Pope gazing toward the Promised Land, as well as much emotion and a hint of sadness. In Christian belief, heaven is of course the final promised land and, however long John Paul lives, it was clear to all present that he would never stand on Mount Nebo again. This was his symbolic glimpse of a promised land that even the best Christian can never be certain of entering.

The visit to this site was private, but thanks to the media the world could see the pontiff's deep personal emotion when he knelt to pray at the ancient Basilica of the Memorial to Moses.

For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, the pilgrimage of the Pope will have many inspiring and even poetic moments as he journeys through Israel - especially for the Christians walking in the footsteps of the man who is walking in the footsteps of the man they believe he represents on earth.

There will of course be the cacophony of politics and "incidents" without which this wouldn't be Israel - but it would be a pity if the true spirit of the week is lost in the noise.

The Pope himself is no pious fool, however. Having established that his primary purpose in making the journey is to renew the wellsprings of his faith, he still made pointed comments about justice and "the rights of peoples" being absolutely imperative for comprehensive peace in the region. It was a statement grounded in papal morality but bristling with political suggestiveness.

A spokeswoman for Prince Hassan's Royal Interfaith Institute summed it up: "The Pope's primary mission is spiritual, but he will not hesitate to promote advances in the dignity of every human person in this Holy Land."

We can expect more of the same in Israel - personal pilgrimage and piety notwithstanding. The man who faced down first Nazism and then Communism - and dissident fellow Catholics too - may have come for a glimpse of the Promised Land, but this is not a person to go gently into any dark night.

In that, he truly is following in the footsteps of some very awkward characters from this region - Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, to name but a few.

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