Palestinians build a theater beside the Israeli separation wall in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, April 30, for the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope will visit the West Bank refugee camp on May 13 after a mass in Manger Square. (UPI Photo/Debbie Hill) | License Photo

Palestinians build a theater beside the Israeli separation wall in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, April 30, for the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope will visit the West Bank refugee camp on May 13 after a mass in Manger Square. (UPI Photo/Debbie Hill) | License Photo

U.S. President George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI greet members of the media as they walk through the colonnade of the Rose Garden on their way to a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on April 16, 2008. This is the Pope's first visit to the United States and only the second visit in history by a Pope to the White House. (UPI Photo/Roger L. Wollenberg) | License Photo

Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges the crowd after delivering mass at Nationals Park in Washington on April 17, 2008. Approximately 50,000 people are expected in attendance for the Pope's mass. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch) | License Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Israeli President Shimon Peres, right, arrive to a ceremony marking Holocaust Memorial Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, April 21, 2009. Israelis remember the six million Jews killed by Nazis during the Holocaust on the annual Holocaust Memorial Day. (UPI Photo/Debbie Hill) | License Photo

Israeli President Shimon Peres (L) shakes hands with incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R), as Knesset (Israeli Parliament) speaker Reuven Rivlin looks on, during a handover ceremony at Peres' residence in Jerusalem on April 1, 2009. (UPI Photo/Menahem Kahana/Pool) | License Photo

JERUSALEM, May 4 (UPI) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres says the sovereignty of Christian sites in Israel should be turned over to the Vatican, a gesture facing strong opposition.

A spokesman for Interior Minister Eli Yishai said he was not prepared to give up Israeli sovereignty, "even if it is only symbolic," Haaretz reported Monday.


Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov questioned the proposal from Peres, saying there are no guarantees such a "great gift" would increase tourism by Christian pilgrims, Haaretz reported.

"If we were sure that this great gift to the Christian world would bring millions of Christian pilgrims here, then we would have a good reason to think about (agreeing to the demand)," Misezhnikov said. "But since we are not certain that this will happen, why should we hand out gifts?"

The issue has resurfaced as Israel prepares for a visit from Pope Benedict XVI next week. The Vatican has requested sovereignty over six sites in Israel including the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Mount Tabor and Jerusalem's Coenaculum on Mount Zion, the reported location of Jesus Christ's Last Supper.

The Jerusalem Post said the remaining Christian sites in Israel being sought by the Vatican are the Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and the Church of the Multiplication.