Pope also chose to arrive in West Bank from Jordan rather than via Israel in a symbolic nod towards Palestinian statehood

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Pope Francis has called the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians unacceptable, as he landed in the West Bank town of Bethlehem in a symbolic nod to Palestinian aspirations for their own state.

Jubilant, flag-waving crowds greeted the pope on the second day of his Middle East pilgrimage, which featured a mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity. Giant Palestinian flags in red, white, green and black hung alongside the yellow and white of the Vatican's.

Previous popes have always visited Tel Aviv on their way to the West Bank, but Francis arrived by helicopter directly from Jordan to an official welcoming ceremony and a meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Standing alongside Abbas, the pope said: "The time has come to put an end to this situation, which has become increasingly unacceptable." He said both sides needed to make sacrifices to create two states with internationally recognised borders, based on mutual security and rights for everyone.

"The time has come for everyone to find the courage to be generous and creative in the service of the common good," he said.

Abbas voiced his concern about the recent breakdown of US-backed talks and lamented the difficult conditions facing the Palestinians. He also expressed hope for peace.

"Your visit is loaded with symbolic meaning as a defender of the poor and the marginalised," he said.

Abbas listed a series of complaints against Israel, including continued settlement construction, the plight of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, its control of east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' would-be capital, and the construction of the "ugly wall" that encircles Bethlehem.

"We welcome any initiative from you to make peace a reality in the Holy Land," Abbas said. "I am addressing our neighbours, the Israelis. We are looking for the same thing that you are looking for, which is safety, security and stability."

Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by Israel's separation barrier, which Tel Aviv says is a necessary security measure. The Palestinians say it has engulfed land across the West Bank and stifled life in Bethlehem. After meeting Abbas, Francis stepped out of his vehicle to inspect the barrier.

He spent a few minutes at the wall, surrounded by Palestinians waving Vatican flags and taking pictures with their mobile phones.

Security was lax by papal standards, even for a pope who has shunned the armoured popemobile that his predecessors used on foreign trips.

Palestinian officials welcomed Francis's decision to come directly to Bethlehem and to refer to the "state of Palestine".

"The fact that he is coming straight from Jordan to Bethlehem without going through Israel" is a tacit recognition of a Palestinian state, said Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Christian who is a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

In November 2012, the UN general assembly overwhelmingly recognised a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, land Israel captured in the 1967 war, as a non-member observer.

The recognition has little meaning on the ground, with Israel in full control of east Jerusalem and the West Bank, but it has enabled the Palestinians to start seeking membership of UN agencies and accede to international conventions. Israel objects to the Palestinian campaign, saying it is an attempt to bypass negotiations.

Francis is expected to press the Vatican's call for a two-state solution when he arrives in Israel. He is also expected to offer a word of encouragement to Palestinian Christians, whose numbers have been dwindling as the conflict drags on.

Christians make up around 2% of the population of the Holy Land, down from about 10% when the state of Israel was established. In Bethlehem, they make up less than a third of the population, down from 75% a few decades ago.

Police arrested 26 Israelis on Sunday for throwing stones at officers and causing disturbances at a holy site in Jerusalem where the pope will celebrate mass at the end of his trip, spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld said 150 people demonstrated in response to rumours that Israel would give the Vatican control of the site, which according to Catholic tradition marks the Last Supper of Jesus.

Devout Jews believe the biblical King David is buried there, and disapprove of Christian prayer at the site. Israeli officials said there were no plans to turn the site over to the Vatican, but that they may reach a deal to allow more Christian prayer.

The pope's day will see him celebrate mass in Manger Square, where many in the waiting crowd wore black-and-white chequered scarves around their heads or necks, a symbol of the Palestinian cause, and held clusters of balloons in the colours of the two flags.

He is then due to have lunch with Palestinian families and visit a refugee camp before arriving at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport for a welcome ceremony.

His final event of the day will be a prayer service with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

Francis has said the encounter marking the 50th anniversary of a landmark meeting between Pope Paul VI and the ecumenical patriarch, Athenagoras, which ended 900 years of Catholic-Orthodox estrangement, was the primary reason for his three-day pilgrimage.