Israel will deploy 80,000 security officers as part of "Operation White Cloak" — protecting Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the Holy Land next week, police said Wednesday.The pontiff will visit Israel and the West Bank during his five-day tour that begins Monday.
Israeli police commissioner Dudi Cohen called the visit a "historic event that is very complex from a security aspect."
He said 80,000 security personnel will be deployed to secure the pope's tour, including 60,000 police officers. The rest will be secret service agents and soldiers, he said.
Pope Benedict XVI will be the second pontiff to make an official visit to Israel. His predecessor, John-Paul II, arrived in 2000 for a millennium year tour. Also, in 1964, Pope Paul VI crossed into Israel unofficially for a few hours.
Israeli and Palestinian officials are feverishly completing arrangements for the visit.
In Jerusalem, the pope will visit the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray, the Western Wall in the Old City; the Dome of the Rock, a main Muslim shrine, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial.
The pope will celebrate open air Mass in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth.
Cohen said more than 30 thousand officers will be deployed in Jerusalem alone.
Briefing reporters about security plans, the commissioner said there were no specific intelligence warnings of attacks on the pope during his visit but noted, "terrorism is a reality Israel copes with all year round."
He said the security forces involved in "Operation White Cloak" have been training for months and will use new technology, but he refused to elaborate.
Police said they will close streets to traffic and tow cars parked along routes where the pope will be passing. For security reasons, the pope will use his famous "Popemobile" only for a short trip inside Nazareth on his way to Mass there, police said.
There are about 160,000 Christians in the Holy Land. About 110,000 of them live inside Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and 3,800 in Gaza.
Police said more than 10,000 West Bank Christians will be given special travel permits to attend papal events.
They said they are still considering whether Gaza Christians would be given access, because of concerns that the violent Islamic Hamas rulers of Gaza would try to exploit the permits to sneak militants into Israel.
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Source (AP)
SV (ED)