Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Hardball theopolitics

Sunday, Feb. 27, 2000 | 9:50 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

Despite an attempt by most Americans not to mix politics and religion, the recent Republican presidential primary in South Carolina showed a heavy mixture of the two. This is often true for both political parties when campaigning in the so-called Bible Belt.

No political campaign in the United States even comes close to the mixing with religion that takes place in parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In the 1999 Israeli elections at least two religious parties had an impact. Last week in Iran, the election was a religious struggle. When the Vatican enters the political field there is also a mixture of religion and politics unlike any other situation. Many popes are skilled in diplomacy, theology and politics.

Some theologians eagerly point out that religious leaders not only have the right, they have the responsibility to enter political frays when religious matters are affected by the results. For this reason, some would justify the recent agreement signed by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Pope John Paul II, which is designed to protect religious freedom and the legal status of Christian churches.

For years Christians have been slowly but surely driven from places like Bethlehem by Islamic leaders keeping them from selling land and property to other Christians. Arab Christians have fallen victim to the rule of Muslim extremists throughout the Middle East and their numbers continue to decrease. This has been of concern to the Vatican and other Christian religions with roots in that part of the world.

So why does the pope sign an agreement with a Muslim leader like Arafat? Certainly the government of Israel has been extremely protective of Christian pilgrims visiting both the birthplace and tomb of Jesus Christ. Even during the bloody Palestinian intifada in 1988 it was Israeli soldiers who guaranteed the safety of pilgrims to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the site of Christ's birth in Bethlehem. Now the Vatican believes its agreement with Arafat and a potential Palestinian state will give Christians guarantees that they have been given by no other Muslim country. The agreement goes even further by siding with the Palestinians in their quest to have a piece of Jerusalem for their capital.

This bold political move by the pope shouldn't come as any surprise to Israel and other Middle East observers. Although Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations six years ago, there have not been any provisions made to safeguard church property and rights in any discussions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

What has taken place during the past year has been the Israeli governments of both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and more recently Prime Minister Ehud Barak going along with the Muslim activists who will be building a mosque in front of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Netanyahu did it for political gain during the 1999 elections and Barak has continued the mishandling of the situation. This followed the riots last Easter when Muslim activists attacked Arab Christians coming from church. Despite there being no legal or religious Muslim claim on the ground in front of the church, the Israeli government went along with the activists' demands.

Guess what? Arafat and several moderate Muslim leaders wisely filled the vacuum created by Israel and requested the activists build the mosque in another part of Nazareth. Their requests carried no weight and were ignored. The Palestinian leader had played his political cards wisely and the irritated Vatican saw the former terrorist as a possible voice of moderation in addition to eventually being an authority over many Christian sites.

During the week of March 20-26, the Holy Land will be visited by the pope, with religion and politics headlining news reports coming from that small part of the Middle East. Five weeks before this scheduled visit, a shrewd Arafat went to the Vatican and scored a political victory the Israeli government handed him by its own lack of action.

I'm not an expert on either politics or prayers, but even I can see that right now Arafat is leading politically 1-0.