Nazareth strike in spotlight as pope's visit nears

"The whole world will be watching us, and it's a disgrace for us to be seen this way!" said Nazareth's mayor, Ramez Jeraisi, on Tuesday.

Just down the hill from City Hall, a knot of striking workers, including trash collectors, waved signs protesting two months of missed paychecks. Pope or no pope, they vowed to stay off the job until they're paid.

In Nazareth, like nearly all the stops on the papal itinerary, a dizzying variety of political disputes threaten to overshadow the historic visit - the first to the Holy Land by a pontiff in 36 years. Many of the grievances being aired have little or nothing to do with John Paul's journey, but the glare of attention surrounding the visit has thrust them messily into the spotlight.

The mayor of Nazareth - a town of 70,000 people nestled in rocky hills just north of the West Bank - spoke of the need to personally explain to the Vatican the complexities of this local labor dispute.

There's much more than uncollected trash at stake here. Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel. Like other Arab municipalities, it claims its money woes stem from discriminatory fiscal policies on the part of the Israeli government against its Arab citizens, who make up 20 percent of the country's population.

"If a similar situation took place in a Jewish town prior to the pope's visit, they would solve it immediately," the mayor said. The government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak was sending an envoy, Cabinet minister Haim Ramon, to try to resolve the dispute before the pope's arrival next week.

In Nazareth, the garbage wars are only one of several ongoing quarrels laid bare by the pope's pilgrimage.

Last year, Muslims - who make up nearly three-quarters of Nazareth's population - laid the cornerstone for a large mosque to be built in the shadow of the Basilica of the Annunciation, revered by many Christians as the site where the Angel Gabriel revealed to the Virgin Mary that she would bear the son of God. During his March 25 visit to the town, the pope is to celebrate Mass at the basilica and hold private prayers in its dimly lit depths.

The planned mosque construction drew sharp objections from the Vatican, and just before Christmas, churches throughout the Holy Land were shuttered for two days to protest the project.

Islamic activists say the pope's visit is a good time to remind Christians they will continue to assert their rights to a larger share of the city's land. Today, the building site is covered with Muslim prayer rugs and aflutter with green Islamic flags.

"The pope is welcome here - he is an important visitor for Nazareth," Sheik Nazim Abu Slein said sternly. "But we have a message for the pope, and that is the message of Islam."

Many Christians fear the growing political clout of Islamic activists - who control Nazareth's City Council and govern in uneasy partnership with the Christian mayor - could help set the stage for sectarian strife. Last Easter, Christian-Muslim tensions boiled over into violence, with clashes and firebombings that left two shops burned and more than a dozen people hurt.

Shopkeeper Joseph Banna, who sells Christian souvenirs across from the mosque site, sometimes wonders whether he can keep his business going.

"But I've been here for 50 years - I live here, and I must keep living here," he said.

Outside the basilica, foreign pilgrims visiting before the pope's trip said they were just as happy to skip the hoopla.

"I'm glad to be here now, not then," said Taren Sterrett, a student from Amsterdam. "It's crowded enough as it is."