Poe's trip to Syria becomes Arab obsession

A prominent Syrian historian said today that US and European Zionists prodded the Vatican into absolving Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus and that the Roman Catholic church has fallen under Jewish influence.

His remarks come as Pope John Paul II prepares to visit Syria today.

Like many Arabs, Syrians sometimes seem obsessed with trying to detect signs of what they believe is a ‘‘Jewish lobby’’ with vast, worldwide influence, US-Middle East policies, Western news reporting and deals by multinational companies are favourite objects of their scrutiny.

Now that Pope John Paul is visiting Syria, his attempts to make peace with Judaism and other faiths have become the latest target. The criticism of his actions began even before his arrival on a four-day visit.

Soheil Zakar, one of Syria’s top historians, recently argued that ‘‘immense pressure’’ by American and European Zionist groups forced the Vatican in 1965 to absolve the Jews from the ‘‘historical responsibility’’ for the death of Jesus.

‘‘It is like a pope who comes along and says: ‘I don’t care about the historical side of Christianity and I am only concerned with the creation of a new Christianity for a new world,’’’ said Zakar, a Muslim whose 1983 book, Popes from the Jewish Ghetto, claims that three medieval popes were of Jewish origin.

The Greek Catholic Bishop of Damascus, Isidore Battikha, whose church recognises the primacy of the pope, said such charges against the Vatican ‘‘are fantasies. Wrong fantasies.’’

‘‘It is true that his holiness the pope has apologised to the Jews, but he also apologised for all the wrongs of the church in its history,’’ Battikha said.

Arabs’ concern some would call it paranoia over what the world’s Jews are doing is a by-product of the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict.

This obsession has led to accusations by Israel and sometimes the US that the media in Syria, Egypt and other Arab lands are anti-Jewish.

Arab defenders maintain that what the critics see as anti-Jewish is really aimed at treatment of the Palestinians.