Sabbah said the Pope planned to meet with Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem, and with the Israeli president and prime minister. He will visit the Holocaust memorial, Yad V'Shem. The issue of Jerusalem remains a particularly sensitive one between the two parties. Like most of the international community, the Vatican does not recognize Israel's right to call the city its capital. When he visits the walled Old City, the Pope will be not be accompanied by Israeli political figures.
Christians are a small minority of the population in the Middle East.
Roughly half of those are Catholics. In Israel, about 10,000 Christians are expatriates, while the majority are Christian Arabs. Pope Paul VI was the first and only other Pontiff to visit the Holy Land. The PA did not exist. The Pope may add a first-ever trip to Egypt at the end of his Holy Land pilgrimage or he may visit Egypt at the end of February.