World Notes ISRAEL

He called it a Christmas pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But Archbishop Desmond Tutu has never allowed his religious calling to prevent him from actively engaging in politics in South Africa, his home, and he behaved no differently abroad. To the studied discomfort of the Israeli government, which maintains close ties to Pretoria, Tutu used his visit to the Jewish state to air some outspokenly pro-Palestinian views.

He voiced support for "the struggle of the Palestinians to have a Palestinian state," implicitly backing the two-year-old intifadeh. He spoke of "worrisome parallels" between conditions in the Israeli-occupied territories and South Africa's black townships. And he outraged Jewish sensibilities by urging Israelis to forgive those responsible for the Holocaust. Most Israeli officials declined to meet with Tutu, accusing him of harboring anti-Jewish prejudices. Protestors scrawled "black Nazi pig" on the wall of the church where Tutu was staying. Said the Archbishop: "If I am accused of being antiSemitic, tough luck."