Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called for establishing a statehood for his people alongside Israel, and Pope Benedict XVI, on a visit to the West Bank, offered Vatican's support for the appeal.

Abbas and the pope held talks in Bethlehem on Wednesday morning, before the pontiff's visit to the Church of Nativity and a Palestinian refugee camp for families who fled what is now Israel in 1948.

"It is time for ending the suffering of the Palestinian people and reaching a fair peace based on the two-state solution," Abbas said when receiving the pope at the Palestinian presidency headquarters in the holy city.

"Our people are still looking for justice and seek a just peace," Abbas added.

The pope delivered support for the Palestinians' right of having a homeland. "The Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, and within internationally recognized borders," he said.

The pontiff also drew attention to the plight of the Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip controlled by Islamic Hamas movement, saying his heart was with the families who have lost so much due to the recent hostilities.

"In a special way my heart goes out to the pilgrims from war-torn Gaza," he said later at an open air mass in Bethlehem attended by thousands of pilgrims, including those from Gaza.

"I ask you to bring back to your families and your communities my warm embrace and my sorrow for the loss, the hardship and the suffering you have had to endure," he said.

The German-born pope, who is on a visit to the region for the first time, was referring to a massive 22-day Israeli military offensive against the coastal enclave during which more than 1,300Palestinians were killed.

The pope's pilgrimage to Bethlehem, the town of Jerus' birth, was welcomed in public ceremonies with loudspeakers chanting for his life when his convey drove in the street.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2009)