An armed Israeli Border Policeman scans the crowd of Christians gathered March 25 in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation (behind) along the route that Pope John Paul II will travel in a short while to deliver mass in the Basilica. The area below the Basilica decorated with Islamic flags is earmarked to become a small mosque to satisfy local Moslem demands over ownership of the land in the town of Jesus' boyhood. A row errupted a few months ago over the right to build a mosque adjacent to the Basilica and threatened at one point to disturb the Pope's planned visit to the Holy Land.

JWH