TEL AVIV (CWNews.com) - A dispute over a mosque in the Israeli town of Tiberias will receive international attention on Friday when Pope John Paul II celebrates Mass nearby at the Mount of the Beatitudes.

    Israeli Arabs have recently begun returning to Tiberias on Fridays to pray in the mosque there, abandoned since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Last Friday, fighting broke out between Muslims and Jewish residents seeking to prevent them from returning. On Tuesday, police asked the Muslims not to pray at the mosque Friday, but the group refused.

    "We asked (the Muslims) not to come, and we spoke to them to make sure the pope's visit will not be disturbed," police spokesman Boaz Goldberg said. He would not say what police planned to do if the Muslims insist on praying.

    A spokesman for the town said no Arabs lived in Tiberias and the prayers at the mosque are a pure provocation. He said residents will continue to prevent Muslims from praying there.