BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, John Paul II prayed for Middle East peace once again today, this time in a once-captured Golan Heights city that has become a ghost town. CNN's Jim Bittermann is covering the pope's trip to Syria. And he joins us by phone -- Jim, good morning.</s>JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brian. Syria encourages all tourists to this area to stop by the Quneitra, the city of 53,000 that was captured by the Israelis during the Golan Heights battles during the 1967 war. The citizens were evacuated. And then the city was systematically destroyed. The Syrians believe it symbolizes the kind of suffering that they endured during the war and the kind of suffering they continue to endure because of the continued possession of the Golan Heights by Israel. The Vatican said the pope just came to pray for peace, and insisted that was the only mission. A spokesman said they could care less about the propaganda value. He said people in Syria and the Middle East appreciate the pope's gesture. After his prayer inside, the pope went outside to bless an olive tree. He blessed and watered the olive tree. That tree will be planted eventually in a friendship garden, which is just on the outskirts of Quneitra. Quneitra is on the caravan route -- the old caravan route between Jerusalem and Damascus. And, of course, that is what the pope is up to. He's following the footsteps of the apostle Paul along that road from Jerusalem to Damascus. And, in fact, he stopped earlier in the day at a church which is on one of the city walls in Damascus, a church where, according to the Bible, the apostle Paul was lowered down in a basket to escape the city to escape his pursuers, which he eventually did -- Brian.</s>NELSON: All right, thank you, CNN's Jim Bittermann, reporting from Syria today. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Pope in Syria: John Paul II Retracing Journey of the Apostle Paul