The Dome of the Rock is Islam's third holiest site [AFP]

Benedict made the comment on Tuesday in Israel as he continued with his week-long pilgrimage to the Middle East beset by Jewish disappointment over his remarks on the Holocaust.

"Today I have the opportunity to repeat that the Catholic church is irrevocably committed to the path chosen at Second Vatican Council for a genuine and lasting reconciliation between Christians and Jews," he said at a meeting with Israel's two chief rabbis.

"As the declaration Nostra Aetate makes clear, the Church continues to value the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews and desires an ever deeper mutual understanding and respect through biblical and ideological studies as well as fraternal dialogues."

On Monday, Benedict spoke of the "horrific tragedy of the Shoah", the Hebrew term for the Holocaust, disappointing some Jewish religious leaders who said that as a German and Christian, he should have apologised for the second world war genocide.

The pope, born Joseph Ratzinger, was a teenage member of the Hitler Youth, when enrolment was compulsory, and drafted into German forces during the war.

'Aggression'

The pope has also disappointed Muslims in the occupied Palestinian territories, with Mohammed Hussein, Jerusalem's grand mufti, calling on the pope to work to end Israeli "aggression" after Benedict became the first pontiff to enter the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site in Islam.

"We look forward for your holiness's effective role in putting an end to the ongoing aggression against our people, our land, and our holy sites in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank," Hussein said.

Benedict was the first pope to enter the building, which is usually closed to non-Muslims.

Jews consider the plaza on which the gold-domed mosque stands to be their holiest site, the location of the Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Benedict prayed at the Western Wall [AFP]

The visit came a day after a prominent Palestinian sheikh criticised Israel during inter-faith talks with the pope, angering the Vatican.

Sheikh Taiseer al-Tamimi, who heads the Palestinian Authority's Islamic courts, took the microphone after the pope spoke, saying Christians and Muslims must work together against Israel.

"We struggle together and we suffer together from the injustice of the Israeli occupation and its oppressive practices," al-Tamimi said.

Al-Tamimi is known for his scathing attacks on Israel and had not been scheduled to speak.

Vatican criticism

Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, criticised the remarks in a statement, calling them "a direct negation of what dialogue should be".

Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement: "It was regrettable and unacceptable that Sheikh al-Tamimi makes such inflammatory remarks in a meeting that was meant to be about reconciliation."

Israeli papers made similar comments about the incident and praised the pope for walking out after al-Tamimi's comments, reported Tadros.

The pope was in Jerusalem as part of an eight-day tour of the Holy Land - his first since becoming pontiff - that is taking him to sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims in Jordan, Israel and the occupied West Bank.

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