Pope Francis has arrived in Israel, after calling for peace in the region while visiting the West Bank.
  
 Francis flew to Tel Aviv by helicopter Sunday on the second day of his three-day Middle East visit. 
  
 Speaking earlier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Francis said the time has come "for everyone to find the courage to be generous and creative" in ending "a protracted conflict that has inflicted many wounds."

 He then invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres to come to the Vatican to pray for peace with him.
  
 Later, the pope is to preside over a joint prayer service with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried. 
  
 In the West Bank, the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics hailed the good relations between the Holy See and what he called "the state of Palestine."  Palestinian President Abbas said he told the pope Sunday that Israel is forcing Christians and Muslims out of Jerusalem. 

Francis also celebrated Mass at Bethlehem's Manger Square, near the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, before meeting with Palestinian children in Deheisheh Refugee Camp. 
  
 Saturday in Jordan, Francis held talks with King Abdullah and heard first-hand accounts of the suffering of refugees who have fled Iraq and Syria for the safety of makeshift encampments in Jordan. 
  
 The pope is to meet Monday with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  He will also visit Israel's national cemetery, Mount Herzl, and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
  
 Previous popes have always gone to the West Bank after first arriving in Tel Aviv, Israel.  Francis' itinerary is being viewed as a symbolic nod to Palestinian aspirations for their own state. 
  
 The papal visit comes just weeks after the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed.