Are Java references "pointers"?

The difference between Java references and C++ pointers is a much-discussed topic on the Internet. Java purists mostly shun the word "pointer" as a historical abomination that made code insecure. They insist on never calling a Java reference a pointer. However, I found it interesting that Java has a NullPointerException class - not a NullReferenceException.

A few days ago, I happened to come across an article titled "Java is Pass-by-Value, Dammit!" that gave me a part of the answer. In it, Scott Stanchfield tries to clear the confusion about Java's parameter passing - pass-by-reference or pass-by-value - and in doing so, shows that Java references act more like C/C++ pointers than C++ references. The article also mentions NullPointerException in passing and provides a quote from the Java Language Specification (JLS) , 3rd Edition as part of the legacy of pointers in Java. The JLS states (at http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/typesValues.html#4.3.1 - emphasis not mine):
"The reference values (often just references) are pointers to these objects, and a special null reference, which refers to no object."

However, Java does not allow pointer arithmetic as C++ does. Probably to emphasize this and to distance Java from C++, Sun later tried to create a distinction between Java references and pointers. To be fair to Sun, there is a subtle difference between Java references and C++ pointers but it is in the way they are implemented. This is explained in the Best Rated Answer on the page http://www.geekinterview.com/question_details/32288. However, the behavior of both is the same, as far as programming with them is concerned (except that many memory-related problems are avoided by eliminating pointer arithmetic).