Train to celebrate Christmas Sunday, December 25, in Bethlehem, where the Bible says Jesus was born.
hey gathered as both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in messages they were committed to peacemaking in 2006. In Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI offered a special prayer "for peace in the Holy Land."
The estimated 30,000 people gathered in Bethlehem were apparently double the number from last year when fears of terrorism kept visitors away.
NATIVITY CHURCH
Several thousand tourists poured into Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity compound, above the grotto where traditional believers say Jesus was born. Other Christian experts have cautioned that Jesus may have been born elsewhere in the town.
The crowds came as an encouragement for Palestinian authorities who warned that over 3,000 Christians, or about 10 percent of Bethlehem’s Christian population, left the city since the Palestinian uprising began five years ago.
"Obviously, you hear a lot about this part of the world, and [you feel] a little nervous coming in, but since we’ve been here, everything seems very peaceful, so far, and seems safe," Steven Augdin who came from the US state of Tennessee told Voice Of America (VOA).
CHRISTMAS "PRIVILEGE"
Jamie Jon Pearson, who lives in the state of Utah, wasn’t worried. "It’s a privilege to be here, and we only get one life in this world, and I wanted to be able to visit here at least once for Christmas. So, I guess my joy and privilege to be here overrides any fear that I have," she told VOA.
Palestinian merchants also expressed satisfaction as their business depends on foreign tourists.
"This was a very, very exceptional Christmas," said Abdel Rahman Ghayatha, the Palestinian police commander in downtown Bethlehem in published remarks. "We did not expect this big a turnout of people, especially in light of the rain and cold. It was very exceptional and very orderly."
MORE TOURISTS
However while they were glad to see the tourists, Paltesinian leaders also used the international spotlight to express frustration over Israel’s security barrier that is going up on the outskirts on town.
Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh told VOA he feels "very sad about it. It’s a disgrace for the whole world community to let this wall go up in this way, surrounding the city of Jesus Christ, surrounding the city of Bethlehem. Bethlehem city now is a big prison."
Israel says the wall keeps suicide bombers out of their country. However Christian leaders made clear the Holy Land needs bridges, not walls.
"END VIOLENCE"
Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the top Roman Catholic envoy in the Holy Land, spoke of the new atmosphere in the air in his midnight Mass address and urged both sides to put a final end to violence.
"There seems to be a new Palestinian and Israeli political reality, despite the many complications and hesitations that surround it," Sabbah said. "Leaders with good and honest intentions can make of this new era a time of new blessings … stopping the past to make room for a new future begin."
In his first Christmas message since being elected, Pope Pope Benedict XVI said there were however "signs of hope in the Holy Land" as well as in Iraq but stressed these need to be confirmed by fair and wise actions on the ground. (With reports from Vatican City, Bethlehem and Jerusalem).
