Christmas spirit in Bethlehem

Bethlehem: Holiday spirit returned to Bethlehem on Saturday for the first time in six years as hundreds of pilgrims from around the world packed the town of Jesus' birth for Christmas Eve celebrations.

Lining the streets on a crisp, windy day, pilgrims gathered in Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born to watch a procession of marching bands, bagpipe players and boy scout parades.

Wind blew the hats off the heads of boy scouts and police officers and knocked down metal security barriers. Yet the streets remained packed with visitors excited about spending Christmas in one of the holiest Christian places.

More than 30,000 people were expected to flock to Bethlehem in what would be the largest turnout since fighting erupted in September 2000.

Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a sharp drop in violence this year contributed to the joyful atmosphere, which buoyed the spirits of Bethlehem residents and tourists visiting the festively decorated town.

Forecasts of a rare snowfall added to the sense of excitement in the air.

"It's really amazing. When you hear about all the conflict between Israel and Palestine, really I was expecting things to be a little bit ... rougher," said Stephen Ogden, 23, of Knoxville, Tennessee.

In the first years after fighting erupted, an Israeli army siege and high death tolls among both Israelis and Palestinians put a damper on Christmas.

Even the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was barred from attending the celebration, confined by Israel to his headquarters in Ramallah.

Jerusalem Patriarch Michel Sabbah said that Israel's separation wall between Israel and the West Bank had transformed Bethlehem into an "immense prison".

Last year's Christmas celebration was merrier than those of the previous four years, lifted by a thaw in relations after Arafat's death.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas planned to join the Bethlehem celebrations and attend Midnight Mass in a church adjacent to the grotto. Tickets to the mass were sold out, and some tourists had a hard time finding hotel accommodation.

"It will go very well. It will be joyful and a very Merry Christmas, especially since the president will join us," said Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh. "There is enough police and security. It will be very peaceful."

Edwina Webster, 53, on a two-week vacation from Hereford, England, overcame her safety concerns to spend Christmas in Bethlehem. "It's awesome here. To come here is very emotional," she said.

Walking out of the grotto under the Church of the Nativity, she was more than a little surprised by what she found.

"I expected a little corner with a little barn," she said, after exiting the stone cave. "It's not at all what I imagined," Webster said.

Shops, restaurants and businesses that once thrived remained shuttered, split off from the rest of the town by the 8-metre concrete wall, which Israel built to prevent suicide bombers from reaching its cities.

Ogden and the group of Presbyterians he travelled with made sure to visit the area of the wall to see what they had read about in the newspapers, and were shocked by what they found.

"We were interested in seeing ... how the conflict is being played out in the place of Christ's birth," Ogden said. "I don't think anything can quite prepare you for something like that."