Bethlehem, West Bank, 2 January (ENI)--Bethlehem has celebrated its most festive Christmas since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000 with the largest turnout of pilgrims visiting the town of Jesus' birth for more than five years. More than 30 000 pilgrims descended on the Palestinian-ruled West Bank town for the festive holiday. The number was twice that of 2004 but far short of the 150 000 visitors who inundated Bethlehem for Christmas in the 1990s.
Braving chilly weather and pouring rain, pilgrims and local Christians crowded along Manger Square - bedecked with Christmas decorations - to watch the traditional Christmas Eve procession by church leaders from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
Bethlehem's restaurants, souvenir shops and hotels were crowded with pilgrims, spending well-needed tourist dollars in a town where the economy has suffered a deep recession since the uprising began in 2000.
Michel Sabbah, the Latin patriarch, conducted Midnight Mass and Christmas Day Mass at St Catherine's Church, adjoining the grotto revered as Jesus' birthplace.
"Leaving all violence, all vengeance, freeing political prisoners and putting the past behind can create a new land in which we can assure security for Israelis ... and give Palestinians liberty and an end to occupation," Sabbah, the first Palestinian to serve as the Roman Catholic Church's highest representative in the Holy Land, said in a homily.
The bells of the Church of the Nativity peeled as local scout bands played Christmas carols, underscoring the holiday atmosphere.
Still, it was the first Christmas celebrated in the West Bank town since Israel completed construction of a barrier that it says is intended to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers infiltrating into its cities.
The barrier is mostly fence but in Bethlehem it is comprised of towering concrete walls. As he passed by on his arrival from Jerusalem, Sabbah urged Israel to tear the barrier down.
Many Palestinians say it has turned the town into a virtual prison and cut off residents from their fields as well as friends and relatives in adjacent Jerusalem.
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