Christians ready to celebrate in Bethlehem

Christians from around world, including from Arab countries, flock to Palestinian Bethlehem.

Middle East Online

By Sara Hussein - BETHLEHEM

Unprecedented tourism for Bethlehem The Holy Land prepared to mark Christmas on Friday in the heart of a region overshadowed by the massacre and exodus of Christians from Iraq and a troubled peace process. Christians from around the world, including for the first time from Arab countries which have no diplomatic ties with Israel, flocked to Bethlehem to celebrate the holiday in the West Bank city where Christ was born. Tourists from all corners of the globe were expected to take part in the day's festivities in unseasonably warm weather under clear blue skies. Early Friday, the city's winding streets were decked with Christmas lights and inflatable Santas sat at every corner. Palestinian scouts wearing light blue prepared for a procession and a band practicised drum rolls for the march, while Christmas music piped out into the streets from neighbourhood shops. Armed Palestinian police in green stood watch along the main street leading to Manger Square, on which sit both the Church of the Nativity and St. Catherine's Church, where midnight mass will be delivered Friday night. The day's event will start with a traditional procession into the square, and will be capped by the midnight mass delivered by Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal, the Middle East's most senior Catholic bishop. Twal is expected to issue a message of hope for peace, but also sound a sombre tone after the October 31 massacre of worshippers in a Baghdad church. In a pre-Christmas message, he offered solidarity to Iraqi Christians, who have been the target of repeated bloody attacks, including the church attack that killed 44 worshippers and two priests. "We were shocked and troubled by the massacre of Christians in Baghdad in the church," Twal said. "For the Iraqi Christians, we are with them in this bad situation," he added, noting the sharp drop in the number of Christians in Iraq from about 800,000 at the time of the US-led invasion of 2003 to about 500,000 now. He also lamented the failure of renewed direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but urged the faithful not to give up hope. "We continue to believe that on both sides, and in the international community, there are men of goodwill who will work and put their energies together in their commitment for peace," he said in his address on Tuesday. "We believe that nothing is impossible with God." In Iraq, mass services were cancelled in almost all cases on Friday and will only be held in the morning on Christmas Day for safety reasons. Security measures have been stepped up in Iraq, with protective walls put in place around some churches and the number of soldiers and police guarding churches increased. Patriarch Twal is due to arrive in Bethlehem at around 1100 GMT in a procession that travels along Star Street and into Manger Square, where the Church of the Nativity is located. At least 90,000 people are expected to flood the city for the celebrations, according to Palestinian Authority figures. And unlike in years past, when the spectre of unrest and violence kept visitors away from the city's 24 hotels, instead staying inside Israel, Bethlehem hoteliers were expecting many tourists to stay over on Friday night. The Christmas season will cap a year of unprecedented tourism for Bethlehem and the Palestinian territories, where visitor revenues are sorely needed. Bethlehem will also host tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and Arab Israelis, and several hundred from the tiny Christian community in Gaza who were able to secure rare Israeli entry permits for the holiday.