Pilgrims in Jesus’ city for Christmas

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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The pilgrims, returning in the largest numbers yet since the start in 2000 of the Palestinian uprising, brought a strong dose of Christmas cheer to the city in the West Bank.

But the faithful came face to face with the stark reality of a troubled region, in the shape of a 26-feet high concrete wall -- part of Israel's separation barrier -- just a few hundred yards from the spot where Christians believe their Prince of Peace was born. Visitors traveling from Jerusalem, just a few miles away, pass wall through checkpoints.

Pilgrims who made their way to Bethlehem in their thousands in the past few days milled around Manger Square just outside the Church of the Nativity, where a grotto marks the location of the stable where Jesus was said to be born. "It is really very special to be in Bethlehem on the day we celebrate Christmas, it is a very emotional moment," Eduardo Robles Gil, a Mexican priest, told Agence France-Presse. Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad were among the dignitaries who planned to attend the festivities that were to culminate with midnight mass.

Meanwhile, the head of the Gaza Strips' tiny Roman Catholic community has canceled Christmas Eve's Midnight Mass celebration to protest blockade. Father Manuel Musallem said the parish would instead hold an evening mass, reported The Associated Press.

As Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press yesterday, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to deliver a Christmas Day broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 television, occupying a slot used to provide an often controversial counterpoint to Queen Elizabeth II's traditional annual message.

In his recorded message, Ahmadinejad offers seasonal greetings to Christians and says he believes that if Jesus was alive, he would "stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers," an apparent reference to the United States and its allies.