Hundreds attend Bethlehem Christmas mass

Israel’s Christmas gifts to Bethlehem this year serve towards consolidating the separation between Bethlehem and its twin city, Jerusalem; the city where Jesus was born and the city where he was resurrected – the essence of the Christian faith.

Hundreds of pilgrims and Palestinian officials attended the midnight mass at the Church of Nativity, led by Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

The Christmas festivities are low-key this year dampended by a surge in violence between Palestinians and Israelis.

The highest-ranking Roman Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, set out on Thursday from the walled Old City’s Christian Quarter at the head of a solemn procession to the Biblical birthplace of Christ. Three Palestinians are killed and three Israelis injured, one critically, in the West Bank.

Violent protests and a wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks targeting Israelis since October have killed 129 on the Palestinian side, 19 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean.

Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces said Friday that they arrested two suspected Islamic radicals for burning a Christmas tree in the northern West Bank.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis will celebrate mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.

“This year, we witnessed more churches around the world supporting the call for recognition of the State of Palestine, and an increasing number of Christian groups campaigning to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of our land”, Abbas said.

The celebrations in Manger Square will continue through the Christmas period, but other festivities in Bethlehem were canceled or scaled down. The Palestinian Authority imposed heavy security on Bethlehem, which was draped in festive decorations.

Some Palestinians hoped holiday cheer would replace the gloom.

Linaras Oceani, a Christian Indonesian taking selfies, said she was not deterred by travel warnings from back home.

Palestinian Christians in the Gaza Strip should apply for special permits in order to make their way to the city, but occasionally not all family members are granted permits.

Christian pilgrims pray inside the Grotto of the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015.

He described Christmas of 2015 as “unique” because it coincided with the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad for the first time since 400 years.