WEST BANK: Dozens of Christian Palestinians and pilgrims from around the world marched with lit candles in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour

Dozens of Christian Palestinians and pilgrims from around the world marched with lit candles in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour on Monday (December 25, 2006), to mark Christmas. The candle-light procession in Beit Shaour, a Palestinian town bordering the biblical city of Bethlehem, is an annual event taking place each year on December 25. This year's procession, as well as the one that took place in 2005, was dedicated to the Palestinian struggle against the wall Israel is building across the West Bank to separate itself from Palestinian territories. The procession included the local scouts band that marched ahead of the crowd of men and women, old and young, all carrying torches and colourful balloons. Bethlehem experienced a surge in holiday spirit as hundreds of pilgrims from around the world flocked to the birth town of Jesus for Christmas Eve celebrations. But the bright Christmas lights failed to erase the shadows of gloom that darken the town amidst internal Palestinian dispute that sprung fears of civil war. Six years after the start of a Palestinian uprising, and nearly a year after election victory by the Islamist militant group Hamas drew Western economic sanctions, hardship in Bethlehem and across the occupied West Bank has deepened. More than 3,000 Christians, about 10 percent of Bethlehem's Christian population, have left the town since 2000, according to United Nations statistics. Israel's army eased travel restrictions to allow foreigners as well as Israeli and Palestinian Christians from the West Bank and Gaza to visit the town over Christmas. But Bethlehem residents cited Israeli military checkpoints and an Israeli barrier cutting into West Bank land that Palestinians want for a state as constant reminders they had little cause for celebration. Israel says the barrier, made up of a mix of wire fencing and concrete walls, stops suicide bombers from reaching its cities. Western sanctions on the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority have hit government employees, many of whom have not been paid for months. The West wants Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, to change its stance as the main condition for renewing aid.

ITN Source | December 26, 2006

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