WEST BANK: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrives in Bethlehem ahead of Christmas mass

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday evening (December 24) arrived at the West Bank town of Bethlehem to attend Christmas prayers and festivities. Abbas is scheduled to hold meetings with senior members of the town's municipality and to attend a midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity. "In this beautiful blessed day we greet our people and specially our Christian brothers, not only here but in the entire world, for the birth of Christ and for the coming new year. God bless them all. As far as our meeting with Mr. Olmert I think it is a good start and that there are great deals of requests and we hope that these requests will actually be implemented in the near future," Abbas said, referring to his first formal meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Saturday (December 23). Abbas made his comments as he was outside a mosque at the main Manger Square where he had attended evening prayers, opposite the Church of the Nativity. Hundreds of pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem for a Christmas mass, although the holiday cheer was dampened by weeks of internal Palestinian violence and Israeli travel restrictions. Many residents remained sombre, following weeks of violence in the Palestinian territories between rival factions Fatah, which is loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, a militant group that won a parliamentary election in January.

ITN Source | December 25, 2006

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