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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Weekend Edition Africa Europe Latin America Middle East North America Christmas cheer abounds in sunny Bethlehem AFP - Saturday, December 25 Send IM Story Print BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - – A festive mood gripped a sunny Bethlehem on Friday as tourists flocked in record numbers to celebrate Christmas in the town where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born. "It's amazing. To be in the birthplace of Christ on Christmas, you can't get better than that," said Brady MacCarl, 22. MacCarl was among thousands of people packed into Manger Square, awaiting the arrival of Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal, in unseasonably warm weather under clear blue skies. At least 90,000 people were expected to flood the town over the Christmas period, according to Palestinian Authority figures, although the crowds were made up largely of Palestinians with a few tourists mixed in between. Charlene, an American from California who declined to give her last name, said it was a religious experience for her to be in Bethlehem on the day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. "It's a crazy experience and it's probably one that will only happen once in our lives," she told AFP. Crowds lined the square, most of them Palestinian Christians, but Muslim women sporting headscarves were also visible in the crowd. Children, many clutching balloons and some dressed in Santa hats or full outfits, stood close to parents and jumped up and down at the sounds of drummers and bagpipers. Palestinian security forces channeled visitors behind security barriers as troupes of scouts from Christian towns and villages across the West Bank marched through the city. A group from Gaza was denied permission to enter the West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said. Manger Square is home to both the Church of the Nativity, built over the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born, and St Catherine's Church, where the Christmas Eve midnight mass was to be delivered. Twal arrived in the square at 1230 GMT and headed to St Catherine's for prayers ahead of his midnight mass, expected to include 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 bloodshed, 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." Unlike in years past, when the spectre of unrest and violence kept visitors away from its 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 was to 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. 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