Bethlehem celebrates Christmas
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Encouraged by renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Christian pilgrims from around the world converged on Jesus' traditional birthplace Monday to celebrate Christmas Â a palpable contrast to the sparse crowds of recent years.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank  - Pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem on Monday for a Christmas mass promoted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Western powers as a chance to highlight the benefits of peacemaking.
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Pilgrims and a new Palestinian leadership celebrated Christmas in the town of Jesusâ birth with prayers for peace on Saturday, lifted by fresh hope following Yasser Arafat&#39;s death.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank  - Muslims and Christians united in the hope that the festive season will herald a new dawn after four years of violence, attending midnight mass in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
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Authorities have stepped up security for the Christmas celebrations, deploying thousands of troops and police outside churches and other public places across the Muslim-majority archipelago.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank  - Muslims and Christians joined together on Christmas Eve in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, holding their breath that the festive season would be peaceful and possibly the start of a new dawn.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank  - Pilgrims and a new  Palestinian leadership celebrated Christmas in the town of  Jesus's birth with prayers for peace on Saturday, lifted by  fresh hope following Yasser Arafat's death.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem have brought an atmosphere of peace and goodwill to the holy city.
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For the past four years, Middle East peace could safely be filed under the same heading as Santa Claus: nice fantasy. But this Christmas, glimmers of hope have materialized in the Holy Land.
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As the faithful marked Christmas Day, political and religious leaders called for peace and reconciliation amid flickers of hope in places long plagued by conflict.
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Israel is taking special steps to insure a merry Christmas in Bethlehem, an Israeli military official said Thursday, raising hopes for a gentler holiday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus after four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
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BEIJING, Dec. 25 -- Under heavy security, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the holy West Bank city of Bethlehem Friday night to attend Christmas celebrations.
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HOUSTON That white pinpoint of light racing across the sky before dawn on Christmas morning won&#39;t be Santa&#39;s sleigh or the star that guided the Wise Men to Bethlehem.
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(Undated) Dec. 25, 2004 - As the world celebrates Christmas, there is new hope for peace abroad despite ever-present tensions. The crowds are larger than in recent years at Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.
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Gloom was banished from Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for the first time in years on Monday as Christian pilgrims from all over the world flocked here to celebrate Jesus' birth in an atmosphere of renewed tranquility.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank  - Hundreds of millions around the world prepared Friday to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, a Christmas festival of religious joy for many and commercial excess for others, against a backdrop of continuing global security
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In the new optimism of the Mideast, Bethlehem finds itself blessed with more visitors this year than at any time since the Palestinian offensive began in 2000 â-n fact, twice as many in 2004 than in 2003.