This article was originally published by Maan News and is republished with permission.

Palestinian scouts march to Manger Square during a Christmas parade in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (Haytham Othman, Maan Images)

"This land belongs to God. It must not be for some a land of life and for others a land of occupation and a political prison."

That was the message of Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah at the Christmas mass, held in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

Thousands of Palestinians, pilgrims and tourists throughout the world converged on Bethlehem's manger square for a celebration that was at once a religious holiday, a show of strength for the newly resurgent Palestinian Authority, and a show of national unity in Palestine's multi-religious society.

"As a Christian, this means everything to me," said one pilgrim from South Africa.

Bethlehem expected 40,000 tourists for this year's Christmas, double last year’s number. Israel's violent incursions have been limited recently to the Gaza Strip and other parts of the West Bank, particularly the cities of Nablus, Hebron, and Jenin, leaving Bethlehem relatively peaceful.

The Palestinian Authority, which holds power in urban areas of the West Bank, bussed in hundreds of police and baton-wielding security officers from throughout the West Bank. "This is one of the safest Christmases in a while," said one student who made the short trip from Jerusalem to attend Monday's celebration.

The increase in tourism boosts Bethlehem's economy significantly, but the Israeli occupation is still felt deeply here. At a candlelight vigil on Friday, Bethlehem's mayor, Victor Batarseh joined forty other Palestinians at the Israeli separation barrier near Rachel's Tomb, a tourist destination that has been enclosed on the Israeli side of the wall. The thirty-foot concrete barrier snakes through several of Bethlehem's neighborhoods, driving out of business those shopkeepers whose businesses were near the wall.

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Fuad Jaicaman, of the Arab Educational Institute, who organized the vigil, said the event was intended to express a message of "peace, love, and dialogue," against what he called "fragmentation and apartheid."

Manger Square was nonetheless packed on Monday. Visitors gathered to watch a procession of boy and girl scouts in the afternoon, a concert by musicians from the Edward Said Conservatory, and an evening performance by a Hong Kong choir.

That both Muslims and Christians celebrate Christmas, "gives a good feeling of one country celebrating together," said George Rishmawi, an activist and journalist from the neighboring town of Beit Sahour.

"If Christians do not play a role in the struggle, it will be come a religious conflict, not a national one," he said. The Christian minority, he said, has been sidelined in the fight against the Israeli occupation since the declaration of the Al-Aqsa uprising, named for the iconic Muslim shine in Jerusalem.

At Christmas however, none of the much-discussed 'Muslim-Christian split' was visible. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Muslim, attended Tuesday's mass, like the late President Yasser Arafat did before him.

Even the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip have declared January 7, Orthodox Christmas, as holiday.