The little town of Bethlehem got its Christmas wish this year, as pilgrims returned in greater numbers than at any time since 2000. Yet day-to-day hardships meant that not everyone feels peace to men on Earth.

As Tawfiq Salsaa assembled one of the olive-wood Nativity scenes that he has been carving all his life, all looked as it should — baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, three wise men, assorted goats and camels.

Then, to finish, he added the touch that has transformed the Christmas staple into a political statement and a festive bestseller: a high wall that separates the holy family from the three kings, and represents the huge barrier that cuts Bethlehem off from Jerusalem.

“The sight of the wall creates a sickness in our souls,” said Mr Salsaa. He wanted to remind the Christian pilgrims what life was like in the city.

In a place that has long lived off the pilgrim and tourist trade, and whose shops overflow with wooden crucifixes, rosaries and Nativity scenes, Mr Salsaa’s combination of tradition and political statement has caught on.

In the Holy Land Arts workshop on Milk Grotto Street, Elias Giacaman is turning out 18-inch wooden watchtowers and walls built to scale with the figures of Mary and Joseph.

But Mr Salsaa, one of Bethlehem’s leading craftsmen, has kept to the traditional Nativity scene under his Christmas tree — he does not want to depress his family, who see the real 30ft wall every day.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world descended on Bethlehem yesterday, encouraged by the recent Middle East peace talks and lull in violence.

Israeli tourism officials said that more than 20,000 visitors had arrived in Bethlehem this month, an increase of 50 per cent from the year before but well below the numbers reached in the peak years before the second intifada began in 2000. Saleh Tamari, Bethlehem’s governor, said that the town’s 5,000 hotel rooms were booked.

Those gathered outside the Church of the Nativity included American tourists with Santa hats, Japanese pilgrims in silk robes and faux white beards, and Palestinian Scouts in Scottish kilts.

“I wasn’t expecting this. It’s more like a big party in London, though not a good party,” said Vincent Gardiner, a 22-year-old seminary student from England, who had visited Bethlehem in search of a more spiritual, if not sombre, experience.

In his homily delivered at Midnight Mass, the Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, delivered a politically charged appeal for peace and love in the city of Bethlehem — and independence for the Palestinian people.

“This land of God cannot be for some a land of life and for others a land of death, exclusion, occupation, or political imprisonment,” said Patriarch Michael, the first Palestinian to hold his position.

Patriarch Michael could only enter Bethlehem after passing through a massive steel gate in Israel’s separation barrier. Israeli mounted policemen escorted him, in his flowing magenta robe, to the gate, and border police clanged it shut behind him.

Another complaint came from craftsmen unable to celebrate the bittersweet success of increased sales this season. Tour guides, who shepherd as many as 150 busloads of tourists through Manger Square every day, have started taking them only to workshops that pay a 35 per cent commission on sales, said Mr Giacaman, whose shop was devoid of shoppers.

“There are two walls here,” he said. “The first was made by the Israelis, and the second is here on the square. The tour guides don’t let people move around freely. They are killing all the business here,” he said. “The Ministry of Tourism knows about it, but nobody is helping us.”

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