Christians across Mideast celebrate Christmas Eve

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Fewer than three percent of Iraq's 26 million people are Christians. The number is estimated at several hundred thousand.

Palestinian children light candles in the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 24, 2008, before the annual Christmas procession.

Thousands of tourists and Palestinians celebrated Christmas Eve in Jesus' birthplace as evening fell in Bethlehem.

The celebrations at Manger Square were expected to last all night long.

The highlight was to be Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, on the site where Jesus is believed to have been born.

Meanwhile, in Gaza City on Wednesday evening, the tiny Roman Catholic community held mass for Christmas.

The community decided to cancel the midnight mass and hold an evening one instead to protest the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

About four thousand Christians, including about 300 Roman Catholics, live in Gaza. Most of the remaining Christians are Greek Orthodox.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei