Today is something special because everything ended peacefully

Father Barnabas Greek Orthodox priest

Roman Catholics held their own service, which they have termed as one of praise, redemption and reconciliation.

Latin Patriarch of the Holy Monseigner Land Michel Sabbah said there could be no peace until the Israelis ended their occupation of the Palestinian territories.

"My message today is to the Israelis: you are pushing the Palestinians to the suicide. You are committing suicide against yourselves," he said.

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant says there is genuine relief that the siege in Bethlehem, where more than 200 Palestinians were surrounded by Israeli troops in the Church of the Nativity, had been resolved peacefully.

Preparations for Sunday's services began just after dawn, after the keepers of the holy site cleared away all the waste resulting from the five-week stand-off.

Correspondents who entered the church after the siege found conditions there to be squalid, but there appeared to be no major damage.

Footnote

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Bethlehem, Father Speridon, told AFP news agency that its service was a reconsecration mass because the church, revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, had been desecrated during the siege.

	Denominations using the church Roman Catholic Greek Orthodox Armenian  Click here for more about the Church of the Nativity

But another priest told the BBC that the siege was a mere footnote in the church's history.

"If we look in through history there have been worse things," Father Barnabas said, referring to the recent siege.

"Today is something special because everything ended peacefully."

Israel pulled out of Bethlehem on Friday after 13 Palestinian militants, who have been exiled from the West Bank under a deal to end the siege, arrived in Cyprus.

The withdrawal in effect ended Israel's military offensive in the West Bank, which was launched on 29 March in response to a suicide bomb attack in which 28 Israelis died as they celebrated the Jewish Passover.