BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Gloom was banished from Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for the first time in years today as Christian pilgrims from all over the world flocked to celebrate Jesus' birth in an atmosphere of renewed tranquility.

After Israeli-Palestinian fighting erupted in 2000, most of the people milling around Manger Square in the center of this biblical town on Christmas had been local Palestinians. But this year, there were large numbers of tourists from all over the world, back after avoiding the region's strife.

Tiago Martins, 28, from Curitiba, Brazil, said he was excited about visiting. New peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians reassured him that there was no threat to his safety, he said, before crossing from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.

"The idea that it's a Christian city makes me more calm, and I think going to the West Bank is more comfortable since Annapolis," Martins said, referring to the Israeli-Palestinian peace conference held in the U.S. last month.

Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh predicted earlier this month that the lull in violence would help to bring about 65,000 tourists to visit to visit the traditional site of Jesus' birth this Christmas — four times the number who trickled into town for Christmas in 2005.

Still, unmistakable signs of the conflict that has killed more than 4,400 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis in just the past seven years made it clear that peace was not yet at hand.

Gray concrete walls measuring about 25 feet high enclose Bethlehem on three sides — part of the separation barrier that Israel says it's building to keep out attackers from the West Bank. Palestinians allege that the complex of concrete slabs and electronic fence, which dips into parts of the West Bank, is a thinly veiled land grab.

The Roman Catholic Church's highest official in the Holy Land, could only reach Bethlehem after passing through a massive steel gate in the barrier.