Christmas celebrations reached a climax at the weekend, with people around the world praying for peace for the upcoming year.

In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, thousands of tourists and pilgrims gathered on Saturday evening in festivities that capped the most peaceful year since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in September 2000.

Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, called on Israel and the Palestinians to halt years of violence and begin a new era of peacemaking during his midnight Mass sermon on Christmas Eve.

He said the two sides should put "the past on hold to make room for a new future to begin" while celebrating mass at St. Catherine's Church, adjacent to the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

Sabbah also called for an end to Israel's killing of Palestinian militants, saying the practice has failed to improve security or halt the cycle of violence.

Both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in messages that they were committed to peacemaking in 2006.

"In our bitter and painful reality, we use this spiritual and religious occasion to send a message of peace to our Israeli neighbors," said Abbas.

Sharon's office said the prime minister also hopes that the new year will bring Israel and the Palestinians peace and security.

"We all need (peace) and I intend to make every effort to achieve it," said Sharon, who is standing for re-election in March on a platform of ending conflict with the Palestinians.

Across the Mediterranean, Pope Benedict lit a candle for world peace at the window of his apartment as thousands of pilgrims gathered at the Vatican for the first midnight mass of his pontificate.

"On this night, when we look toward Bethlehem, let us pray in a special way for the birthplace of our Redeemer and for the men and women who live and suffer there," Benedict said in his homily at the traditional midnight mass in St Peter's basilica attended by thousands of faithful.

"We wish to pray for peace in the Holy Land. Look O Lord, upon this corner of the earth, your homeland, which is so very dear to you. Let your light shine upon it! Let it know peace!"

In Baghdad, minority Christians celebrated the midnight mass several hours before dusk because of a night curfew and the danger of being out late at night.

Iraqi national television broadcast live part of the ceremony led by the patriarch of Babylon and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Emmanuel III Delly.

"We will all ask God for peace and security, because he is the king of peace," he said in his sermon.

Earlier, Delly said before the mass, "I do not want to make a distinction between Christians and Muslims, we are all Iraqis. A car bomb kills without distinguishing between Christians and Muslims."

In the meantime, disharmonious incidents occurred in some Asian countries, with Indonesian bomb squads scouring churches amid fears of a repeat of Christmas Eve bombings by extremists five years ago which claimed 19 lives.

Indonesians were warned to beware of bombs possibly gift-wrapped and left in public places, with anxieties heightened over possible revenge attacks for last month's killing of Malaysian bombmaker Azahari Husin, a key member of the Jemaah Islamiyah extremist network.

In Sri Lanka, a legislator of the Tamil National Alliance was shot dead at a midnight mass in the Eastern Province, police said.

Joseph Pararajasingham, 71, was shot at about 1:20 a.m. (1920 GMT) at close range by two gunmen at St. Mary's co-cathedral church at Batticaloa, about 303 km east of the capital Colombo.

In Kabul, a rocket explosion shook the Afghan capital on Saturday evening when many international forces were celebrating their biggest festival.

"The rocket hit a house in Yaka Tut area of Kabul city just now, but left no casualty till now," Sabir, the police chief of District 9 of Kabul, told Xinhua.

Yaka Tut area is in the east part of Kabul city and many camps of the International Security Assistance Force and some UN compounds are located there.

Source: Xinhua