Celebration Festive excitement made it to the tiny West Bank village of Jifna when Santa Claus - and a traveling Christmas puppet show - visited the local Catholic school. The BBC News website joined the community as it celebrated what some say is the best Christmas since 2000, when the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, began.

Restrictions Jifna is a village of about 1,200 people. With Palestinian Christians making up an estimated three quarters of its population, it is one of the few places in the overwhelmingly Muslim West Bank to have a Christian majority. Although Jifna has never experienced the level of violence seen in other parts of the West Bank, its residents suffer from travel restrictions and economic hardship. They live near the city of Ramallah, which has seen some heavy fighting.

Excitement The Christmas performance began with blaring dance music and disco lights. Imad Atallah (right) from the Operation Palestinian Children and Youth (OPCY) team says that, despite long days travelling around the West Bank, he never gets jaded because of the excitement that greets them. "Each time is like the first," he says.

Festive spirit "During the intifada, there was no Christmas," says youth worker Khader Anton Abu Khalil (left). "Christmas to the children is gifts, outings, Santa and getting chocolate and money, but people were unemployed and everything was closed. "Now, if you look at the faces, they're all laughing. They feel it is Christmas."

Learning traditions The mischievous puppet boy Marwan (right) is one of the team's favorite characters. He is convinced Christmas is a celebration of Santa Claus' birthday, but learns about Jesus' birth from Santa when he finds him to sing Happy Birthday. The aim is to educate Palestinian Christian children about their religious tradition. In this area it becomes a cultural label from birth.

Clowning about Although the Christmas program is for Palestinian Christians, much of the team's work is among Muslims. Many West Bank Palestinians say Christians and Muslims live "like brothers". However, team leader Diana Saman says she has visited villages where children have never met Christians. "The fact that they see us... that breaks a lot of barriers," she says.

New experience The children were soon dancing along to the team's songs. Ms Saman says some younger West Bank children are initially scared by the puppets because there is so little children's entertainment available. In one place, when they tried to do actions to music the children "just froze". "They had never had anything like this before," she says.

Nativity joy No child's Christmas is complete without a nativity and there was great enthusiasm among the girls when brightly colored angel wings were provided. Mary, clad in a Muslim-style headscarf, did a sterling job with a cardboard box for a manger. This is despite the plastic baby Jesus' head being barely attached to his body.

Confrontations Politics is never far away here. These boys' first reaction to the camera was to pose with their Palestinian scarves. Youth worker Mr. Abu Khalil says that although the worst days of the intifada are behind them, there are still confrontations between Israeli soldiers and stone-throwing youths, often close to the school playground. "The younger children get terrified," he says.

Aggression "Of course the intifada has affected the children's behavior," says Mr. Abu Khalil. "The most common game is 'soldiers and Arabs' where they hold sticks as guns and throw stones. "Even small kids, when they see a jeep coming, hold stones to protect themselves. "The children are aggressive with each other. Most of this generation is aggressive."

Mother's hope Jifna mother Mary Salameh says that although things are better, Israeli travel restrictions mean there are still few places she can take her children aged 10, 12 and 15. "We hope to see Bethlehem," she says. "I've never been able to take them there." This is despite Jesus' birthplace being physically only about 90 minutes drive away.

Gifts for Christmas Finally, amid much good-natured commotion, Santa Claus appeared. He distributed packs containing practical items such as towels and toothbrushes, together with sweets and a video CD of Christmas cartoons. One boy brandished a sponge, giggling, as he walked away with friends into the early evening darkness.

Word and pictures by the BBC's Heather Sharp.

PARC expresses its strong condemnation and resentment of the attack committed last night on the hands of the Jewish settlers of Elon More against olive groves belonging to Salem village in the north of the West Bank.

In their continued and repeated attacks against the people and property of Salem, a number of Jewish settlers from Elon More settlement near Nablus uprooted at least 300 olive trees owned by the families of Salem from which they make a living. Jewish settlers have been attacking the people and property of Salem for the past weeks under the eyes and with the full protection of the Israeli police. A village source said that this series of attacks started when the settlers established an outpost on the lands of Salem for the purpose of expanding the Elon More settlement.

In reaction to this incident, PARC appealed to the Palestinian institutions, diplomatic missions, friends of the Palestinian people to support by all possible means the steadfastness and just struggle of the people of this village against settlers’ attempts to evacuate them from their ancestors’ lands. Furthermore, PARC warns of the escalation and further attacks by the Jewish settlers against the Palestinian people in the course of the transitional period that Israel undergoes before the parliamentarian elections are held.

PARC calls on you all to join the peaceful vigil that will be organized at the site of the destroyed olive groves on Friday, December 2.

Salem is located 6 km to the east of Nablus City with a population of 5000. One fourth of its lands were confiscated for the extension purposes of Elon More settlement. Recently, settlers from this settlement started an outpost in Al-Luhhaf area that belongs to Salem. Since then, the village was targeted by settlers’ attacks and sabotage acts such as burning down more than 350 olive trees a few weeks ago.

Contrary to worldwide news reports, the Apartheid Wall (also referred to as the "fence" or "security fence"), which Israel is currently building in the northeast of the West Bank, will not mark the 1967 border, also known as the "Green Line". Rather, this latest offensive, occurring on some of the most fertile land in Palestine, is a further chapter in Israel's annexation of lands, destruction of agriculture and property.

In the northern West Bank, the first phase of the Apartheid Wall is to be approximately 115km long and is to include electric fences, trenches, cameras, sensors, and security patrols, at a cost tens of millions of dollars. The height of the Apartheid Wall will average 8 meters (25 feet) and, in its entirety, it will cover at least 350km, somewhat encircling the West Bank. In this first phase, which will see the confiscation of close to 2% of the West Bank, at least 30 villages will loose parts or all of their lands. In an area 40 kilometers north of Qalqiliya, approximately 90,000 dunums (90 km square) will be lost as a consequence of the Apartheid Wall.

Altogether, the first phase is expected to see the confiscation of between 160,000- 180,000 dunums. The residential areas of at least 15 villages will be east of the Apartheid Wall, while a significant portion of their lands will be either between the Apartheid Wall or on the other side. In addition, the city of Qalqiliya, which is the urban center for the entire area, will be almost completely encircled by the Apartheid Wall.