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ByDaniellaCheslow The Associated Press BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK Christian faithful from around the world on Thursday descended on the biblical city of Beth- lehem for Christmas Eve celebrations at the tradi- tional birthplace of Je- sus, trying to lift spirits on a holiday dampened by months of Israeli-Pal- estinian violence. The fighting cast a pall over the celebrations. Crowds were thin and hotel rooms were empty. While the annual festivities in Bethlehem's Manger Square went on, other celebrations in the city were canceled or toned down. "There's lights, there's carols, but there's an un- derlying sense of tension," said Paul Haines of Corn- wall, England, who ar- rived in Bethlehem follow- ing a four-month trek from Rome. Bethlehem has been a focal point for clashes be- tween Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters dur- ing a three-month wave of violence that has gripped the region. The city was quiet on Thursday, although vio- lence raged elsewhere in the West Bank. Israeli au- thorities said three Pal- estinian assailants were killed as they carried out or tried to carry out stab- bing or car-ramming at- tacks against Israeli secu- rity personnel, and a fourth Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli troops, a Palestinian hospital offi- cial said. Two Israeli secu- rity guards and a soldier were wounded. Lisette Rossman, a 22-year-old student from Albuquerque, New Mexico, said the violence made her think twice about visiting a friend studying in Jerusa- lem. She said she was glad she made the trip because "it was one of my dreams to come here." Since mid-September, Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings and shootings, have killed 20 Israelis, while Israeli fire has killed 124 Palestinians, among them 85 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with Is- raeli forces. Israel accuses Palestinian leaders of incit- ing the violence. The Pales- tinians say it is the result of nearly 50 years of military occupation. In Manger Square, lo- cal activists placed an ol- ive tree they said was up- rooted by the Israeli army in a nearby village, and surrounded it with barbed wire and decorated it with spent tear gas canisters fired by Israeli troops and photographs of Palestinians killed or arrested in recent violence. "We're in Bethlehem cel- ebrating Christmas, cele- brating the birthday of our lord Jesus Christ. This is the birthplace of the king of peace, so what we want is peace," said Rula Maayah, the Palestinian tourism minister. In the evening, several thousand people crowded into Manger Square, ad- miring the town's glitter- ing Christmas tree and lis- tening to holiday music played by marching bands and scout troops. Palestin- ian vendors hawked coffee, tea and Santa hats. Young children sold sticks of gum. But at 9 p.m., tradition- ally a bustling time of the evening, there were few tourists to drink local wine sold on the square or to eat freshly fried falafel. As the festivities got un- derway, Miral Siriani, a 35-year-old publicist from Jerusalem, said she was re- lieved to get a break from three months of tension that has included numer- ous attacks in her city. "I feel safe in Bethlehem," she said. In recent years, Bethle- hem had enjoyed a relative calm and thousands of rev- elers and pilgrims poured into Manger Square each Christmas. But vendors and hotel owners complained of sagging business this Christmas season. Xavier Abu Eid, a Pal- estinian official, said hotel bookings were down 25 per- cent from last year, which itself was weak following a war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip several months earlier. Some Palestinians hoped holiday cheer would replace the gloom. Said Nustas, dressed in a Santa Claus suit, rang a Christmas bell on a narrow asphalt street as he prepared to deliver gifts from a toy store to children nearby. "The situation is what it is, a war and intifada," Nus- tas said. "But God willing, we'll overcome it and cele- brate." Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal led a procession from his Jerusalem headquarters into Bethlehem, passing through a military check- point and past Israel's con- crete separation barrier, which surrounds much of the town. Israel built the barrier a decade ago to stop a wave of suicide bombings. Palestin- ians say the structure has stifled Bethlehem's econ- omy. In Bethlehem, Twal wished "peace and love" for all. MIDDLE EAST Israeli-Palestinian violence clouds Christmas in Bethlehem MAJDIMOHAMMED—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A nun prays inside the Grotto at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Thursday. By Karl Ritter The Associated Press STOCKHOLM If govern- ments are serious about the global warming targets they adopted in Paris, sci- entists say they have two options: eliminating fossil fuels immediately or find- ing ways to undo their damage to the climate sys- tem in the future. The first is politically impossible — the world is still hooked on using oil, coal and natural gas — which leaves the option of a major cleanup of the atmo- sphere later this century. Yet the landmark Paris Agreement, adopted by 195 countries on Dec. 12, makes no reference to that, which has left some ob- servers wondering whether politicians understand the implications of the goals they signed up for. "I would say it's the sin- gle biggest issue that has to be resolved," said Glen Peters of the Cicero cli- mate research institute in Oslo, Norway. Scientists refer to this envisioned cleanup job as negative emissions — re- moving more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than humans put in it. Right now we're putting in a lot — about 50 billion tons a year, mostly carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels for energy. There are methods to achieve negative emissions today but they would need to be scaled up to a level that experts say could put climate efforts in conflict with other priorities, such as eradicating hunger. Still, if the Paris climate goals are to be achieved, there's no way to avoid the issue, said Jan Minx of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Com- mons and Climate change in Berlin. "My view is, let's have this discussion," he said. "Let's involve ourselves in developing these tech- nologies. We need to keep learning." The Paris Agreement was historic. For the first time all countries agreed to jointly fight climate change, primarily by re- ducing the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Governments vowed to keep global warming "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with preindus- trial times. But even 2 de- grees of warming could threaten the existence of low-lying island nations faced with rising seas. So governments agreed to try to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F), which is just half-a-de- gree above the global aver- age temperature this year. That goal is so ambi- tious — some would say far-fetched — that there's been very little research devoted to it. In Paris, pol- iticians asked scientists to start studying how it can be done. Minx and others said it's clear the goal cannot be reached without negative emissions in the future, because the atmosphere is filling up with greenhouse gases so fast that it may al- ready be too late to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees C. That means allowing warming to exceed 1.5 degrees temporarily and then bringing it down by removing carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the at- mosphere. The task would be enor- mous. 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