A thanksgiving mass is planned for later today at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity where a 38-day standoff ended yesterday.
The siege ended with Palestinian fighters leaving for exile, Israeli troops pulling out of town and one of Christianity's holiest shrines in squalor.
Under a European-brokered deal, the 13 Palestinians in the church who were on Israel's most-wanted list were flown to Cyprus yesterday, the first stop in an exile that will take them to third countries.
Twenty-six other Palestinians considered less serious offenders by Israel were expelled from the West Bank and taken by armored bus to Gaza. Flag-waving crowds gave them a heroes' welcome as the men headed to beachfront hotel accommodations.
Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers rumbled out of Bethlehem, the last Palestinian city still held by Israeli forces that launched a crushing offensive in the West Bank on March 29th after suicide attacks killed dozens of Israelis.
"We hope Israel will give up on this invasion completely," Palestinian cabinet minister Mr Nabil Sha'ath said in Gaza, calling on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to start peace negotiations instead.
Mr Sharon, who has said Mr Yasser Arafat could never be Israel's peace partner, has made talks conditional on an end to Palestinian violence and a major restructuring of the Palestinian Authority.
"The end of the standoff in Bethlehem is a positive development that removes an obstacle to restoring security cooperation between the parties and should advance the prospects for resuming a political process toward peace," US President George W Bush said in a statement.
The 13 scheduled for exile boarded a bus that took them to Tel Aviv's airport. A British military aircraft flew them to Cyprus, where they were taken to a seafront hotel.
European diplomatic sources said Italy, Spain and other countries were willing to take some of the wanted gunmen. Diplomats have said there were no plans to keep them in custody.