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Palestinian Bible Society requests prayer

Associated Press / Rick Bowmer

An Israeli soldier gestures as he checks the contents of a car trunk at the congested Kalandiya checkpoint, on the road between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Ramallah, Monday Aug 20, 2001.

JERUSALEM, Israel, Oct. 31 — In the midst of continuing worldwide concern about the Middle East crisis, Labib Madanat, Executive Secretary of the Palestinian Bible Society, said that the violence is providing "plentiful seeds for the perpetuation of hatred and revenge". He said that the violence "makes our area an unclearable minefield" and that the continuation of the bloodshed was what worried him most.

At the head of a list of prayer topics he was keen to share with the UBS fellowship, he asked for prayers for the children of Palestine - "for their childhood to be saved and restored". He also asked for the Palestinian Bible Society and the Bible Society in Israel to be remembered, "that together we keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace".

Among the individual projects he mentioned for prayer were the Living Stones Bible Resource Centre for students and young people in Bir Zeit, in the West Bank, and the team working at the Bethlehem Bible Experience (BBE) exhibition. They were working, he said, in "very difficult situations".

He revealed there were plans for the BBE to become wholly geared to serving Christian Palestinian children in the Bethlehem area (Bet Jala and Bet Sahur), because visits to the city by tourists and pilgrims were "down to zero".

Fact Box

1816 was the beginning of formal Bible work in the Middle East.
The Bible Society in Israel was established in 1966 and distributed 5,489 Bibles and 8,694 New Testaments in 1997-98.

In the year 2000 it was estimated that the population was 3,084,000.

Major religions are: Jewish 80% (a significant majority are non-Orthodox), Muslim 16%, Christian 2 %, and Druze 1.5 %.

Sources: United Bible Societies, United Nations, Center for Strategic and International Studies and U.S. Department of State, 2000 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom: Israel

Despite the tense situation, the two staff members at the Bible bookshop in Gaza have refused to leave. They were opening the shop every day, said Mr Madanat, and "witnessing the hand of God changing lives".

Meanwhile Doron Even Ari, Executive Secretary of the Bible Society in Israel, was due to return to his office this week after several weeks abroad. Judith McLean, his assistant, asked for prayers for the safety of the Bible Society staff following threats by some of the terrorist organisations to commit more acts of terrorism within Israel.

Four volunteers have recently arrived from Norway to give their help for six months.

"They felt that the Lord wanted them to come in spite of the situation," said Ms McLean. "Pray for their safety and that their experience at the Bible Society will be a fruitful one."

"Pray that somehow there will be an end to the violence," she added.

Source: United Bible Societies

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