Early this morning I talked with Pastor Mitri Raheb at the Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem ...
Early this morning I talked with Pastor Mitri Raheb at the Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. The Lutheran Church is five blocks up hill from Manger Square. This morning the fighting is very intense between the two, especially around the city market near the Syrian Orthodox church. I could hear the tanks in the background, which are now on both sides of the Lutheran Church, and Mitri said intense fighting had stopped just half an hour before. The church has received shelling, knocking out 110 year old stained glass windows, which Mitri said, had "survived all the wars so far." Mitri and family live next to the church, but the presence of Israel snipers keeps him from even crossing the small courtyard to his office, and he fears his computer system and files have been knocked out. His garage doors and entrance to his home were wrecked. Electricity and water is cut off, Bethlehem is a "closed city'" which gives rise to the fears that the Israelis will take license, and Mitri fears his phone will go next. Mitri asked that I share this on Al-Awda for those who know him and are concerned.
Arnie Voigt
Littleton, Colorado
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