concern among Bethlehem Bible College staff members that a period "of relative freedom" in Jesus birthplace and other Palestinian territories will end.
In a statement the Israeli authorities said the Palestinians were killed in a field as they tried to infiltrate the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, just outside Hebron. But Palestinian officials denied the accusations, saying that the four men were workers nearby.
Reports from the region confirmed that they were carrying wire cutters and a saw, but that no weapons were found near their bodies. The killings near Hebron came just hours after a Palestinian gunman attacked another settlement, seriously wounding two residents, the Voice of America reported.
INVESTIGATION MINISTER
These latest incidents came as Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer already opened an investigation into an Israeli helicopter attack in the West Bank on Saturday, August 31, which killed five people, two of them children.
The children were reportedly playing outside their house, when they were struck by one of the missiles, which apparently overshot its target, a moving vehicle. Another rocket hit a car killing three passengers, one of them a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military wing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction. Two others were teenagers, eye-witnesses said.
CHRISTIANS CONCERNED
As fighting continued, there were growing fears among Christians in the region about the security situation in Bethlehem. British Teacher Alistair Sanders, who recently left the region, said that "Bethlehem is only just emerging out of curfew and military occupation (again)."
In an e-mail message from London obtained by ASSIST News Service, Sanders stressed that the curfew has been lifted by Israeli forces "for 6 to 8 hours every day." However he added that "how long this period of relative freedom will last is unknown."
BIBLE COLLEGE STRUGGLING
He said that the Bible College’s senior staff members have been out of the country for most of the summer to raise awareness among Christians and financial support for the struggling institution.
"My ongoing funding has dropped by 74% in the last few months, due to changes in the personal circumstances of some of the people supporting me in this way. This means I am unable to go to Bethlehem again, even if they ask me to," he said.
He suggested however that God will never abandon Israel and that he believes that the Lord is showing "a vision" and "direction." People wishing to support Alistair Sanders with prayers and/or finances can reached him via e-mail: alistair.sanders@virgin.net
