Bethlehem Lutheran Church

News from the Middle East 

Bethlehem Ministries now operate as Diyar Consortium. The various ministries of the International Center of Bethlehem, related to Christmas Lutheran Church, have been restructured to form the Diyar Consortium. Its work is arguably the most impressive Palestinian economic development activity under non-governmental auspices-with lots of support from international church and government sources. Diyar's report below, posted June 8, is followed by a second report, June 27:

Diyar director, Mitri Raheb, honored with German peace award

      Salaam from Bethlehem. We would like to share with you our most recent exciting news that motivates us to continue the work that we do, empowering and encouraging the local community to believe that we have a life and can live it abundantly. But first, we invite you to visit our new website, which reflects the current development and progress of our work. Please go to: http://www.diyar-consortium.org/. Our news is summarized in 2 items:
      Last week, it was announced that Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb has received the prestigious Aachen Award for Peace. The award ceremony will take place Sept. 1 in Germany. This prize is given to individuals and organizations that have worked tirelessly for peace on the grassroots level. Receiving this award, as you will see when visiting the website, has stirred extraordinary media attention, especially in Germany. For more on this item, visit: www.mitriraheb.org.
      Second, this week Bethlehem hosted one of the largest conferences ever held in the city, the Palestine Investment Conference; 2000 people from different parts of the world attended. It was a highlight in a number of ways to the city of Bethlehem and Palestine at large. However, the proud moment for us as Diyar Consortium was the fact that when the organizers of the conference thought of how to present the best of Palestine to the guests, immediately they thought of us. Diyar's work was manifested and presented on 3 occasions during the event:

Each guest was presented with a memento of Palestine, which was our own silver olive leaf. The leaf was designed by the ICB and produced by our students. http://www.annadwa.org/en/

On opening day, a short film screening entitled "Eye on Palestine" was held. At the end of the film, the ICB appeared twice, together with its logo and some of its activities.

At the last evening of the conference, during a big banquet at Manger Square, our Dar al-Kalima School choir and band were asked to share melodies presenting the culture of Palestine and the spirit of Bethlehem. Our music teacher, Miriam, did a great job with the live music, and the children were wonderful. A great response was received from the audience.