Bethlehem's wall.

Dear editor,

Your story (Archbishop urges Christians to visit 'struggling' Bethlehem, February) was timely and accurate. If anything, it could have been more direct because the Christians (and Muslims) of Bethlehem who are forced to live behind prison walls would want us to speak out louder and more often about their plight.

The letter from Anthony Roy of Victoria (Misleading, Letters, April) is just the kind of propaganda that the Israeli government loves to read in the foreign press. Mr. Roy is the one demonstrating a shocking lack of information, not the Journal.

"In Bethany (now called Az Za'ayyem) where Jesus called Lazarus forth from the tomb, they found the city encircled by the wall and people living in a giant tomb. The serpent has surrounded this holy place except for a small hole in the wall, a temporary entry which had not yet been cemented over." This quotation is from a sermon given by Rev. Joanna Graham of New York last March at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations, where I joined 70 women representing 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion. Ms. Graham was part of an Anglican delegation of women which visited the Holy Land in 2005 upon the invitation of Eliane Abdinnour (Palestinian delegate of Anglican Consultative Council). Rania Riah Abu El-Assal, daughter of Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal of Jerusalem was also at the CSW and gave several talks about the situation in the Holy Land and, in particular, about the wall.

I support the Archbishop of Canterbury as he asks for Christians worldwide to "pray for the people of Bethlehem that they may not be forgotten."

Annette Graydon

International Anglican Women's Network (Canada)

Terra Cotta, Ont.