Monday, October 08, 2007

Bible Society Worker Killed in Gaza

4

The Palestinian Bible Society
Jerusalem Office

Bible Society worker assassinated in Gaza

7.10.2007

The PBS announced today that Rami Ayyad was found dead near the Bible Society Bookshop in Gaza early this morning. Rami was kidnapped last night by an unknown group directly after he closed the doors of the bookshop at around 16:30. A day before, Rami noted that a car with no plate numbers had been following him. News of his kidnap was reported to the main office after his family received a telephone call from him at around 18:00 saying that he had been taken by a group of people and will return home late that evening. Another phone call was made carrying a similar message. The director of the Bible Society had informed the Police in Gaza of the incident.

At 6:25 this morning, news was received that Rami’s body had been found at a location near the Teachers’ Bookshop in Gaza were he had spent most of his time running the bookshop. Signs of bullets and knife stabs could be clearly seen on his body.

Rami 26, leaves behind two young children, and a pregnant wife. The funeral is expected to take place at 16:00 today. No group or party has claimed responsibility.

The Bible Society in Gaza has received previous threats and vandalism. However, the support from the community has been very well noticed because of the humanitarian role that the Bible Society has been taking the last four years in the strip.

4 comments

  1. Thanks Randall.
    Is this story the same one you provided awhile ago (in Greek if I remember right)? Or is this a separate incident?

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  2. ἄλλο πρᾶγμα διηγησάμην ἐν τῇ ἑλληνικῇ.

    The other incident was a bombing several months ago, during the same week as the murders of some Turkish Christians.

    What is posted here happened over this past weekend, 7-8 October 2007, and was a 'follow-up' to the bombing.

    People need to know about some of the events and fears that exist in some Middle East communities. We can pray for familes and friends of Rami `ayyad in `aza. And for the killers.

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  3. Is the place עזה `aza or غزة ghazza?

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  4. The Arabic letters ain and ghain, while having totally different pronunciations, are written almost identically (a dotted ain is a ghain). That they are interchangeable photetically is indicated by the cognate pairs in arabic and hebrew in which an arabic ghain is written with a hebrew ayin, hebrew not having
    a distinct ghain sound.

    ReplyDelete