Today’s Enlightening Entertainment will be presented in Arabic and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Thai and Spanish.

Welcome, brilliant viewers, to today’s Enlightening Entertainment. Situated on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, Palestine is known as the cradle of civilization. Over the centuries, numerous great sages and prophets have traveled to and dwelt in this Holy Land. The ancient city of Jerusalem, for example, is one of the world's oldest spiritual centers.

Many prominent religions including Judaism, Christianity and Islam have, to various extents, taken shape in this legendary place. Some 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem lies one of the oldest cities in Palestine, Beit Jala, whose skyline is graced by the pinnacles of six churches and two mosques.

Beit Jala is well known for its religious, educational and health organizations and institutes that serve the residents of the city, many of which are run by a variety of Christian denominations. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation, the oldest Lutheran church in the whole region, supports peace projects in the Holy Land to promote friendship and unity in Israel and Palestine.

People want only one thing, is to live in peace and security. It’s the same, doesn’t matter Jewish, Palestinian, Christian or Muslims.

Today, we will feature the unique organization serving this mission of peace, the magnificent Beit Ibrahim in Beit Jala, Palestine. Beit Ibrahim is a large church-sponsored peace project in the Middle East supported by the Abraham Beit Jala Hostel Association founded in Germany in 2001. It also known as the Abrahams Herberge, is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation compound.

My name is Axel Becker, I’m a retired Lutheran pastor. I’m living near Cologne, in a small village. Nearly every year I come to visit this place here. And I like this project, which is the project of reconciliation and meeting and to find a way to overcome all the separations.

Here in this country, you have Jewish people, you have Palestinian, Christians and Muslims, and if we have the reconciliation in the religion, that means we helped our people to be reconciliated with each other and with the other people.

Beit Ibrahim is a retreat complex that consists of a study center and a guest house. As part of the peace program, the Beit Ibrahim guest house is open to national and international visitors all year round. Youth and adults of all three Abrahamic faiths, Jewish, Muslim and Christian, gather here to build understanding and reconciliation. The proceeds of the guesthouse are used in furthering the development of various peace projects. The exquisite design of Beit Ibrahim, characterized by its vibrant oriental touches, radiates the loving, welcoming ambience of the Holy Land.

If you see this house, how it was built by the architect, which is a Palestine architect, or if you see other places, there is a beauty which I really appreciate. It’s very special. The Palestinians have a sense of beauty. They like the flowers, they like the greens, the gardens, and this makes them very friendly and it’s nice to be here.

The grounds and walls of Beit Ibrahim are built with native stone. Ancient Arabic ceilings, painted walls, round arch windows, and marble intarsia floors embrace one into the rich Palestinian culture and heritage. German artist Gamma Thesa Terheyden comments on the significance of this historical grandeur.

In the Beit Jala, lives very good stones, the stone of Jerusalem. And I heard from Abraham’s Herberge and found that it is an interesting country, interesting town to make a project with different artists. In Beit Jala, it is necessary that the other people can know many things about Palestine and Israel.

And all the time, it is so that the artist, the musicians, the writers, the philosophers, all the persons, it was in all the generations that they say what they see about the world. And it’s always the artist who show a possibility to make a little bit peace;

The arts have no boundaries. Different concepts and ideas are shared in the art exhibitions conducted regularly in the Beit Ibrahim complex.

I find artists from Germany, from Palestine, and from Israel, and that they can work together. They meet in the exhibition. And so there is a group who can work together. everybody told me that it is very good that the world knows the situation here.

The first is the picture from the artist. The next is the picture from the portrait, from himself. The third work is a work free, but you can find something what he thinks about the other land. And when I explain it for this situation, then the artist can make the same thing, and the Israel make in this picture the things about Palestine, and about Germany. And the Palestine artist can work about the Israel and so on.

The beautiful Palestinian artworks embellish the walls of the Beit Ibrahim to create a warm and harmonious atmosphere. People of all religions and backgrounds gather in the complex weekly to listen to the sermon. Music, joy, and praise of Allah fill the people and the church. In Palestine, both Christians and Muslims call God, “Allah.” When we return, we’ll visit the church’s youth housing and talk to some of the boys who grew up here in the church compound. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

We want to give hope, we want to show the other people there is another way of life. We don’t like to be separated; we want to feel free like another people.

Welcome back to Enlightening Entertainment featuring the magnificent Beit Ibrahim in the compound of Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala, Palestine. Located at the center of various routes linking the three continents, Palestinian customs have gone through centuries of exchange with her neighboring Arab countries as well as international travelers.

We are belonging to this land, which we call Palestine. And we are part of the Middle East. We don’t feel that the people of Egypt or Syrian or Lebanon or Jordan are different from us. But our roots come from this land.

The Beit Ibrahim provides a platform for the Palestinian Christians, Jews, and Muslims to meet and experience life together. It is with the dream that someday, people from different religions and backgrounds can live in harmony, respect and unity as one nation. One such initiative is the establishment of a boys’ boarding and welfare center.

Our boys’ home, it’s like an orphanage. This house has the name of Abraham. Abraham Herberge in Germany, Ibrahim in Arabic, or House of Abraham. And that means it’s a vision. We want to make possible for the children of Abraham, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, to meet in this Abraham’s House.

Here, the children and youth grew up together, despite their ethnicity, religious beliefs, and family status.

Some children, they don’t have a father or both, or divorced, and if they stay at street, then they have to think to have radical things. Here in the Boys’ Home they take care of us. That’s means it gives us home. That’s mean that we not thinking about the radical things, but we think about how to live together with peace.

I am here since 20 years, I grew up at the Boys’ Home here, near the church. I think it’s here. It’s an example for to build the bridges between the Christians and the Muslims. I am feel as like my home here.

I don’t feel that I am Muslim and they are Christians, I feel that we are brothers, and in the boy’s home that we can trust, it’s no problem for us, and we can pray. They give us freedom to live together, without any problem, without any troubles, and really it’s very good.

Every Wednesday, the church is open for all to pray for peace. Pilgrims from all walks of life are welcome to join.

We have a common service in the church. Christian, Jewish and Muslims are praying together.

We have the church and we have also the mosque. I visit the mosque and I also visit the church.

The church or the mosque, we pray for one God.

Music is of particular importance in the parish meeting program. Through collective efforts in music making, students establish friendship and learn to trust one another.

Also we have music projects. That’s also for the Muslims and Christians. But I mean it also brings people together, as the Muslims. As also Abraham Tent in the refugee camp. This is about the Lutheran church here and a lot of children live together in the tent. I mean that is a lot of education and activity, that’s how to be together every time.

Only a few kilometers from the city of Beit Jala is the refugee camp Dheisha. Over 12,000 people dwell in challenging conditions, including children. Abraham’s tent project provides a meeting place for providing children nutritional and educational assistance.

There is a lot of children of the refugee camp. We are offering them food, warm meals without expecting anything from them. And they have the opportunity after they’re eating to be helped in the education, in their home school work. Another project is our arts project. We are doing something out of recycled glass. We are giving some people the opportunity to learn this profession, do something for the environment.

We have to think for our children, for the future of our children. We have to take care for the environment. The whole world has to be united.

Blessed viewers, thank you for your company today on Enlightening Entertainment. Please join us again next Friday for the final part of our program featuring the marvelous Beit Ibrahim in Beit Jala, Palestine. Coming up next is Words of Wisdom, after Noteworthy News. May Heaven bestow peace and protection to all.