Mary Gardner
Mary Gardner, aged 56, an evangelical Christian, was the only fatality in the bomb attack in Jerusalem last week, although ca. 50 others were injured. She is another innocent victim in the war of Palestinian terrorism against the Israeli population. Mary was a Scottish visitor to Israel, working at the Institute for Bible Translation affiliated with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She was there to take a six-month course in modern and biblical Hebrew so that she could translate the Bible into the West African language of Ife.
Mary was one of those unique and gifted individuals who sacrifice their whole life for an ideal. She went to live alone in a hut in a small village in Togo for years in order to learn the language of the Ife tribe and to translate the Christian New Testament into their language. Over a period of many years with others she accomplished this. Then she set off on a program to translate the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible, the Torah. In order to do this she registered at the Rothstein School for Bible Translation in Jerusalem and began to study Hebrew so that she could translate the Bible into Ife from the original. Apparently she had made many friends there, even though she was a very solitary person, and had participated in all aspects of the program at the Center. She was waiting at the bus stop near the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem in order to visit a friend who was staying at a hotel. Pure chance took her life. If she had not been killed under such tragic circumstances we would probably never have heard of this dedicated and extraordinary individual.
Mary is far from being the only non-Israeli killed by terrorist attacks in Israel. A few years ago a Greek priest was shot dead in a Palestinian drive-by attack while jogging, several Americans have been killed while mistaken for Israelis or simply being in a crowd. The Palestinians don't care about this since they make little distinction between Israelis and other westerners because such attacks clearly are meant to terrorize Israelis. In this they do not succeed, and while it may reduce tourism to Israel somewhat, it can also be seen as a severe drain on the Palestinian economy. They desperately need tourism too, especially in Bethlehem, and the killing of a Christian can hardly help this. Also, the time, money and effort put into carrying out terrorist attacks could much better be spent on creative economic activities. It is because of this that Israel will undoubtedly win, because terrorism simply doesn't work, yet the Palestinians simply have not realized this after many years of fruitless attempts. It would be nice if Mary Gardner were the last victim of such attacks.
Mary was one of those unique and gifted individuals who sacrifice their whole life for an ideal. She went to live alone in a hut in a small village in Togo for years in order to learn the language of the Ife tribe and to translate the Christian New Testament into their language. Over a period of many years with others she accomplished this. Then she set off on a program to translate the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible, the Torah. In order to do this she registered at the Rothstein School for Bible Translation in Jerusalem and began to study Hebrew so that she could translate the Bible into Ife from the original. Apparently she had made many friends there, even though she was a very solitary person, and had participated in all aspects of the program at the Center. She was waiting at the bus stop near the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem in order to visit a friend who was staying at a hotel. Pure chance took her life. If she had not been killed under such tragic circumstances we would probably never have heard of this dedicated and extraordinary individual.
Mary is far from being the only non-Israeli killed by terrorist attacks in Israel. A few years ago a Greek priest was shot dead in a Palestinian drive-by attack while jogging, several Americans have been killed while mistaken for Israelis or simply being in a crowd. The Palestinians don't care about this since they make little distinction between Israelis and other westerners because such attacks clearly are meant to terrorize Israelis. In this they do not succeed, and while it may reduce tourism to Israel somewhat, it can also be seen as a severe drain on the Palestinian economy. They desperately need tourism too, especially in Bethlehem, and the killing of a Christian can hardly help this. Also, the time, money and effort put into carrying out terrorist attacks could much better be spent on creative economic activities. It is because of this that Israel will undoubtedly win, because terrorism simply doesn't work, yet the Palestinians simply have not realized this after many years of fruitless attempts. It would be nice if Mary Gardner were the last victim of such attacks.
posted by Jack Cohen at 4:03 PM
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