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An American Minister Prays for Forgiveness of Arabs Who Murdered His Wife

February 27, 1970
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An American Baptist minister prayed to God today to forgive Arab terrorists who murdered his wife Monday. The Rev. Theodore Ertle, of Grandville, Michigan, prayed over the grave of his wife, Barbara, 31, who was killed when Arabs machine gunned a busload of American Christian tourists near Hebron. Mrs. Ertle, the mother of two, was buried at the American cemetery here. “May the Lord remove all bitterness from the heart of the Arab nation and may He forgive the assailant,” Rev. Ertle prayed. Israeli authorities cordoned off the area and imposed a curfew after the bus ambush. But no arrests have been made so far. Another American tourist, Leon Holtz, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was killed in a bus ambush in the Hebron area last Dec. 27. Israeli police have uncovered an Israeli Arab terrorist cell in Nazareth and one in Western Galilee. A police chief reported that there were indications of efforts at reorganizing renewed terrorist acts in Israel.

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