Rema: No it's one of the most difficult things. Most of our books come from Egypt. I have been six times to Egypt. As Palestinians we are not allowed to go through Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, so we cross over from the Jericho area into Jordan and then from Jordan to Egypt. I collect the books from about 20 bookshops in Egypt and meet the shipping company there and have them shipped to Bethlehem. They take too much tax from us to get them here so it's not easy to get the books here and it takes nearly one to two months for the books to arrive.

Paul: Are most of your books translated from the West or do you have many Arab authors?

Rema: We have many Arab authors. We also have books from the West too, which have been translated. We like the western authors too.

Paul: You have many children's books as well. Are children's books important for grounding children in the word?

Rema: It's more important for the children because they need to know their faith. They need to know it from when they are small. We have Sunday School materials; Flannel Graphs; we have CD's and videos. We have Veggie Tales and colouring books and Bibles for the children, so yes it is very important to have children's Bibles and books.

Paul: Everybody loves Veggie Tales. Do you have it in Arabic too?

Rema: Yes we have it in Arabic. The children like it.

Paul: Do you have a big selection of videos and music here?

Rema: Yes we do have a lot of Christian music; we have worship, revival music - we have all kinds in Arabic, but we just have a small side in English.

Paul: Is Arabic Christian music very important here?

Rema: Yes it is, because in the problems we face here, the people need to hear the Christian music just to go on and be encouraged. Life can be very hard here with the situation; worshiping is very important.

Paul: Has the shop become a meeting place for believers?

Rema: Yes; from churches if someone wants to meet, then they say let's go to the Immanuel Bookshop, we can go there; so yes they are coming here. It is also a place where people can come with their problems. We are not only selling books, we want people to come here, because we can listen to them or counsel them and pray with them; it's a place for rest.

Paul: What sort of difficulties are people facing in Bethlehem at the moment?

Rema: People here don't have jobs so they are not getting money even to feed their children; because of the wall no one is going outside to work, so they are looking for jobs and there are no jobs here, so it is very difficult. There is no money here in Bethlehem that is why so many Christians are leaving the city.

Paul: What's your prayer for Bethlehem and for people who need to know more about Jesus?

Rema: Without people's prayers the bookshop won't stay open. Pray for us, for protection, for finances, because this bookshop needs about $20,000 a year to run. Pray for us as we travel to Egypt, pray for the salvation of people and pray that when people enter here they can feel the Lord Jesus.