From a garden lookout offering a heavenly view of Jerusalem's Old City, 150 Christians from around the world raised their hands to the skies. Speaking in their own languages, they prayed together for Israel and its inhabitants.

Their prayers were offered at the closing of a three-day Zionist Congress that drew more than 600 Christians from around the world to Jerusalem in late February in a show of solidarity with the Jewish state.

The conference, sponsored by the Jerusalem-based International Christian Embassy, an ardently pro-Israel organization, was designed to demonstrate strong Christian support for Israel after the collapse of the peace process and the violent disturbances that have accompanied the recent Palestinian uprising.

The three-day meeting coincided with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center's Christian-Palestinian solidarity conference occurring just a mile away in Arab East Jerusalem.

"The impressive achievement of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel [the land of Israel] remains under assault from formidable adversaries both without and within," said Malcolm Hedding, executive director of the Christian Embassy. "The threat facing this people is not really a Palestinian-cum-Israeli question; it is a far deeper problem. Time and time again various Palestinian representatives, including the Hamas, have said that their goal is the total dismantling of the Jewish state. This is the threat that the Jewish people face under the guise of the peace process."

Hedding added, "The Palestinians refused to sign a generous peace offer that would have laid to rest this whole issue. We've come together to encourage Israel, to comfort Israel, to be a blessing to Israel as the Bible teaches us, and to stand with her right to exist in the ancient home of her forefathers."