Before the mass immigration from the former Soviet Union, the Greek Orthodox community in Israel numbered about 40,000, the vast majority of whom were Arabs. The community has tripled in size thanks to the immigrants. New churches have opened and old ones are booming. These immigrants are also very dedicated believers and have pushed the "old-timers" to extend the prayer services.

Lili Galili meets the Greek Orthodox community in the city of Migdal Haemeq - who are lead by a Christian Arab priest.

By Lili Galili, Haaretz, June 16, 2006

George Khoury is from Israel, but he is not a Jew.
Khoury is Arab, but he is not a Muslim.
He belongs to a Byzantine church, but is not Orthodox.
And the husband and father of three is a Catholic priest, but not a Roman Catholic one.

If all those labels are not confusing enough, the 51-year-old Khoury ? a Palestinian Christian who is a priest in the Greek Catholic Church ? is also a clinical psychologist who says there is really only one label that matters to him.

?Most importantly, I am a human being,? Khoury said.

Rapid City Journal, Jan 24, 2006

?It makes me feel like I?m right in a biblical setting,? said Mrs. Carter. With her daughter Amy and son Jeff, she was wending her way through the living reconstruction of first-century Nazareth Village yesterday, on her first visit to the site she has supported for years. Villagers in authentic costumes were hoeing around olive trees as the farmer worked his way through a flock of sheep to carry a new-born lamb toward her. The Carter family and entourage were enthralled, and stroked its silky white face. Even the security service personnel pressed closer.

BY Glenn Edward Witmer, Menno Jerusalem, Jan 28, 2006

By secular standards, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa has done spectacularly well in his career. Even from the perspective of the Catholic establishment, Pizzaballa is an unparalleled success story. In fact, being appointed custodian of the Holy Land at the age of 39 is quite a feat by any yardstick: In practice, Pizzaballa is the man in charge of all the Christian holy places in the Middle East.

By Lili Galili, Haaretz, Dec 24, 2005

They have come to Israel from Russia and Ukraine. They are more numerous than the members of the historical Churches, but they are not included in any tally. Observant Jews, Orthodox Christians, and Catholics are all competing for them.

by Sandro Magister, Chiesa, Dec 13, 2005

Bethlehem, a place of Christian pilgrimage for centuries, will soon be encircled by Israel's security barrier. Is the town to become no more than a museum among ancient shrines? John Harris meets the people campaigning to keep it alive

Saturday November 5, 2005, The Guardian

A holiday in Palestine is never going to be easy but, finds Andrew Mueller, the rewards for tourists and locals alike can be huge.

To get to the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I have to negotiate a military checkpoint. Opposite the church marking the site of the Nativity, a building flies a huge poster of a man infamous, in some circles, as a terrorist.

The Observer, Sunday, Oct 23, 2005

The Israeli popular newspaper ?Yideot Ahronot? revelaed that Micha Bahooth, the Christian driver from Shefa-Amr came one day before the terrorist attack to the bus station in Shefa-Amr with a Jewish soldier by the name of Natan-Zada. Zada had a M-16 rifle, a black bag in his arm and a cap on his head. Bahooth told the instructor that the Jewish Soldier had fallen asleep in the bus and missed his station. The Christian driver offered the soldier a bottle of water before they drove him back to the central bus station in the Haifa bay.

The Christian driver was shot by Natan-Zada 24 hours after, together with 3 other passangers, in the first terrorist attack by a Jewish Terrorist against Israeli Arabs in the recent years

Special For "Come and See", Aug 8, 2005

After 9 years in Nazareth, executive director of Nazareth village D. Michael Hostetler and family will be leaving to Canada.

Mr. Hostetler, known by his friends as ?Mike?, was the living spirit behind the establishment of the replica of the first century village and museum created in 2000 in Nazareth.

Nazareth, June 22, 2005, Special for Come and See

One of the biggest landowners in Israel, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate is in financial trouble. After decades of selling and leasing land cheaply, the current patriarch is launching a campaign to `redeem' property, assisted by well-known lawyer Gilead Sher. Sher replaced the disgruntled Mira Bornstein, who sued her former client for millions of shekels.

By Asaf Carmel, Haaretz, March 4, 2005