On June 25, 2006 Hamas captured the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross border raid. The story of Shalit is a sad one. It reflects the tragedy of an Israeli family, the helplessness of individuals, the enmity between two nations, and the violence that dominates over our region. It also points out that prisoners might lose their basic human rights such as seeing their beloved ones. As a Palestinian Christian who is not for any form of violence whether it is state violence or terrorism, I wonder about God’s message to Gilad Shalit!

Yohanna Katanacho, Special For Come and See

Much ‘blood has been spilled’ over the outcry of the “all the [Israeli Jewish] people” to Pontius Pilate washing his hands wishing to be “innocent of the blood of this just man”: “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Mt 27:24-25)

Howard Bass, Special for Come and See

Last week Ynetnews.com published an article by Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical pastor and vice president of Liberty University (the largest evangelical university in the world, founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell). Moore was visiting Israel with a group of students on a trip that ended 24 hours before the bombing in Jerusalem. A Christian tourist was killed in the bombing, and Pastor Moore was moved to write about the terror attack and his views on Israel and the Palestinians. The article, entitled "No Excuse for Brutality," was one-sided and inflammatory, asserting that Palestinians are entirely to blame for the conflict.

By Aziz Abu Sarah

A Palestinian Christian writes about the terrorist attack and the killing of five members from the same family in Itamar settlement in the West Bank last weekend:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles (Matt 5: 38 – 41).

The text wants us to resist evil with good (Rom 12: 21). We are called to resist physical abuse, looting our possessions, and abandoning our freedom of choice. Whenever an evil person strikes we must engage the striker instead of acting like him or her.

Yohanna Katanacho, Special For Come and See, March 13, 2011

Christians have been living in the Middle East seven decades prior to the arrival of Islam, and for 14 other decades as part of, or under, the law of Islam. Never has the situation of Christians reached such a difficult, unstable situation as it has in the last two years. Today the number of Christians is vastly dropping, particularly in places like Iraq and Palestine. Numbers are kept discreet as the church tries to encourage those few remaining to stay and continue to exist. But in reality, the emigration rate is very high as more families try to squeeze their way out of a place they once called home to a new land where they strive for safety and security.

Simon Azazian, Special For Come and See, Jan 15-th 2011

Botrus Mansour,general Director of Nazareth Baptist School writes an article in the nationwide daily Haaretz about the discrimination of the ministry of education against Christian schools in Israel.

"Restricting these schools, which are firmly rooted in this land and are a success story is a blessing and an element of improvement for the clumsy and tired mechanism of the Ministry of Education, is like shooting ourselves in the foot"


Botrus Mansour, Haaretz, October 6, 2010

This question that keeps arising among the Evangelicals, and time after time, the phrase is brought up, not just targeting one individually, but targeting ones family as a whole. So “Are you a Believer?” “Are your parents Believers?” and “When did you become a Believer?” these questions are really asking “Are you a born-again (Evangelical) Christian?” “Are your parents still attending the Nominal Church?” and “When did you stop going to your original Church?”

Simon K Azazian, Special For Come and See, Sep 17, 2010

An Evangelical Christian and staff of the Palestinian Bible Society writes an interesting article about the treatment Bibles receive from Evangelistic campaigns conducted in Jerusalem these days.

“These days I think a lot about how much Christians respect their Bibles. In Jerusalem, where the Bible has found a home for centuries, I believe there is not much value for it anymore”.

Simon Azazian, Special for “Come and See”, August 24, 2010

Recently, Messianic Believers and Palestinian Christians were hesitant to be in fellowship with each other. It seems that some were putting a taboo on fellowship between the aforementioned two groups. Two people from Musalaha ministries: Salim Munayer, a Palestinian Evangelical, and Evan Thomas, a Messianic Jew, respond to this challenge in the following letter.

Special For Come and See, April 21, 2010

This past weekend, an estimated 1,000 Coptic Christians gathered in Los Angeles to protest the killings of fellow Copts in Egypt a few days earlier.

According to one protester, “there is no protection for Christians in Egypt.”

Judging by the coverage, the media isn’t helping matters.

BreakPoint with Chuck Colson, Jan 12, 2010