Transcript of the speech given by Botrus Mansour on Friday the 10th of October 2008 in Advocates International and Christian Legal Society conference in Washington DC for 1000 lawyers and judges from 106 countries around the world.

Botrus Mansour is a Human rights lawyer, General Director of Nazareth Baptist School and co-editor of the “Come and See” web site who lives in Nazareth, Israel.

Special For Come and See, October 13, 2008

When Shady Bishay, a sales executive for a Boston high tech firm and a native of Egypt, tells American friends he belongs to an Arabic evangelical Baptist church in West Roxbury (Near Boston, Massachusetts, the United States) the information often doesn't compute.

"The first thing is that they are shocked that I'm a Christian," said Bishay, who lives in Foxborough with his wife, a native of Palestine. "They have trouble understanding. It's definitely not the norm."

The Boston Globe, Sep 28, 2008

Haaretz writes in its editorial section about its own responsibility in solving disputes between different Christian groups in Jerusalem.

"Israel's responsibility for the holy places in Jerusalem sometimes involves it in disputes and power struggles between religious communities. There is no better example than the centuries-old dispute between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church over the control of the Deir al-Sultan Monastery on the roof of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City"

Haaretz, October 10, 2008

Director of the The Palestinian Bible Society (PBS) writes to his friend Rami Ayyad one year after he was murdered for his faith in Gaza City. The PBS launched a web site to honor Rami.

"In this day and despite the fact that our eyes are full of tears, we remember that you are in the pastures with the Redeemer Jesus, and we are happy for you, Rami, because you walked the same path as HE did. We promise you not to stop or to weaken on the road, knowing that with us is the most precious of companions leading the way in every struggle, and we will be victorious and win, my friend"

Nashat Filmon, The Palestinian Bible Society, Oct 7, 2008

It's great to note that a United Kingdom (UK) Immigration court has, for the very first time, granted asylum to a Syrian Christian couple who are persecuted for their conversion from Islam to Christianity.

In a report by Open Doors UK, it noted that this is unprecedented for a UK court and, as such, is a recognition of threats to Christian converts who suffer for accepting Christian faith in Syria.

It described the ruling which was facilitated by the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) as a victory, "The court recognized that the couple would face real physical threats, including death, if they returned to Syria, the husband's country of origin. Their appeal was granted on both asylum and human rights grounds."

By Success Kanayo Uchime, ANS, Oct 5, 2008

Two Christian men were killed Saturday in Mosul, contributing to a "climate of panic" among the small community there, reports AsiaNews.it.

Hazim Thomaso Youssif, 40, and Ivan Nuwya, 15, were both killed in the Iraqi city, contributing to a long list of attacks against Christians in the war-torn country. Youssif was ambushed in front of his clothing store, and Nuwya was shot to death in front of his home, located near the local mosque of Alzhara.

Zenit, Iraq, OCT. 5, 2008

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, received an annual salary of $824,000 last year, according to a tax return that the nonprofit organization filed in the United States.

The IFCJ, founded by Eckstein in Chicago 27 years ago, raises millions of dollars each year from the evangelical Christian community, mostly in the U.S., for Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, October 2, 2008

The young John Lennon may have once irreverently boasted that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus. But not, it seems, in Jesus's birthplace and among some Palestinians at least.

Before Sir Paul McCartney turned up genuinely unannounced at the Church of the Nativity here yesterday, a bemused policeman, Mohammed Itmazi, 26, confessed that he hadn't heard either of him or of the band that made him world famous. Yes, there had been many famous people coming through, such as Nicolas Sarkozy and, he added, prompted by a companion, Gordon Brown. But Sir Paul, well no, he was not sure who he was.

Donald Macintyre in Bethlehem, the Independent, Sep 25, 2008

Violence against Christian evangelical and Messianic Jewish communities in Israel increased significantly during the period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008, according to the US State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom.

The report, released last week, put blame for the "tensions" on "certain Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities."

By Matthew Wagner, The Jerusalem Post, Sep 23, 2008