The heated debate over the prospects for change in the Middle East has yet to provide us with a method to measure the progress towards democratic reform in the Middle East.

Leon Hadar proposes thinking outside the box - a novel multicultural approach ? one that includes monitoring the status of the large Christian minorities.

Antiwar web site, June 5, 2005

Senior US Christian leaders have met with the head of the Palestinian Authority following his discussions last week with President George W Bush. Their aim was to encourage further initiatives towards bridge-building in the Middle East.

Ekklisia, June 5, 2005

The Evangelical pastor tells an Israeli journalist: Even though as a Christian, I don't usually curse, the Jews in Israel should tell Bush to go to hell."

Pastor Vineyard is part of an anti-disengagement delegation. The group arrived late Monday afternoon and after a brief press conference, headed straight to the Gaza Strip, where they planned to remain as an "act of solidarity" until their return to the U.S. on Thursday.

From Haaretz, By Daphna Berman, June 6, 2005

The government will allocate NIS 10 million to compensate residents for property damage incurred during the riots in the Galilee town of Maghar four months ago, a ministerial committee announced yesterday.

The committee, headed by Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz, was appointed by the cabinet two months ago. It was charged with examining the matter of property that was damaged in the riots that erupted between Christians and Druze in the town.

By Jack Khoury, Haaretz, June 6, 2005

According to researcher from the Israeli Institute of Technology in Haifa, it was not blood loss that killed Jesus but blood clot and pulmonary embolism

By Ahiya Raved, YNET news, June 7, 2005

About 350 people gathered on a Friday afternoon at May 13 in the Baptist Village in the center of Israel to celebrate 25 years for the Fellowship of Christian Students in Israel (FCSI). The audience included students, graduates and church leaders from all around Israel.

This ministry has played a key role in the development of the evangelical church in Israel. It is one of the first ministries to involve both Christian Arabs and Messianic Jews, was a good school for rising up leaders of churches and has been for more than 25 years a light for 250,000 Students studying in Israel today.

Special For "Come and See", May 26, 2005

Leaders of Orthodox churches from Russia to the ancient Christian centers in the Middle East prepared Monday for a rare gathering forced by a crisis in their ranks: The refusal of the Holy Land patriarch to step down even as his authority is shattered by rebel clerics, angry followers and the hair-trigger issue of land rights in Jerusalem.

By BRIAN MURPHY, AP Religion Writer, May 22, 2005

The government has offered to donate 35 acres beside the Sea of Galilee for an evangelical Christian center to boost Christian tourism, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The government told a group of evangelical leaders, including the Rev. Ted Haggard of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, it would be willing to improve a nearby airport and provide power, water and phone lines for the center, The Gazette of Colorado

AP and "Come and See", May 12, 2005

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, interested in shoring up his standing in the influential US Evangelical Christian community, met eight leading Evangelical figures Tuesday, including Jay Sekulow, a high profile Messianic Jew.

Sekulow, who runs a conservative civil liberties group called the American Center for Law & Justice that was set up by evangelist Pat Robertson, is considered close to US President George W. Bush and was one of three strategists charged by the White House with the task of getting Bush's controversial court nominees through the Senate.

Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2005