For the first time in decades Christian Arabs in Jordan and Palestine have their own magazine. The first edition of the 40 page glossy color magazine.

Al Maghtas (the baptismal) was produced in Amman this week featuring interviews, articles, and even some controversy.

By Daoud Kuttab, Special for Come and See, July 20, 2004

Sunday was an Assyrian Christian festival commemorating mass baptisms by Jesus and the apostles. Iraq's approximately 180,000 Assyrians and a large number of their Muslim neighbors celebrate the festival, called Nusardil, by splashing, if not dousing, each other with water. Many children and young adults use the occasion to mount high-spirited water wars.

By Dogen Hannah, Knight Ridder Newspapers, July 18, 2004

A "Peeping Tom" who photographed a woman in the changing room of a Bethlehem area clothes shop sparked a night of rioting between Palestinian Muslims and Christians, witnesses said.

At the height of the hours-long riot, hundreds of Muslims and Christians fought each other with metal rods and stones in the streets of the West Bank town of Beit Sahur, adjacent to Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus.

By Reuters, July 14, 2004

By an overwhelming vote of its general assembly, the Presbyterian Church USA, boasting 3 million members, is siding with Palestinians against Israel, choosing to divest from the Jewish state as it did only with apartheid South Africa.

WorldNetDaily and the Daily Star, July 17, 2004

Shadia Qubti, Project Coordinator for Musalaha's Summer Camp writes about her experience: "Over thirty Palestinian and Israeli campers joined us for this camp. We asked our campers about what things they have in common, and they all wrote in Arabic and Hebrew: ?Faith in Jesus Christ.? Jesus can break down any barriers and this camp was a living example of that.

Special for Come and See, July 15, 2004

Israeli Journalist Amira Hass writes how the separation fence is seriously damaging the `Christian Triangle' in the Bethlehem area. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian Christians in America are trying to breach the wall of evangelical support for Israeli policies.

Pastor Nihad Salman of the Immanuel Church has tried several times to get permits for his congregants to immerse themselves in the Jordan River, at the point where it flows out of Lake Kinneret. In vain, he says: "People from Indonesia and Korea come and immerse themselves in the Jordan, whereas to us, from Bethlehem, who were born here, whose land this is, it is forbidden."

Amira Hass, Haaretz, June 25, 2004

One of the most disappointing aspects of the MidEast conflict has been the influence of Christian Zionists on US foreign policy. Israel can do no wrong and that includes building a barrier or wall, which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled. To its credit, the Israeli Supreme Court has ordered that the wall must be re-routed to reduce hardships on thousands of Palestinians.


by Sherri Muzher, Thursday 08 July 2004, Media Monitors Network

The Egyptian movie "I Love Cinema," in its fifth week in theaters, has prompted demonstrations by Coptic Christians and legal action by clergymen who say it ridicules Christian doctrines.

SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer, July 10, 2004

Jewish journalist Amira Hass doesn't merely report on the experiences of Palestinians - She went to live in Yasser Arafat's tiny, garbage-strewn statelet in Gaza. In this article, she writes about a Christian Choir with members from Jerusalem, Ramallah and Bethlehem who are now three separated, closed-off entities, with a sea of Israeli obstacles and bans separating them.

Hass eloquently explains the Christian Palestinian story of these three cities which were once one unit connected by familial and economic ties, with religious rites and services provided by Christian communities. Once the towns were cut off from one another, these links were destroyed.

Amira Hass, Haaretz, June 30, 2004