• FEATURES \ Aug 12, 2003
    reads 4701
    The editorial coordinator of Christian History in "Christianity Today" writes about the history of Palestinian Christians:

    "They've called the Holy Land home for centuries, but they've never actually governed themselves"

    Steven Gertz, Christianity Today, Aug 8, 2003

    Palestinian Christians: Strangers in a Familiar Land
  • ISRAEL \ Aug 03, 2003
    reads 1875
    The Sharon government voted against the law depriving Palestinians married to Israelis of the right to Israeli citizenship and forced the Knesset to accept its position and to enact a law that grossly discriminates against Israel's Arab citizens.

    This new law is critical to the small Christian Community that lives in Israel and Palestine. What God Has Joined - Israel tries to seperate.

    Parts of an Article by Uzi Benziman, Haaretz, August 3, 2003

  • OTHER \ Jul 28, 2003
    reads 4343
    Ninety-five retired Southern Baptist missionaries who served in the Middle East and North Africa recently signed a resolution calling for Christian leaders in America to refrain from making inflammatory statements about the faith of the people in the mostly Muslim area

    By Hannah Lodwick, Associated Baptist Press, July 25, 2003

    Retired missionaries ask Baptist leaders to cease anti-Muslim statements
  • ISRAEL \ Jul 22, 2003
    reads 2144
    The Israeli town of 3,000 Arab Christians, with few jobs and no Internet access, is to receive a computer center from Jewish and Roman Catholic leaders in Chicago.

    BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL, Chicago Sun Times, July 23, 2003

  • JORDAN \ Jul 21, 2003
    reads 4918
    The Vatican will build the biggest church of the Middle East in Jordan near the site where scholars believe Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, ASSIST News Service (ANS) has learned from official sources.

    According to "Come and See" Editor, the biggest Church in the Middle East nowadays is the Church of Annonciation in Nazareth.

    ASSIST News Service, July 17, 2003

    Vatican builds biggest Middle East Church
  • JORDAN \ Jul 21, 2003
    reads 4544
    Siham Qandah has been assured by a Jordanian prince that he will personally ensure that she is not sent to prison, while her lawyers continue to fight for justice.

    Siham?s tragic case began with the death of her husband in 1994. When she tried to claim her widow?s pension from the army she was astonished to be told that he had allegedly converted to Islam and therefore under Shari?ah and Jordanian law as a Christian she could not inherit from him. In April 2002 Siham was ordered by court to give up custody of her children, so the family went into hiding.

    Barnaba's Fund Web site, July 14, 2003
    New Hope for Christian Widow
  • ISRAEL \ Jul 17, 2003
    reads 1584
    In Israel, Tourism Minister Benny Elon is considered too extreme, so he complains that he cannot get his ideas through "since the media here is closed to me. From the other side, when I go to the Congress and meet with Tom Delay or Sam Brownback, and these men take me seriously. The Christian Coalition is highly supportive. I am closely tied to Pat Robertson and Gary Bauer. And they have a lot of power".

    Parts of an interview with a racist minister who his biggest supporters are Pro-Israel Evangalicals in the US

    From the Jerusalem Post, July 15, 2003

  • ISRAEL \ Jul 15, 2003
    reads 1808
    Zenit, the Web site of "The World Seen from Rome" quotes the Jerusalem Post on this matter. According to Zenit, the Vatican's official statement on the meeting made no mention of the issue.

    Zenit.org, July 13, 2003

    Holy See Thanks Israel for Halting Nazareth Mosque
  • OPINION \ Jul 14, 2003
    reads 4652
    A Lebanese Scholar reviews "The Body and the Blood: The Holy Land's Christians at the Turn of a New Millennium" by By Charles M. Sennott.

    "The real danger afflicting Christians in the Middle East is the spread of dhimmitude - being second-class citizens who are denied many of their basic rights and freedoms. The book has very little to offer on this subject'.

    Reviewed by Habib C. Malik, July 2003

    dhimmitude is key in understanding plight of Arab Christians