''Christian Presence in the Holy Land ''is a comprehensive, well documented book depicting the various features of Christian life in the Holy Land- past history, present circumstances and future prospects, Written by an authority in Christian affairs with a long record of over forty years of service as chairman of elected Orthodox communal councils in Israel, it is perhaps one of the few authentic records on the subject published by a native Palestinian Christian.

Special for Come and See

Yossi Sarid, ex-leader of the left wing Israeli party MERETZ who served as minister of education in the Israeli government mourns the Jewish Pentecost feast Shavuot the holiday he once "loved above all others for its graciousness and compassion" . Sarid wonders how the right wing leaders have hijacked even this feast in the name of the Torah and wonders how the Torah handed down at Sinai authorized us to dispossess, deport and seal houses; and why a Hebron market street stands empty.

Haaretz 7th June 2011

Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo says the emigration of Christians from the Israeli Arab city of Nazareth is endangering the survival of the Christian community in a place of biblical importance to Christianity.

Upper Nazareth Mayor says his town would never be a mixed Arab-Jewish city and that a mosque would never be built despite the fact that 16 percent of its residents are Arab.

By Jack Khoury, Haaretz, June 5, 2011

Karen Jones writes about Yohanna Katanacho for Bible Study Magazine published by Logos Bible Software. She writers about his spiritual pilgrimage as a Palestinian born on the eve of the 1967 war, learning how to love his enemies and hoping to find a framework for interreligious dialogue as well as presenting the Christian faith to Jews and Muslims in a non-threatening way.

Karen Jones, 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

Bethlehem Bible College invites you to the upcoming international Christ at the Checkpoint conference which will be held from March 5-9, 2012 at the Convention Palace in Bethlehem, Palestine.

The overarching theme of the conference will be “Hope in the Midst of Conflict”. This conference will build on the success of the first Christ at the Checkpoint conference which was held in March 2010.

Here are three links to an Israeli TV news magazine program aired last week, titled "Big Brother and the Jew", which shows very well the nature of the extent to which the extreme ultra-orthodox 'guardians of the Jewish religion' are willing to go in their unbelief, whether with knowledge or not.

Thanks for the program being aired go the the JIJ (Jerusalem Institute of Justice), and thanks to Maoz Israel for putting the English sub-titles on so quickly for general audiences.

Musalaha Statement: Discouragement is always a part of reconciliation. It is inevitable. However, one of the best ways to deal with discouragement is to look to inspirational examples of success. For instance, consider the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Many said it could never be built, because of all the obstacles that stood in its way: the currents, the winds, and the frequent earthquakes. Nevertheless, in the end they managed to build it, and brought the two sides of the bay closer to each other. Now people cross over it all the time and rarely ever think about the effort and how many years were required to build it. We take it for granted, but building bridges is hard work.