The government of Jordan has designated a plot of land for the Baptist World Alliance (BWA).


The offer was first made during a visit by BWA president David Coffey with Jordan’s King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein last September. The land is closely approximate to the region known as Bethany beyond Jordan, where it is believed that John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ.

Baptist World Alleience Web site, June 4, 2008

A coalition of U.S. Mainline churches asked followers to press lawmakers during the summer break to endorse an active U.S. Role in Middle East peace making.

Churches for Middle East Peace sent an email alert to followers this month outlining seven questions for Congress members.

JTA, Aug 15, 2008

Election related news continue to be made in the Middle East weeks after the Barack Obama visited the region. The office of the Palestinian president released, Wednesday, a copy of the peace poster that Abbas presented to Obama.

In a related event, a leader of the tiny Christian Palestinian community in Jerusalem sent an angry complaint to Barak Obama for his failure to visit Christian holy sites during his most recent visit.

By Daoud Kuttab, Palestinian News Network, Aug 10, 2008

Over two hundred Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinian and International worshippers who were holding a prayer service at Ush Ghrab park in Beit Sahour Wednesday evening.

As the mass started the settlers, who organized an activity in the same site, started to provoke the worshippers and asked them to leave, eyewitnesses reported.

Settlers also threatened some of the local and international journalists who were present. The Israeli soldiers who were there asked the internationals and the Palestinians to leave the park and did not attempt to stop the settlers when they started to force everyone to leave, the witnesses said.

George Rishmawi - IMEMC, Aug 7, 2008

Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008) is a Palestinian national icon who has passed away on August 9, 2008 . He is considered one of the essential witnesses of the 1948 tragedy in which many Palestinian Christians and Muslims were exiled.

Darwish was born in the village of al-Birwa, east of Akko . He attended school in Kufr Yassif and then lived in many different countries including Lebanon, Egypt, Russia and the West Bank.

Special For "Come and See", Aug 10, 2008

Before Samirah El-Betjali discovered San Bernardino Arabic Christian Church last year, the Jordanian immigrant struggled through English-language church services, understanding only bits and pieces.

"I didn't enjoy it," El-Betjali said in Arabic, her 18-year-old son, Marrwan, translating. Now the San Bernardino woman can worship in her own language.

By DAVID OLSON, The Press-Enterprise, July 31, 2008

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates.

It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization in the West Bank, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. A few seconds later, he is savoring his meal, explaining that he hasn't been eating much recently because of financial problems. During the past week he has been living with the friend, a Christian, of course, whom he met at church. "Without him," he says, "I would have become homeless."

By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz, July 31, 2008

Rev. Alex Awad’s recent book is interesting, informative, and inspiring. It is interesting because it recites the story of Huda Awad (pp. 17-88), a courageous and godly Palestinian mother who lived from the Ottoman period until the present century. Through her life, we encounter the tragedies and pains of war, and displacement. At the same time, we encounter the Palestinian-Israeli struggles through the eyes of a godly Christian woman who wants to rear her orphan children and provide for them. We can learn many things from her life.

Alex Awad. Palestinian Memories: The Story of a Palestinian Mother and Her People. Bethlehem: Bethlehem Bible College, 2008.

By Yohanna Katanacho, Special For "Come and See"

FORMER immigration minister Kevin Andrews instructed his department to lift the intake of Christian refugees from the Middle East in response to what he saw as a pro-Muslim bias created by corrupt local case officers.

The Weekend Australian says Mr Andrews was so concerned about the extent of corruption in Middle Eastern posts - despite the allegations being investigated and dismissed by his own department - that he wrote to then prime minister John Howard advocating a $200 million plan to replace local employees with Australian staff in 10 "sensitive" countries, including Jordan, Iran and Egypt.

Opposition immigration spokesman Chris Ellison said yesterday this remains Coalition policy.

The Australian, July 19, 2008