On 28 February, the deadline that an unknown Islamist group gave for blowing up the building that houses the Palestinian Bible Society's bookshop in Gaza, passed without incident.

The group demanded the bookshop close permanently.

Bible Society directors temporarily closed the bookshop, where terrorists had exploded two small pipe bombs on 3 February. "Satan wants to kill our love for the Muslims but he can't," Palestinian Bible Society Director Labib Madanat said on 28 February.

Open Doors Web site, March 3, 2006

The Vatican on Monday said it forgave the Israeli couple arrested Friday for detonating fireworks in Nazareth's Basilica of the Annunciation.

Three members of the same family are suspected of entering the church and setting off fireworks during a prayer service. Ensuing riots left 13 police officers and 13 civilians lightly wounded. Four cars were also set on fire, including two police vehicles.

Eli Ashkinazi, Haaretz, March 6, 2006

A Jewish extremist accompanied by his Christian wife and their daughter detonated firecrackers inside the Basilica of Annunciation in the northern Israeli Arab city of Nazareth on Friday evening, wounding several congregants and triggering a riots, witnesses said.

The three hid firecrackers and small gas canisters in a baby stroller and detonated the firecrackers inside the church during a special prayer for the opening of Lent.

The Jewish man and the two women entered the basilica compound disguised as Christian pilgrims

By Jack Khoury, Yoav Stern and Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz, March 3, 2006

Palestinian educator Dr. Maria Khoury geared up for the winter chill with what was at the time a meaningless purchase: a black silk scarf with silver stripes to drape around her neck.

But now, on her daily excursions from the West Bank's Taiba to nearby Ramallah, the scarf serves as a political symbol of the changing times.

"Since Hamas took over, I cover my head in Ramallah," she says. "I don't feel comfortable."

In the largely cosmopolitan Ramallah, though they comprise some 10 percent of the population, Christians are becoming less and less visible.

LAUREN GELFOND FELDINGER, the Jerusalem Post, Feb 23, 2006

An evangelical pastor and an Orthodox rabbi, both from Texas, have apparently persuaded leading Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell that Jews can get to heaven without being converted to Christianity.

Televangelist John Hagee and Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg, whose Cornerstone Church and Rodfei Sholom congregations are based in San Antonio, told The Jerusalem Post that Falwell had adopted Hagee's innovative belief in what Christians refer to as "dual covenant" theology.

This creed, which runs counter to mainstream evangelism, maintains that the Jewish people has a special relationship to God through the revelation at Sinai and therefore does not need "to go through Christ or the Cross" to get to heaven.

Ilan Chaim, The Jerusalem Post, March 1, 2006

A leading US evangelist is forming an umbrella organization under which all pro-Israel Christians in America can speak as one in support of the Jewish state.

Pastor John C. Hagee of San Antonio, Texas, is to launch Christians United for Israel (CUFI) at an invitation-only "Summit on Israel" next Tuesday at his Cornerstone Church.

By Ilan Haim, The Jerusalem Post, Feb 2, 2006

While Evangelicals are talking about forming an umbrella organization under which all pro-Israel Christians in America can speak as one in support of the Jewish state, Catholics are trying to listen to the plight of Palestinian Christians.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., is taking an increased interest in the desperate plight of Christians in the Holy Land -- to the point of politely and privately asking for help from President Bush. Immediately at stake is the West Bank village of Aboud, whose Christian roots go back two millennia, and which now is threatened by Israel's security barrier.

BY ROBERT NOVAK, Chicago Sun Times, Feb 16, 2006

On Friday night, February 3, militants placed an explosive device at the door of the Bible Society in Gaza. Around 11 p.m., the bomb exploded, destroying both the steel and glass doors. The bookshop was littered by the nails and sharp metal contents which were included in the explosive device. At the time, nobody was inside the shop. Workers at the Bible shop began cleanup on Saturday and installed new doors.

Open Doors Press Release, Feb 14, 2006

The main ministry of Southern Baptists In Israel is related to the "Baptist Village" - The Village, originally an orphanage on the Yarkon River just outside Tel Aviv, built and leased baseball fields as an overture to the community.

Irin Carmon, from Anniston Star, Aug 14, 2005