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

A Palestinian Pastor who is studying for his PHD in Thelogical Studies at Trinity International University in Chicago reviews Atallah Mansour's book titled "Narrow Gate Churches - The Christian Presence in the Holy Land under Muslim and Jewish Rule".

Yohanna Katanacho, Special for Come and See, June 30, 2004

"Is Christianity dying in the land of its birth?" This was the question posed by Jim Jennings at his seminar, "The Vanishing Church in the Middle East," at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's annual meeting June 25.

The answer to the question is yes, said Jennings, but he and others who attended the seminar shared ideas on how to prevent the further decrease in the number of Christians in the Holy Land.

By Sandi Villarreal, Associated Baptist Press, June 25, 2004

Evangelist and sociologist Tony Campolo, speaking to United Methodist leaders in Birmingham on Monday, warned that too many Christians have become "evangelical Zionists" who favor ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Middle East. He says this one-sided view is prevalent among Southern Baptists.

Tuesday, June 08, 2004, GREG GARRISON, The Birmingham News, Alabama

Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa is the new Custos of the Fransiscan Custody of the Holy Land. At the age of 39, Pizzaballa is one of the youngest elected for this influential office.

He is fluent in Hebrew and published "the Rite of the Mass in Hebrew". In this interview he speaks about challenges he faces in this new position. He talks about the dividing wall, the emigrating of Palestinian Christians and the small Hebrew Speaking Christian community in Israel.

Fransiscan Custody in Holy Land Website, May 15, 2004

The Church of Scotland?s troubled hotel and retreat in Israel was plunged into fresh controversy last night, after one of the Kirk?s senior ministers in Jerusalem accused officials running the project of not employing Christians in senior positions.

Responding to the concerns, the minister at the Tiberias project, said part of the problem was that Palestinian Christians from elsewhere in Israel did not have the necessary papers to travel to the north (!!!!)

ANDREW DENHOLM, The Scotsman, May 22, 2004