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

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

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

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

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

A construction crew digging near the Basilica of Announciation in Nazareth, discovered a cistern that crusaders might have built 1,000 years ago, archaeologists said Friday.

On Tuesday, bulldozers tore out the foundations of a mosque that was being built without authorization next to the basilica.

AP, July 14, 2003

Every day, until his last day in Nazareth, Abu Danny dressed his traditional Arab head cover, even though he became almost the last person in town who regularly wears this custom that vanished from the scenes.

An amazing story of a couple from Illinois that devoted their life for serving with Child Evangelism Fellowship between the Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel.

Special for Come and See, July 8, 2003

According to Israel's Haaretz, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas quoted Bush saying that the next step is to solve the problem in the Middle East

Special for Come and See, July 4, 2003

In an operation that began in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday in the town of Nazareth, the Interior Ministry sent large bulldozers to demolish the foundations of the unauthorized Shehab a-Din mosque, which Muslems sought to erect next to the town's Church of the Annunciation

Haaretz, July 1, 2003