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

The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected a petition by former residents of the northern village of Ikrit to return to their home, which they were ordered to evacuate during the 1948 War of Independence so they can "return when the war ends"

Residents of this Christian Village have been promised more than once to return to their homes, but the promise was never fulfilled.

By Amiram Bareket and Moshe Reinfeld, Haaretz, June 26, 2003

Gary Burge is professor of New Testament at Wheaton College & Graduate School in Wheaton, Illinois, an institution often referred to as the "Evangelical Harvard."

In his just released book, "Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told about Israel and the Palestinians," he charges that Israel disregards its own theological heritage when it violates the human rights of Palestinians?both Christians and Muslims.

Religion News, May 19, 2003

Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu has accepted the role of patron of Sabeel International, the Palestinian Christian liberation organization, in its outreach and development work around the world.

Episcopalians: News Briefs, June 18, 2003