The White House mailbox will be stuffed fuller than usual this holiday season as thousands of Christians in the United States send Christmas cards to President Obama pledging prayer for his efforts to broker peace in the Middle East.

Bob Allen, Associated Baptist Press, Dec 6, 2010

Hasib Sabbagh, 90, the billionaire christian Palestinian businessman who cofounded Consolidated Contractors Co International, one of the largest building companies in the Middle East, died Jan 12 in a hospital in Cleveland.

Hasib went from being a Palestinian refugee to being a citizen of the world. Born in 1920 in Tiberias, Palestine and graduated from the Arab College of Jerusalem in 1938 and in 1941 received a civil engineering degree from the American University of Beirut. Today, CCC has more than 140,000 employees and annual sales of about $5 billion.

Bloomberg, 17 January 2010

Vatican sources said Pope Benedict XVI was preparing to convene a Synod of Bishops for the Middle East to be held in October of 2010, to address the trials and tribulations of the Christian population in the region.

Patriarchs and other representatives from Eastern churches arrived in Rome Sept. 18, and the pope was to meet with them the next day to discuss the initiative, the sources said. An announcement of the synod was expected in coming days.

By John Thavis, Catholic News Service, Sep 18, 2009

The largest Protestant denomination in Canada is putting on hold their proposal to boycot Israel. This denomination was established in 1925 as a result of a unity between Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian streams. Now some of its active members are considering economic and academic punitive measures against Israel.

By Brian Hutchinson, National Post, August 14, 2009

National Christian leaders meeting at The Carter Center on May 14-15 sent the following letter to President Barack Obama following two days of discussions on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Citing a growing sense of despair in the Holy Land, the letter conveys to the President support for his efforts to push for a two-state solution and calls for an immediate opening of the Gaza borders.

Carter Center Web site, May 18, 2009

The Church of Scotland’s General Assembly, meeting in Edinburgh this week, today (23 May 2009) decided to continue selling and profiting from goods from illegally occupied territories at its hotel centre in Tiberias in northern Israel - to the disappointment and dismay of many within the Church.

The Kirk operates three centres in Israel: two churches with hotels and a multi-cultural school.

www.ekklesia.co.uk, May 23, 2009

When Shady Bishay, a sales executive for a Boston high tech firm and a native of Egypt, tells American friends he belongs to an Arabic evangelical Baptist church in West Roxbury (Near Boston, Massachusetts, the United States) the information often doesn't compute.

"The first thing is that they are shocked that I'm a Christian," said Bishay, who lives in Foxborough with his wife, a native of Palestine. "They have trouble understanding. It's definitely not the norm."

The Boston Globe, Sep 28, 2008

The need to "re-frame the religious dimensions" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a key goal of a 4-day international theological conference starting today in the Swiss capital, Bern. The conference involves some 65 theologians and church leaders from all over the world who are focusing on the issue of "Promised Land".

World Council of Churches Web site, Sep 17, 2008

President of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education writes to Senator McCain:

I am part of that Evangelical community that will provide massive support for your candidacy as the November election approaches. What I hope you do is recognize that our commitments as Evangelicals go beyond the two hot-button issues of gay marriage and abortion.

I would ask you to develop a Middle East policy that not only guarantees safety and security for the Israeli people, but also provides the same for the Palestinian people. So many Christian Zionists within the Evangelical community are anti-Palestinian in their desire to see the fulfillment of what they believe to be biblical prophecies. Please note that an overwhelming majority of us believe that God loves the Palestinian people every bit as much as He loves the Jewish people.

Tikkun, August 30, 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