CENTRE for RELIGIOUS PLURALISM in the MIDDLE EAST

The oldest English journal devoted on Palestinian affairs and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Haaretz provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East.

Ynetnews is the English-language edition of Ynet, Israel's largest and most popular news and content website.

+972 Magazine is a blog-based web magazine that is jointly owned by a group of journalists, bloggers and photographers whose goal is to provide fresh, original, on-the-ground reporting and analysis of events in Israel and Palestine.

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was established in February 1989. It endeavors to document and report human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, and help create a human rights culture in Israel.

Adalah is an independent human rights organization and legal center. Established in November 1996, it works to promote and defend the rights of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel.

The Palestinian Bible Society is an inter-confessional Christian Society committed to making the Word of God available to Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

JCJCR is concerned with all aspects of the encounter of Jews and Christians in the Holy Land today. It was established to respond to the challenges of this unique and complex encounter.

Interview with the Parish priest of the Holy Family in Gaza, Fr Mario de Silva, who replaced Fr George Jorge Hernandez.

Hundreds of Christian Palestinians have received rare, temporary permission to travel outside the besieged Gaza Strip this holiday season, and for many, a permit to leave might be their ticket to a new life. While most will spend Christmas with relatives in the West Bank, Israel or abroad, before returning home, some will also leave Gaza for good in something of an exodus.

'Tensions and violence persist' in land where Jesus walked, says Pope Francis in speech calling for peace around the world.

Palestine – This historical bilateral agreement concerns the presence and activity of the Catholic Church in Palestine. It went into effect on Saturday January 2nd, 2016.

On Sunday, January 10, the Franciscans of the Custody went to Jericho to commemorate Christ's baptism. The Franciscans, led by the Custos, Br. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, as well as pilgrims, first made their way to the small Latin parish of the Good Shepherd. There, the Custos was welcomed by local authorities and various representatives of the Spanish, Italian, French and Belgian consulates.

The Holy Land Coordination Bishops have concluded their visit to the Holy Land which took place during the period January 9-14, 2016. At the conclusion of the visit, they issued a statement which stressed that "With a promise of active solidarity, we make our own the prayer of Pope Francis in Laudato Si: 'O God of the poor, help us rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this Earth, so precious in Your eyes'.”

Fed up and fearful, Christians are leaving the Middle East.

Far from spreading cheer this holiday season, Pope Francis has been in a Grinch-like mood. “There will be lights, parties, Christmas trees and Nativity scenes,” he said in late November. “It’s all a charade.” As the Vatican unveiled its own giant spruce, he sounded downright depressed: “We should ask for the grace to weep for this world, which does not recognise the path to peace.”

Jerusalem’s holy sites are being transformed from a religious symbol into a national symbol and a protected value. The current wave of violence sweeping Israel and Palestine in the last days wouldn’t have erupted if not for the current tensions around the Temple Mount (al-Haram al-Sharif).

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel is continuing to annex Christian church endowments in Palestine, both covertly and blatantly. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon recently approved the annexation of the Beit al-Baraka church compound to the Gush Etzion settlements established on Palestinian territories south of the West Bank, according to a Jan. 6 Haaretz report.

The Palestinian Authority will not permit Israel to change the entrance to the Temple Mount in order to facilitate the building of an egalitarian prayer area near the Western Wall, PA Religious Affairs Minister Mahmoud Habbash told The Jerusalem Post in Ramallah on Thursday morning.

The Supreme Court of Israel dismissed the latest petitions in the Cremisan case, submitted by the Salesian Sisters Convent, represented by the Society of St. Yves – Catholic Center for Human Rights, and the Beit Jala Municipality and landowners, represented by advocate Ghayyath Nasser.

Peace was the focus of the Holy See's representative in a recent speech to the United Nations, where he renewed calls to support negotiations between Israel and Palestine and between the warring factions in Syria.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Every Friday afternoon people flock to a small mosque in one of the alleys in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City. They are there not only to perform the five daily prayers, but to chant hymns in what is known as al-Hadrat among Sufis. This is what sets this mosque apart from the rest of the mosques in the Gaza Strip, not to mention the sign hung on its mihrab (prayer niche) indicating that it is affiliated with the ...

Israeli documents have revealed that the Israeli army deliberately adopted a policy based on the destruction, vandalism and harm of the sanctity of churches in Palestine, during and after the 1948 war. An Israeli book, which will be published next month, explains how the Israeli army carried out seizure and destruction operations against churches located in the Palestinian cities, towns and villages the army took control off after expelling their people.