Middle East

When fleeing Palestinian fighters forced their way into Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity April 2, Israeli soldiers found themselves laying siege to one of Christianity’s holiest sites.

Some time ago I was invited to present a two-day seminar in a church about the Middle East conflict. During the course of those sessions, we used an abundance of scriptures, carefully presented in their context, to clearly explain why the land is God’s, that He entrusted it to Israel as a permanent possession, and what are the challenges of Islam. At the end of the two days, the senior Pastor told a couple in his church: “Well, I’d like to hear the Palestinian side…”

An Ethiopian and Filipino Christian jailed since last summer in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah were released and deported to their home countries over Easter weekend.

In a rare criticism of the kingdom’s powerful religious police, Saudi media have accused the force of hampering efforts to rescue 15 girls who died inside a blazing school, Reuters news service reports.

Terry Madison, U.S. president and CEO of Open Doors with Brother Andrew has said that Saudi Arabia’s treatment of two expatriate Christians is further proof of why this desert Kingdom is among the world’s worst persecutor of Christians.

Saudi Arabian authorities transferred the last five of 14 foreign Christians from their Jeddah prison cell to a deportation center yesterday, according to nine other Christian prisoners already moved there on December 22 and 23.

More than a dozen foreign Christians remain jailed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, where local authorities have for months ignored inquiries and notes of protest from consulates requesting diplomatic access to their imprisoned citizens.

A further six Christian men have been arrested in the coastal city of Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, as the crackdown on believers in the city escalates, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

At least 13 foreign Christians have been arrested since mid July in Jeddah, where Saudi Arabia’s religious police are apparently trying to track down Saudi nationals thought to have contact with expatriate house churches in the city.