A recent "60 Minutes" report on the US television network CBS highlighted the plight of Palestinian Christians, whose roots in the Holy Land are as deep as those of Christianity itself. That sacred tradition is under threat, though, as the Christian population continues to dwindle in Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. Within Israel, too, historically Christian enclaves suffer from underdevelopment, poverty, and discrimination from an Israeli state that privileges Jews over non-Jews. Who are Palestine's Christians? What sparked the Christian exodus from the Holy Land? And how are those who remain faring today? This IMEU fact sheet explores these and other questions through the eyes of Christians themselves. 

Since Israel's creation in 1948, Israeli political and military leaders have demonstrated a pattern of repeatedly violating ceasefires with their enemies in order to gain military advantage, for territorial aggrandizement, or to provoke their opponents into carrying out acts of violence that Israel can then exploit politically and/or use to justify military operations already planned. The following fact sheet provides a brief overview of some of the most high profile and consequential ceasefire violations committed by the Israeli military over the past six decades. 

What is BDS? BDS stands for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. On July 9, 2005, one year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel's Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, an overwhelming majority of Palestinian civil society called upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel, similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. 

Ahead of the annual AIPAC policy conference taking place in Washington DC this weekend & President Obama's meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu on Monday, the IMEU offers the following resource on US-Israeli relations. 

Michael Ben-Ari is a member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) from the extreme right-wing National Union party. On his English website, Ben-Ari, proudly proclaims that, "He is the first outspoken disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane to be elected to the Knesset." The late Kahane's political party, Kach, has been deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and is banned in Israel. 

On December 17, 2011, 33-year-old Khader Adnan Mohammad Mousa was arrested by Israeli forces in the village of Arraba, near Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. The baker and MA candidate in economics at Birzeit University was detained at his home at 3:30am. Adnan has been on hunger strike since the first day of his detention, for a total of 58 days. He is believed to be the longest hunger-striking Palestinian detainee. 

Once again, the subject of Palestine and the Palestinians took center stage at the Republican presidential debate in Florida last night. In response to a question from a Palestinian-American Republican in the audience, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich made a number of false and defamatory assertions about Palestinians and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The following is a fact check of their statements. 

Texas Governor Rick Perry sparked controversy when he implied that Turkey "is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists" during Monday night's Republican presidential candidates' debate in South Carolina.

Perry's remark came in response to a question from moderator and Fox News anchor Bret Baier during the January 16 debate. But Perry's assertion, made in response to a misleading question, has no basis in fact.