fate of christians in palestine i'm joined by alex out why in jerusalem he is a pastor of the east jerusalem baptist church and a professor at bethlehem bible college also in jerusalem we have david parsons he's a media and public relations officer with the international christian embassy jerusalem and in haifa we go to daphne simponi she's a professor of modern middle east history at technion israel's institute of technology and another member of our cross talk team yell on the hunger or a cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want alex i'd like to go to you over the last sixty years or so we've seen the christian population of what is the legal borders of israel and the the west bank and gaza drop significantly there are different estimates there from one in twenty where their population was christian. at the advent of the israeli state and first some estimates now it's around two percent to take your numbers it's still going down dramatically what is the single most important reason why krista christian population has diminished so much in palestine. you would

this comes during a tense time in east jerusalem. we have this from our middle east correspondent.re are some pictures you may find disturbing from the beginning. >> these palestinian children are playing a very dangerous game. and it is all about to go wrong. the gray car is being driven by a jewish settler. terrified, he flees the scene. the child is mercifully not badly hurt. a few days later, this 12-year- old and her parents -- and his parents are at home meeting with their lawyer. >> i want him from getting involved in this. but the kids -- sometimes it is getting to that. it is fun for them. they do not realize how dangerous it is. >> look closely, and you can clearly see a rock thrown by a child barking toward police. -- arcing toward police. that is a good example of what happens here all the time. the police drew up behind me here. immediately the children started signalling to each other and the stone-throwing began. >> this 11-year-old oday is a veteran of the conflict. he has been arrested four times. the last time, he was severely beaten. >> they hit me and drag me al

bbc news, east jerusalem. >> the u.s.retary of state, hillary clinton, says the special representative for afghanistan at richard holbrooke is in critical condition after surgery. mr. holbrooke, who is 69, is best known for at brokering the peace accords that ended the war in bosnia. initial results from elections and impose a vote suggests -- in kosovo suggest a winner. there were concerns over fraud in two districts. the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, chernobyl -- and ukrainian spokeswoman says specialist are working out state groups through the area so more can be learned about the explosion that crippled the area in 1986. in the past few weeks, but japan and south korea conducted large- scale joint military exercises with the united states. china calls this up in " an attempt -- "an attempt of american contain a." our aging correspondent joined in american air -- our asian correspondent joined an american aircraft carrier, the uss george washington. >> is in china's backyard. and menacing force, reaching

by which you condemn the approval for new construction of east jerusalem by israel and yet you come out and you -- the >> we have expressed our concerns to the israeli government. we've done in the past, we've done it recently and we will be doing it up further meetings we held that the israelis in the coming days. he israelis understand our position very well. [inaudible] >> -- as to what constitutes a tolerable palestinian state? because it seems than netanyahu's mind, a palestinian state is demilitarized. so it should not -- according to wikileaks. [inaudible] had a clear definition as to what constitutes a viable palestinian state? >> we share the goal of the palestinian authority that there needs to be a palestinian state and the borders of that state need to be viable. that has been our position, but that's why we're encouraging the parties to resume negotiations because after the negotiation, you cannot get, you know, to a viable state would recognize international borders. it is only one way to do this and this is through the direct negotiation may continue to encourage both sid

by which you condemn the approval for new construction of east jerusalem by israel and yet you come out and you -- the >> we have expressed our concerns to the israeli government. we've done in the past, we've done it recently and we will be doing it up further meetings we held that the israelis in the coming days. he israelis understand our position very well. [inaudible] >> -- as to what constitutes a tolerable palestinian state? because it seems than netanyahu's mind, a palestinian state is demilitarized. so it should not -- according to wikileaks. [inaudible] had a clear definition as to what constitutes a viable palestinian state? >> we share the goal of the palestinian authority that there needs to be a palestinian state and the borders of that state need to be viable. that has been our position, but that's why we're encouraging the parties to resume negotiations because after the negotiation, you cannot get, you know, to a viable state would recognize international borders. it is only one way to do this and this is through the direct negotiation may continue to encourage both sid

east bearing their gifts. who were they? in the holy land where we traveled last week they are still wondering. >> they represent blessing. maybe unexpected blessing. >> reporter: paul wright is the president of the jerusalemversity college, and like so many biblical scholars, he sees in the journey of the magi deep resonant meaning. >> there's something here, there's something about coming from the east into this land of israel, the area of jerusalem, that brings people home to the place they're supposed to be. somehow they were coming to a place they belonged. >> reporter: the story of the magi is brief, just 12 verses in the gospel according to matthew. that's all. but now, a rediscovery of an ancient text has parked new debate. it's called "the revelation of the magi," and amazingly, it purports to be the account of that journey by the magi themselves. >> it ends up being the most complex, the richest, most strange -- the strangest story about the wise men to come out of christian antiquity, and until now, it had never been translated into english. >> reporter: brent land draw translated the work, which has just been published. he's a scholar of ancient languages and teaches at the university of oklaho

. >> the middle east senior catholic cleric has arrived in bethlehem. jerusalem's latin patriarch is to offer a christmas message of peace and reconciliation at midnight mass. he is also expected to speak on the plight of iraqi christians. an attack on a church in baghdad killed 50. bethlehem is the town where jesus is said to have been born. unless urgent repairs are carried out at the centuries- old charge of the nativity, visitation may have to be restricted and in the future. >> christmas where it all started, in bethlehem. yet again this year, thousands of tourists and christian programs that come to this palestinian west bank town, at the place where they believe jesus was born more than 2000 years ago. yet the focal point is the imposing nativity church. build and the 14th century, it has been damaged by wars and rebuild many times. it is protected in an uneasy agreement with three different churches. the tension between the various denominations can take different forms. if all month uses the wrong staircase, the zero plays can be -- if a monk uses the wron

peace in the middle east i'm joined by omar bug in ramallah he is a founding committee member of the palestinian campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of israel in jerusalem we cross to gil hofmann he is the chief political correspondent and analyst at the jerusalem post and in nablus we go to abdul sattar qassam he is a professor of political science at on the national university and another member of our cross talk team yell on the hunger for a gentleman cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in when you want to go i'd like to go to you first in jerusalem there's words being used the humiliation embarrassment failure they're all being attached to the recent american effort to broker a peace process there mitchell seems to have you know vague ideas how he wants to move forward i mean how much of a failure is this and or maybe we should just be rethinking the entire process because this year deadline when it was announced is hardly possible it's ludicrous actually. well the americans did rethink the entire process and they really had to they had an approach that from the beginning was doomed to failure and that was to put pressure on israel in

east peace process. i was actually in jerusalem. and here's the thing i think is quite interesting about conflict resolution. and i know this may be a rather odd to say, but sometimes they wanted it, but it's not very obvious that they do. and sometimes they believe that they wanted, but are absolutely certain that the other side doesn't. you know, one of the things that i do constantly know what i'm talking about yesterday with president at yahoo! from israel and the other day with president abbas is that sometimes, in fact many times you look at israelis that they look, we want peace, but we don't have a partner for palestinians say of course we want peace. how could we not? but the israelis aren't serious about it. and one of the functions about the people from outside -- because in the end the piece ultimately can be only made by those inside the process. one of the functions of those that come in from the outside is in fact as i say to be persuaders of the good faith of the other, so that you're able to go in there and say look

east peace process. i was actually in jerusalem. and here's the thing i think is quite interesting about conflict resolution. and i know this may be a rather odd to say, but sometimes they wanted it, but it's not very obvious that they do. and sometimes they believe that they wanted, but are absolutely certain that the other side doesn't. you know, one of the things that i do constantly know what i'm talking about yesterday with president at yahoo! from israel and the other day with president abbas is that sometimes, in fact many times you look at israelis that they look, we want peace, but we don't have a partner for palestinians say of course we want peace. how could we not? but the israelis aren't serious about it. and one of the functions about the people from outside -- because in the end the piece ultimately can be only made by those inside the process. one of the functions of those that come in from the outside is in fact as i say to be persuaders of the good faith of the other, so that you're able to go in there and say look

being at "the boston globe," of the middle east correspondent, my family will taking care of, never had a new car my life until the paper least one for me in jerusalem -- it was a stunningly generous way of telling you to go out and cover the world the way "the boston globe" used to be able to afford to do it. it was the greatest job you could ever have to be working for a great big newspaper as a foreign correspondent, from my point of view at least. now, it is hard. if you guys want to do this, it is difficult. you have to be your own brand. you have to be entrepreneurial. you have to think about where you want to take your career. you have to make good decisions. i would never let nikki go if we are going to get these start-ups like ours working, we will have to be attentive to the needs of this correspondence. there is a obligation we hold to really make these correspondents feel like they are part of something. we are trying our best. >> we are going to open it up to your questions. we hope you'll join us. there are microphones here. if you would, make sure what you say is in the form of a question. also, please identify yourself. >> my name is

that negotiations in the middle east are complicated is that they are not conducted with just the people who live in the region. a decision about the status of jerusalemjews, muslims, and christians across the globe, so a negotiator feels countless millions of lives scrutinizing every move. many diplomats would like to ignore the religious dimensions of the middle east debate, but that is neither possible nor wise. removing the obstacles of peace in the middle east is not just a question of zoning. there are those on every side who believe that conflict over the holy land has been foretold and will lead to the end of days, but armageddon is not a foreign policy and the same scriptures that used to rationalize hate can be employed a far more convincingly to justify compromise and mutual respect. after all, the best response to bad theology is better theology, and the tradition demands that believers respond favorably to those inclined towards peace. over the years, i have talked to officials on both sides of the israeli-palestinian it divide. few were willing to be honest with their own people about what an achievable agreement would entail. it was muc