The economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza remains dire. As of 2018, unemployment in the West Bank stands at 19 percent and unemployment in the Gaza Strip hovers around a staggering 41 percent. The Palestinian Authority (PA), which was created as a transitional government under the Oslo Accords in 1995, faces a severe debt crisis with an annual budget deficit of $1 billion. Read More

After years of terrorism and war, many countries in the Middle East are ill-prepared for a global pandemic. Carla Khijoyan, the Programme Executive for the Middle East at the World Council of Churches, joins host Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon to discuss how the Arab world is responding to the novel coronavirus, and provides insight for how Christians can help those in need on the other side of the globe. Read More

Egypt has a rich history of religious diversity from the Jewish scholars of ancient Alexandria, to the pioneering Coptic Christian monks of the Middle Ages, to the Islamic legal experts at Cairo’s al-Azhar University today. However, since the beginning of Arab Spring in 2011, Egypt’s religious diversity has increasingly come under pressure. Read More