Middle East Analysis

Pope Francis meets refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday, 16 April 2016. Dr Harry Hagopian discusses the visit in context with its humanitarian, ecumenical and political implications.

Our focus is squarely on Jerusalem for Holy Week and for this 'Middle East Analysis' podcast, we widen our gaze to discuss the Passion and Resurrection in context with the whole MENA region.

For February's 'Middle East Analysis' podcast, regional consultant Dr Harry Hagopian brings us right up to date with the realities of the tumultuous Middle East North Africa region. Today's podcast is a regional round-up looking at Syria, Lebanon and Israel - Palestine.

The focus for today's programme is the Holy Land Coordination - a week long pilgrimage made by bishops from across Europe, North America and South Africa to visit and support the local Christian communities of the Holy Land.

HRH The Prince of Wales has visited Archbishop's House, Westminster to meet with Syrian and Iraqi Christians and representatives of those suffering persecution in the Middle East North Africa region.

At a time when office parties, crazy-season shopping and the work wind-down are well underway, it's easy not only to get distracted and lose sight of Christ's coming at Christmas, but also to forget the region in which he was born.

We take a look at two countries that are seldom out of the international headlines these days - Syria and Egypt. For the main segment of our programme we discuss Dr Hagopian's open letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asking him whether he would be willing to step aside in consideration of Syria's future good and that of its people.

We take a look at two countries that are seldom out of the international headlines these days - Syria and Egypt. For the main segment of our programme we discuss Dr Hagopian's open letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asking him whether he would be willing to step aside in consideration of Syria's future good and that of its people.

Fr Chris Thomas, General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, joins us for a Middle East Analysis podcast special focusing on the Holy Land and in particular, the complex issues of land, rights and religion.

Our consultant on the Middle East North Africa region, Dr Harry Hagopian, has been tweeting extensively over the last week from his twitter account about the refugee crisis. In this podcast, we use Harry's latest eight-tweet talking points as the framework for September's extended Middle East Analysis.