Al Jazeera Breaking News : 29,000 Prisoners Go on Hunger Strike!

 ....actually, it's just Ramadhan. We could expect this from CNN, but al Jazeera just published an article stating that 29,000 prisoners in California just entered a hunger strike on Wednesday, the 10th. While over a billion people are fasting for Ramadhan, including these Californians, it is important to remember other groups in the Middle East.

Lebanon, for Example, is home to one of the largest percentage of national Christians in the Middle East. In fact, given that a majority of Lebanese are Maronite and other Christian factions, the President of Lebanon by law must be a Christian. The Prime Minister must be Sunni. And the Speaker of the Elected House must be Chi'3a.

In Syria, there is a similarly significant number of Christians. Which during the Lebanese Civil War was used as an advantage point by President Suleiman Frangieh. Frangieh, a Maronite from Tripoli, used his influence with the Syrian Christian community to bring in Syrian forces during the Lebanese Civil War.

Today, however, while Syria is engulfed in Civil War, Christian families are seeking refuge from Syria into Lebanon.

Next on the list of other religions in the Middle East are Jews. Once predominant in cities like Baghdad, Cairo, Halib, Casablanca and Fes, today they are few in number. There is still a Jewish representation in Morocco, however, all other communities - especially in the Mashriq - have migrated to Israel or other areas of the world. 

In Tunis & Yemen, the Jewish communities date far beyond 2500 years old. Remnants here are the history of the ages, and show the journey of the first monotheistic people through the Middle East.

In Morocco, there were 350,000 Jews in 1935. But today in 2013, there are only about 3,500. A hundredth of the original population. However, Kosher restaurants and Synagogues can be found across the country.

Correspondent Muammar Hassan Reports