What do Christian Zionists believe?

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert raised large sums of money from evangelical Christians in the United States while he was mayor of Jerusalem but has lost some of their support for negotiating with Palestinians.

Many of those who backed him call themselves Christian Zionists. These are some of their common beliefs:

GOD AND THE JEWS

Christian churches long taught that Jews lost their status as God's chosen people by rejecting Jesus and that they were replaced by Christians. But some Christians, especially American Protestants, believe Jews are still a chosen people and some will recognise Jesus as their messiah at the end of the world.

CHRISTIANS ON ISRAEL

Jewish Zionists, many not religiously observant, hold that Jews were forced from their land under Roman rule 2,000 years ago and should now return. Some Christians who believe strongly in the literal truth of the Bible see the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 as proof that biblical predictions are coming true -- their support for Israel makes them Christian Zionists.

ISRAEL ON CHRISTIANS

Some Israeli leaders have accepted money and influence from evangelical Christians in the United States. Other political and religious leaders in Israel say these Christians' goals are to convert Jews or provoke an apocalyptic war in the Middle East to realise biblical prophecies of an end of the world in which Christians would live on and Jews would either convert or be damned. Christian Zionists mostly deny having either intention.

THE END OF THE WORLD

There are many elaborate and often competing accounts of how the world will end, depending on how different Christian denominations interpret certain prophetic passages in the Bible. All say Jesus will return in his Second Coming. Evangelicals believe the Millennium mentioned in the Book of Revelation refers to an actual 1,000-year period in which Jesus will rule until the Last Judgment, although they differ over whether he will be present on earth or not. Many see a final battle between good and evil at Armageddon -- often identified with Megiddo, a quiet, farming community in northern Israel. Some believe recent events, including Israel's foundation, the Middle East wars and the creation of the European Union, all signal the countdown to the end. For some, the EU is a reborn Roman empire and the Brussels-based body will play the role of Antichrist or Beast to be defeated in the last conflict. Others see the Roman Catholic Pope, Arab Muslim states or the United Nations in that role.