THE HOLY LAND … IS IT!

I asked whether they had been aware of the bitterness of the conflict between present-day Israel and its neighbours. Rather, to my surprise, they said they had not really been aware of the tension. They had felt safe enough in the places they had visited and had satisfied their interest in biblical antiquity. Maybe they did not want to know.

A century ago we would have similarly found something of that same fascination here.  A brief article in a Central Otago newspaper published in June 1924 referred to the ‘Americanising of the Holy Land.’  Already in 1924 that process was under way. The Jews of the United States had established a colony in the Valley of Jezreel and had given it the name of Balfouria, in honour of the British politician so influential in encouraging the return of Jews in Europe to their ‘homeland’.  Also, about 1200 acres had been purchased by the “American Zion Commonwealth’ on the shores of the Mediterranean just north of Jaffa (at a cost of £50,000) to create a city ‘on American lines.’  It was further reported that the methods of this organisation ‘are being imitated by other undertakings of a similar character'.

We should not imagine that the eventual establishment of a Jewish State in 1947 happened all at once.  The impetus for it had started 40 years earlier. How far it was influenced by a sort of idealism that could take little or no notice of the real human situation (e.g., borders) within that part of the world is a question that must now be answered in terms of practical humanity in this present day and age. The head of the State of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made it plain that his response to the larger question is to be found in scripture. The Holy Land is based on a promise he believes in that the Jewish people have a right to live in the land promised to them by the God of Israel. It is likely, is it not, that countless Christians will agree.

What is new and decisive, however, is that the methods of modern warfare are entirely different from those based on hand-to-hand combat. Weapons of mass destruction made their appearance less than a century ago. International borders are no barrier to air-borne missiles. Accuracy in hitting the target may be claimed, but the fact of the matter in Palestine and its neighbouring region in these present days is that such claimed accuracy is no excuse for the indiscriminate slaughter of over 20,000 women and children - ‘caught in the crossfire’ as they say.

In the last issue I spoke of the 1924 Peace Conference.  In the 30 days since that appeared the situation in the Middle East has become even more internationally menacing. Regardless of who the instigators of the present situation might be, the historical truth of the matter is that its beginnings lie in the period prior to the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. There simply must be an unconditional cease-fire. But who will take the lead?