Having lived in the Holy Land for a while with Palestinians and taken classes with Israelis, I still don't feel like I have a great answer to the problems there. Abtout the best thing I can think I can say is that, in some way, no one belongs there. It's true that the Israilites were there in ancient times, in the time of the Old Testament. It's true that they were removed by the Roman empire and, for all intents and purposes, replaced by the Palestinians, though I don't get the feeling like they had a sense of ownership at the time.
How to solve the problem? Is it, as my Jewish prophets professor suggested, that Arabs can't stand a Jewish state? They have no fondness for that land. They have always looked down upon the Palestinians as less than Arabs until 1947 when they became martyrs for a cause? Or do we feel sorry for Palestinians who have been displaced by the communal guilt of the world over the massacre of World War II? I'm just not sure that there is a hard and fast answer. I am extremely skeptical of the answer that this has to do with having a democracy in the middle east and Muslim fears of cultural diversity, though I clearly remember crossing from Israel to Egypt and being told not to be caught alone with a woman because her husband will kill you if he finds out. If that was true in Israel, I would not be typing this blog. If I were to suggest a lesson we christians can learn from the situation, I would say that we can't become so fixated on a place or a building. Christianity is about a person - Jesus Christ. If St. Peters were to be destroyed tomorrow, the church would perdure. When the majority of Europe is Musilm, Christianity will still exist. As long as there is one good Christian somewhere in the world, the Spirit will be with us and there will be hope.
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