It is 60 years since the formation of the State of Israel, all things Jewish can be celebrated on Israel at Sixty including May 18 to May 22 an international 5 day bike ride!
Practise the Ha Tikvah Anthem.
The words mean:
As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart,
With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion,
Then our hope – the two-thousand-year-old hope – will not be lost:
To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.
20 th century Jewish immigration into Israel was initially ordered ( by the British ) so as not to displace the Palestinian economy, but the persecution of Jews during World War Two increased the numbers- and the racial tension. In 1946 there was a Jewish uprising in Israel against British rule, and in 1947 the UN took control of plans and announced two separate states were to be created, one Arab, one Jewish. In 1948 the Jewish state of Israel was born- rather prematurely since the British withdrew in haste, a reaction maybe to the continued terrorism. The Arab people rejected the plan, and the proposed State of Palestine has yet to be formally agreed.
However, against a backdrop of continuing violence- ironically centred around one of the world’s holy cities- a shaky peace process movement continues, the Palestinians- more irony- now in the role the Jews held with the British in 1946, and responding with similar acts of terrorism to similar acts of imprisonment and military action. Some Palestinians have been protesting this week, calling the formation of Israel ‘Nakba’ or catastrophe.
Much of the long-running argument has been about the holy city of Jerusalem, about which Jesus said almost 2000 years ago
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under wing, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
His point in Matthew 23 of the Bible being that his people would reap what they sow, especially from religious leaders and people with authority.
Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Qu-uran, though Sura 17: 8 says
We have designated Gehenna as a final abode for the disbelievers.
This is the valley of Gehenna today, remnants of the burning refuse pit outside the city walls in ancient times from which we get our medieval concepts of a burning hell:
How green things grow, if we let them.
US President Bush addressed The Knesset Israeli parliament this week:
These people have suffered too long. So have the Palestinians, by the way, and that’s why I’m for a Palestinian state…Take the Middle East seriously, because that’s the center of – that’s the place where people get so despondent and despair [sic] that they’re willing to come and take lives of US citizens. On the other hand, be hopeful because the Middle East is full of really decent, honorable people that want to live in peace.
Finally. Looking into the burning pit and predicting the green valley of the future. بالتوفيق & L’Chayim to that!
