Visit to the Holy Land

It is obviously a significant milestone in a Christian’s life to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. It is wonderful to bring those bible stories to life by being there, and I was very fortunate to have had the experience.

I was impressed by the vast hoards of Christians from all over the world that find their way to Israel and the rich variety of ways they worship Jesus. On the negative side there is also so much hatred generated by religious differences and this was so apparent as you talked to Jews and Muslims.

The majority of Jews wish to live in peace but religion seems to promote such fanaticism. The Chasidic Jews (these are the ones with black hats and ringlets that you see on pictures nodding at the Wailing Wall) are resented by the normal Jew in the street as they do not work or pay income tax or have to serve in the armed forces. Originally they were a small sect of high intellect scholars who were encouraged to study the biblical texts but now apparently comprise 30% of the population and have families of an average of 7 children. They vote en-bloc and have a powerful political voice. You don’t have to be a soothsayer to know there is trouble ahead as their views are very strong and there does not seem to be a lot of compromise in their approach. They will not pray next to a woman or sit next to a woman on an airplane. You can imagine the fuss we had on the plane as the cabin crew attempted to shuffle seats to accommodate them.

Our guide was Jewish so when we went into Palestine we had to change to a Palestinian Muslim guide at the check point and visa - versa when we left Palestine. If Jewish school children leave their school building for out of school activities at least one of the teachers must carry a gun for their protection and we witnessed this. I can understand why the Jews have segregated themselves from the Palestinians by building a gigantic wall but it is an abomination and so deeply resented by the Palestinians who find themselves penned in and witnessing the Jews building new settlements on recently claimed land on the Jewish side of the wall. A powder keg as you can imagine.

The Palestinians are so poor. Can anyone tell me why their Muslim Arab brothers, who have such vast wealth from their oil fields, do not help them? It is really sad to note so much sexism, racism and prejudice in such a holy land and the powerful fanaticism in both the Jewish and Muslim camps gives little hope for early peace and reconciliation.

We can only pray that God intervenes before the Armageddon predicted in the Bible becomes a reality.

David