The Fifth Chapter of the Book of Jonah

I was more than interested to find one of the exercises in the "Sources of Fiction" chapter in Josip Novakovich's book Fiction Writer's Workshop suggested reading the Bible and taking a tale, such as the story of Jacob and Esau (which I already did, sort of) or of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, and expanding on it. I especially appreciated Novakovich's mention of midrash, or as he puts it, the "Hebrew tradition of interpreting Biblical stories through filling in the gaps," since my wife is Jewish and I've read midrashim before.

One of the stories in the Bible that's always bothered me is the story of Jonah. The whole book is only four chapters long and it ends on a cliffhanger.

Jonah is tasked by God to travel from Israel to the great (non-Israelite) city of Nineveh and prophesy that if they did not repent of their sins, every living thing in the great city would die. Well, Jonah didn't want to do that because he really wanted Nineveh to be destroyed for its sins, and he was afraid that if he obeyed God, Nineveh might actually repent and be saved from destruction.

So like a petulant teenager, Jonah runs away, hops on the first ship heading out of town, and is soon out to sea.

God is not that easy to get away from though, and Jonah's adventures (you may recall he ended up spending a little time inside the innards of some sea creature) were just getting started.

To get the background for my small missive, read the Book of Jonah first. You can find it online at such places as BibleGateway.com or Chabad.org, depending on whether you prefer Christian or Jewish tradition.

After you're finished reading the fourth and (formerly) last chapter, read my "chapter five" and let me know what you think.

Now it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was grieved.

And he prayed to the Lord and said, "Please, O Lord, was this not my contention while I was still on my land? For this reason I had hastened to flee to Tarshish, for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, with much kindness, and relenting of evil.

And now, O Lord, take now my soul from me, for my death is better than my life." And the Lord said: Are you deeply grieved?

And Jonah had gone out of the city, and had stationed himself on the east of the city, and there he made himself a hut and sat under it in the shade until he would see what would happen in the city.

Now the Lord God appointed a kikayon, and it grew up over Jonah to be shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort, and Jonah was overjoyed with the kikayon.

Now God appointed a worm at the rise of dawn on the morrow, and the worm attacked the kikayon, and it withered.

Now it came to pass when the sun shone, that God appointed a stilling east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, and he fainted, and he begged to die, and he said, "My death is better than my life."

And God said to Jonah; Are you very grieved about the kikayon? And he said, "I am very grieved even to death."

And the Lord said: You took pity on the kikayon, for which you did not toil nor did you make it grow, which one night came into being and the next night perished.

Now should I not take pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are many more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well?

-from Jonah chapter 4

Chapter 5

And Jonah replied to the Lord, "Did the kikayon sin against you and against your people Israel as did the people of Nineveh? Their sin was very great and yet you forgave them and they live. What did the kikayon do to live one day and then die?"

And God said to Jonah; "Consider the words of my servant Job: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.' Are you greater than my servant Job who suffered severely at the hands of the Satan and yet did not lose his trust in Me?"

Jonah replied to the Lord, "Did not your servant Job also say, 'I would set out my case before Him, and I would fill my mouth with arguments?' Hear me and I will speak. If you grant life to the people of Nineveh and yet death to the innocent kikayon, please allow me to die as well, for my life has turned to ashes and my tongue to wormwood."

And the Lord spoke to Jonah saying, "My servant Elijah was one such as you, desiring death in the face of adversity and believing himself the only righteous one of my servants. An angel guided Elijah to Horeb where my servant Elijah found me, not in the wind, not in an earthquake, not in a fire, but in a gently blowing breeze. And while Elijah thought himself alone, I had indeed saved for Myself seven-thousand in Israel whose knees did not bow to the Ba'al nor did their lips kiss him."

And the Lord continued to speak to Jonah saying, "You speak of Hashem, Master of Legions as slow to anger, as having much kindness, and relenting of evil. Do you believe that I in My mercy only forgive the people of Israel? Is not the whole world Mine? Did I Myself not create it? Did I not breathe life into the mouth of every soul? If the people of Nineveh would sincerely repent of their sins, even great sins, should I, the Lord, not forgive them, even as I forgive the repentant of My people Israel?"

And the Lord said to Jonah, "My servant Elijah did not die, and he found Me in the stillness of a gentle breeze, and he left Horab and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat. And behold, I took Elijah up to Heaven in a great whirlwind and Elisha succeeded him, even as Joshua succeeded my servant Moses when the soul of Moses departed him on the other side of the Jordan."

"So what should my servant Jonah do?" the Almighty inquired.

Jonah's chest heaved with a sigh. "What can I do, O' Lord? Though the kikayon is dead, the people of the great city Nineveh live just I live. They have repented my God, just as I repent."

God had said to Jonah, "Now should I not take pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are many more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well?"

The people of Nineveh, more than one hundred twenty thousand of them, though they repented, though they were forgiven by God and they lived, still did not know their right hand from their left. They still did not know God, for there was only one prophet sent to be among them, and that was Jonah, who had not desired that Nineveh should be spared, at least not until now.

One day, long after the time of Jonah, another servant of the Lord's named Simon who is also called Peter, will witness a great miracle and say, "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him."

So Jonah got up and left his hut east of Nineveh and returned to the great city as a prophet of God, and he spoke of the Lord to all who would listen, from the very least of the citizens to the mighty King of Nineveh, and he ministered to the people of Nineveh for many days.

Sharing Faith

I originally wrote this post in response to Aaron on his Honest Uncertainty blog asking people to share how they came to faith. I was going to post my response as a comment to his blog post, but, as you can see, my commentary is way too long. Decided to post it in my own blog and insert a summary and link in Aaron's blog. Here we go. First, a disclaimer. Faith experiences are highly subjective. After all, even if other people are involved in the process of a person coming to faith, ultimately it's between that person and God. There are just a ton of "marital" metaphors in the Bible, where God characterizes himself as the husband to His "bride", the Children of Israel, and Christ is cast as the groom to his "bride", the believers in Messiah. The reasoning as I understand it, involves a description of a special type of intimacy; the intimacy between the believer and God. In other words, it's personal and a unique relationship between two individuals. Of course, at some point, the "bride and groom" metaphor begins to break down (for one thing, God is perfect, so only one half of the partnership can fail to live up to his or her end of the bargain), but the important point is that the relationship between a person and God is very specific to those two individuals. There is only one God (Adonai Echad or "God is One") but there are many believers. That means each "pairing" or each relationship, while having many things in common with the other like relationships, are also very different from each other. My relationship with God is going to be different than Leah's relationship with God, than Ken's relationship with God, than Darlene's relationship with...but you get the idea. I say all this as a preface to my "witness" to explain that each person experiences his or her coming to faith and remaining in faith (it's in a state of constant renewal and adjustment and hopefully growth, just like any other "marriage") differently than any other believing person. Your mileage may vary. I was raised in a family of faith, sort of. Actually, my parents didn't really talk about God or Jesus. I guess my mother believed more than my father, at least when I was a child (that changed after I became an adult and my father's faith blossomed), but I don't recall anything being said about it. I was baptized as an infant, so there must have been some expectation that this was required. When I was in Junior High, we went to a Lutheran church. I remember two rather painful years in Catechism school culminating with me being "confirmed" in the church. Unfortunately, no one asked me about my beliefs or if I had a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ". I didn't. I went through all these experiences, including church every Sunday, because my parents took me. When I got old enough to stop going, I stopped. For all of my adult life up until my 40s, I lived a secular existence. Well, let me take that back. I had a brief "flirtation" with the Unification Church (yeah, the "Moonies"), but I participated only because I was looking for some sort of meaning in my life. I didn't particularly believe what was going on around me and, out of a lack of personal commitment to them or anything else, I dropped out of their influence. As I started to say before, I lived a liberal, humanistic, "agnostic-leaning-towards-atheist" existence for most of my adult life. Periodically, someone would enter my "bubble" and try to share his or her faith in Christ with me, but I immediately shut them down, not wanting to have that encounter with a vengeance. I eventually got married and had children and proceeded with my life as I thought I was supposed to, trying to build an education and a career. My wife was (well, she still is) Jewish, but wasn't raised as such and in fact, didn't even know she was Jewish until her early 20s (long story). When we were planning on having children, she expressed some thoughts of joining a synagogue, but her lack of experience and a sense of intimidation prevented this. For my part, I didn't object at all, but I wasn't going to take the lead in the effort either. The idea cooled and nothing was done. My wife's younger brother became a Christian when my kids were very young (and to this day, denies that his mother was Jewish at all, as if the idea is offensive to him). My kids adored him as many kids do an uncle. Whenever he came down for a visit (he lived in the Bay Area and we were in Orange County at the time), he'd worship at a local church on Sunday. He'd always ask if anyone wanted to go with him and usually my son David did. We had one very uncomfortable moment during one of my brother-in-law's visits when David, singing the praises of the Jesus he learned in Sunday school, asked why we all didn't go to church and learn about Jesus. Gee, how do you answer a question like that in front of your Christian brother-in-law, your very excited son while being completely turned off to the idea? Time continued to pass and, after the nearest drive by shooting to our home was a mile and a quarter away, we decided to move the family out of California and to a safer environment. Another very long story later, we moved to Boise, Idaho. The kids were still on the younger side of Elementary school. We started to re-establish our lives in Boise. Then things began to happen all at once. At the time, the events were innocent enough. My employer sent me to a conference and I ended up sitting next to a very nice woman named "Nancy" (not her real name). She was easy to talk to and it was nice to have someone to relate to, since I really don't like going to conferences. End of event one. The next event was that I volunteered to referee my daughter's soccer team. Understand that at the tender age of 6, kids don't display a lot of skill in playing soccer and the ref's job is mainly to make sure that the kids are kept safe on the field. The fellow who was my co-ref was named "Joe" (not his real name, either). He was a really nice guy and easy to get along with. End of event two. My brother-in-law invited us to his wedding in the Bay Area. We got to stay at his place, sleeping on the living room floor in sleeping bags. The youth pastor from his church, Matt (yeah, fake name) and his family were staying there, too (the place was pretty big) while they were having their house built. My brother-in-law and his wife-to-be were both Christian so naturally, they had a Christian wedding. I'm not hugely comfortable at weddings or any event involving lots of people, so I sat through the service at least internally squirming. Wedding and reception came and went. Lots of family related events that aren't relevant to the story, so I won't mention them. Bride and Groom dashed off to their honeymoon and my family and Matt's family spent one more night together in my brother-in-law's house before we left for Idaho the next morning. That evening "it" happened. Matt asked us "the" question. Here it is. "If you died tonight, do you know where your soul would go?" I cringed internally but was determined to try to be polite. My wife wasn't polite. I was a little embarrassed about how pointed her responses were to Matt. She had nothing nice to say about Christianity at all. The conversation went on. We reached the point where we agreed to let Mark send us a Bible and some other supportive material. The next morning came and we were on our way back home and away from our experiences of the night before. I recall though, during the drive, I remarked to my wife that the previous night's conversation made me want to take a class in comparative religion. An odd thing for me to say. Weeks passed and then months and no Bible or other packages from Matt in the Bay Area. I figured that was that. End of Story. Except it wasn't. My wife, ever the joiner and organizer, ended up being the treasurer at the local PTA. She met a couple there named Ethel and Fred (definitely fake names). They were a very nice couple. Ethel was very talkative and not shy about anything. Fred was an Idaho native, quieter than his wife, but still outgoing. They invited us to a Christmas play at their church. To my horror, my wife accepted and there I was, in a church, watching a Christmas play. The play was set in the days right before Pearl Harbor, which is an interesting historical period for me, so I was fairly engaged. I don't recall much about the play now, but one thing does stand out. Who should be in the play but "Joe", my co-ref on my daughter's soccer team. What an incredible “coincidence”. Matt's package arrived as a Christmas present. Along with the Bible, there were some books by C.S. Lewis including "Mere Christianity". The moment had passed, so our interest in these texts remained dormant...but not for long. I don't remember how it happened, but we started going to the church where we saw that Christmas play with Ethel and Fred. You know, the one where Joe was playing a character? At some point, as I was scanning the other people during the Sunday worship service, I recognized one woman, but couldn't figure out where I'd met her before. I was afraid she'd think I was a "masher" (archaic term) if I just walked up to her and said "Have we met before?" but I had to know who she was. I knew I'd seen her before, but couldn't figure out where. Oh duh, it was "Nancy". I'd only met her once months ago over a two-day conference, so I couldn't place her. Naturally, she remembered me right away. Another coincidence? In fact, I started meeting people in that church all over the place. It seemed like they were everywhere. Sure, Boise isn't as big as L.A., but c'mon, it's not that small, either. My wife, kids, and I became what they call "seekers". Actually, I'm pretty sure my kids became believers almost right away, but let me explain. "Seekers" are those group of people in churches that are there looking for something that they don't believe in yet. We are orbiting faith the way a moth orbits a light; attracted, but not sure of the risks involved. We circled closer, then farther away, then a little closer, trying to understand why we were even there and if this was right for us. Please understand, if someone had suggested, even six months prior, that I'd be going to church on a regular basis, I would have thought they were out of their minds. Yet there we were. Going to church, going to Sunday school, going to Bible studies. It was weird. Like a bit of high energy plasma inexorably being pulled towards a black hole's event horizon (I know the imagery sounds grim, but it was that kind of pull), I knew that I was going to fall past the point of no return and really soon. I was afraid of two things: 1. I was afraid of getting into something that would end up being a horrible mistake. 2. I was afraid of becoming a believer and my wife not becoming a believer. I wasn't excited about being part of a "mixed marriage" and worse, that I would be the cause of the "mix". But what could I do? I made an appointment with the Pastor. I don't recall when it happened, but I realized I was a believer. I'd crossed the event horizon and was swirling towards my ultimate destination, I knew not what it was at the time. The pastor was a really nice guy. Through my "transition" we spent quite a few lunches together. He seemed to really understand my predicament on the various levels I was experiencing it. I remember specifically that when I told him something like "I'm a believer but..." he finished my sentence "...but what happens now?” Yeah, that's exactly how I felt. He also said that he'd prayed about my wife and "felt" that I had nothing to worry about. I had no idea what this “feeling” thing was all about, but he was right. When I finally worked up my nerve to tell my wife that I was a believer, she told me she had made the same decision. She didn't want to tell me for fear of "influencing" my own decision towards faith. I know, I know. It seems as if I'm glossing over the entire point of how I came to faith. It's funny. I know of believers who can tell you the exact date they came to faith and the specific circumstances, but I'm not one of them. I can't even really tell you the exact year and I don't know the circumstances. It was just a large number of tiny events that, step-by-step, led me to my faith in Christ (the "Messiah" part is another story). Having no experience with the Bible, I read it cover to cover in a year and did that for three years straight, just to get the "source material" in my head. I'd like to say that once I became a believer, everything in my life worked out fine and I ended up growing closer to the Lord day by day in stair step fashion, but that's not the truth. 40 plus years of secular living had made its mark and I had a lot of house cleaning to do. Nothing was linear (much to my chagrin). My life became a huge mess at one point and my early journey of faith was a roller coaster ride of events and emotions that was sometimes horrible to experience. It's taken me years to get to the point to where I'm not just trying integrate faith into the rest of my life but actually experiencing faith as my life. I know this isn't what you were looking for. My experience isn't very likely to help you or anyone else understand why I came to faith or to guide anyone else into a life of faith in Christ. I also have another revelation. While becoming "saved" is certainly a critical first step in a life of faith, it's just a first step. I've met believers that seem to feel like once you're "saved", that's all there is to it. You just sit in church as if it were a bus station, waiting for your ride to Heaven so you can be with Jesus. To me, that's a terrific mistake. Faith isn't something you keep hidden in your head or your heart (like a lamp under a bowl, so to speak), it's something you live out day by day in everything you say and do. Yes, there's a goal. You can read about it in Revelation (among other places), but you aren't supposed to sit on your thumbs waiting around for it. There are all kinds of parables (bridesmaids and oil lamps, for instance) that talk about getting and staying ready. John talked about faith and action. Coming to faith is an act of...well, faith. It's a shot in the dark. It's a leap over a cliff. It's letting yourself be swept over the event horizon and into the maw of a black hole. It's scary to let go of all the assumptions, beliefs, and practices of a lifetime and begin committing to something and someone you don't understand. It's like getting married. At the time, you're sure you love the person, but you also have no idea of what's about to happen to you and what it's going to be like in the long haul. There's a quote from the film “The Matrix” that applies, believe it or not. It's when the Oracle talks to Neo about being “the One”. Here it is: “I wanna tell you a little secret, being the one is just like being in love. No one can tell you you are in love, you just know it, through and through...” That's what faith is like. No one can tell you. You can't explain it. It just “is”. Through and through. I've been married to my wife for over 20 years and it's exactly like that. At the time, I was sure of what I was doing through and through, but I didn't have a clue of what the long haul was going to be like. If someone had told me for sure some of what I'd experience in married life, I'm not sure I'd have gone through with it...not because I don't love my wife, but when love is young, it's not ready for the curve balls married life tosses at you when you're more mature. When I first came to faith, it was all new and shiny and exciting...just like a honeymoon. I was very excited to be a part of something bigger than I was and to really be loved and accepted by God. I had no clue what was about to happen to me and, if I did, I'm not sure how it would have affected my decision. No way to tell now...especially from the perspective of being a believer for over 10 years at this point. Faith is a journey. Coming to faith is just the first step. The real story is what happens afterwards. I hope some of this helps.

And I will not leave them undone

A friend sent an email to me the other day (ok, sent it to my wife...then she sent it on to me) that made me pause. Lately, I've been so focused on the whole Hamas/Israel conflict in Gaza (just read this blog and my Facebook posts, if you don't believe me) and how the traditional "world view" of the media skews evil into righteousness (and vice versa). This email was sent by a person living in Israel and who is witnessing these events first hand. She had some good advice for everyone, particularly me. While I don't regret my stance on the conflict and calling the terrorists what they are, I realized that I was missing out on the "real" battle. As anyone who reads this blog (all two of you) has probably figured out, I believe in the God of the Bible and the promises He made; that Israel has been given to the Jewish people in perpetuity. I believe the day will come when God Himself will do battle for Israel, and that one day, the battle will be over.

But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. --Micah 4:4

I was forgetting that, as tragic as the war is, and as tragic as the loss of innocent life is, that there is a much larger perspective to consider.

These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone. They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame who trust in idols, who say to molten images, "You are our gods..." Isaiah 42:16-17

God will keep His promises and evil will ultimately be defeated. I'm not pointing fingers at individual Palestinians and calling them "evil" but the process of evil; the process that allows Hamas to endlessly launch rockets into Southern Israel and lets the world hardly notice; yet the world screams its head off when Israel dares to defend itself. This is what will be defeated. It will get much, much worse before it gets better. What we are seeing now is what the Bible talks about when all nations will turn against Israel and the Jewish people. As they say on "Family Guy", it really "grinds my gears", but it's got to happen. As much as I hate it, this process must continue and will be fulfilled, ultimately, finally, in God fighting for His people and His Land. They will be turned back...but not when I want it to happen. They will be turned back at the right time, when He says it is to happen. I will continue to stand up for what I believe is right and just, but I'll also try to be better at waiting for the author of Justice to right the wrongs and defend the innocent.

So Whose Land Is It?

Dave Schechter, CNN Senior National Editor wrote a commentary on the Israel/Gaza conflict titled Crisis in Gaza: Why is this happening?. One thing the article does (more or less) nicely is to give a good time line of the conflict and the reason why two different people groups would believe that Israel (or "Palestine" if you will) belongs to them and are willing to die and to kill to keep it. Schechter proposes different points in history as the "starting point" of the conflict and, to his credit, he does start out with the Genesis narrative where God promises the Land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants. He further states that God commanded Abraham that Issac (and the Jewish people) and not his older son Ishmael (and the Arab people) would be the permanent inheritor. From a Biblical point of view such as the one I hold, that's pretty much "end game". What God has established isn't overruled by other historical events or modern public opinion. The one thing that Schechter doesn't mention is that Muslims believe that Ishmael is the "son of promise" rather than Issac according to the Koran, and they claim Abraham (Ibraham) as their own (which is why Jews and Muslims butt heads over the Tomb of Abraham in Hebron). The other thing Schechter doesn't specifically mention is that after Sarah died, Abraham went through a very formal purchasing of the Cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23:7-20) in Hebron which, according to the Bible, is not only the first permanent purchase of a piece of property in the Land of Israel by a Jew, but one of the three "indisputable" (despite the fact that they are all disputed today) pieces of property in Israel that have been purchased by Jews (the other two are the Temple Mount, purchased by King David and the piece of property in Shechem purchased by Jacob where his son Joseph is later buried). Another rather telling Biblical reference is in the Book of Joshua. After the death of Moses, God commands Joshua, as the leader of the Children of Israel, to completely conquer the Land, destroying the people who were then occupying it. Joshua 10:41-43 specifically records Joshua's conquering Gaza and that "Hashem, God of Israel, was waging war for Israel". Another portion in this book raises the issue of the modern conflict with the Palestinians. In the 9th chapter of Joshua, it describes how Joshua and the Jewish people were tricked into making a treaty with the indigenous Gibeonite people. God has commanded Joshua to destroy all of the people living in the land. The Gibeonites, realizing they had no way to win a war against the Children of Israel, sent messengers to Joshua, dressed as if they had traveled a long distance (and thus not living locally) to make a treaty. The Bible says Joshua made the mistake of relying on his own judgment rather than consulting God on the matter. He makes the treaty and, even after realizing his mistake, keeps his end of the bargain, even defending the Gibeonites when they are attacked by other local city-states. The consequence for the Gibeonites is that they were relegated to a servant-class relative to the Israelites. Fast forward to 1948 and the War for Independence in Israel. The Arab peoples (children of Ishmael if you will) who were living in the Land at the time had the option of getting out during the war, but were told by the attacking Arab states that the war wouldn't last very long and the Jews would all be killed or forced to leave. What would be the purpose of the "Palestinians" having to leave their homes when the "problem" would be over almost before it began. In human terms, the Arab states should have won this war, since they were fighting a foe that was undermanned and under gunned but perhaps "Hashem, God of Israel, was waging war for Israel". In any event, the Jews won and claimed Israel (a much smaller portion than Joshua eventually claimed) for their own. Here's the "treaty" part that was the lynch pin of the current conflict. At this point, the Arab peoples who suddenly found themselves inside the borders of the re-established Land of Israel were given a choice to either leave, and find homes in the surrounding Arab states, or to stay and become Israeli citizens. Those who stayed became what we think of as modern Palestinians. From a Biblical point of view, Joshua wasn't deceived this time. He deliberately made a treaty with "the Gibeonites" and made them equal citizens and participators, rather than a servant class. If they had obeyed God (or at least had re-read Joshua 9), they would have told the Arabs in their borders to leave and find shelter elsewhere. Of course, if you maintain a point of view on the conflict other than what I'm citing, then you are bound to immediately disagree with me, call me a few unkind names, and determine that I'm either a religious zealot or an outright bigot (or both). One point that Schechter left out is the origin of the name "Palestine". After the conflicts between the Roman occupiers of Israel in the First Century of the common era and the subjugated Jewish people, the Jews were once again sent into exile away from their native land. One method of crushing any desire some Jews may have had to reoccupy their land was to rename Israel "Palestine". If Israel, as such, didn't exist, then there would be no home land to return to. Schechter does accurately state that, while 19th Century European Jews did begin to return to "Palestine" in an attempt to re-establish Israel, there has always been a small Jewish remnant in The Land, during the entire period of time between 70 C.E. and the 20th Century, so there has never been a time when the Land was completely without a Jewish presence. The modern conflict between Israel and the "Palestinian" people is built on what storyteller Noa Baum calls a "spiraling vortex of violence" in her creative work, “A Land Twice Promised". It's characterized as an auto accident between two people where each person has a radically different story about how the collision happened and who was at fault. The "police" (the world, public opinion, the UN, whatever...) has a heck of a time trying to figure out the facts of the case, let alone rendering any sort of "judgment". The mainstream media and most of the world (as far as I can tell, based on the mainstream media) tends to side with the "underdog" of the tale, the Palestinians in Gaza (or the Palestinians elsewhere, depending on where the conflict seems to be happening at the time). Tales of raw sewage running down the gutters and people in Gaza living essentially in "Ghettos" does pull at the heart strings. Of course, when the Jews pulled out of Gaza, conditions were anything but dilapidated and they only became such after the Palestinians entered and began to tear Gaza apart (apparently to destroy any "Jewishness" that had been left behind). As I recall, time and time again, the Israeli government (which includes Arab members on the Knesset) have attempted to improve the quality of life for the Arab citizens of Israel in general and a lot of the "ordinary people" have, or would have accepted the assistance. Hamas (the latest incarnation of Palestinians who think "peaceful co-existence" means the total extermination of the Jewish people in "Palestine") has rejected such improvements out of hand. It would hardly mobilize the sympathy of the world, if Palestinians enjoyed the same standard of living as the Jewish citizens, which would include indoor plumbing. From a modern secular perspective, I'm being incredibly unreasonable at the very least and, suggesting that even in ancient times, that God commanded the Jews to take over Israel by killing every man, woman, and child who were currently occupying the Land, I must be some sort of monster. From a Muslim point of view, the whole situation is upside down. The Land of "Palestine" was promised by Allah to Ishmael and his descendants forever which are the Arab peoples and the Jews took it away from them by force and with the support of the United States of America (no wonder the Muslims are so angry at Jews and Americans). If you're Muslim, it must make perfect sense to hate Jews, to kill Jews, and to have the goal of taking all of Palentine back from the Jews, wiping Israel from the face of the earth. Going back to the secular world view, both sides must be crazy and both sides must be made to come to some sort of reasonable compromise so that they can "peacefully co-exist". It's like watching a couple of boys fight on the schoolyard. The teacher comes over, tries to break up the fight, and then attempts to convince the lads to become friends. Seems simple, right? I encourage you to read the source article at CNN. While I'm no fan of their political point of view, Dave Schechter presented about as even handed a perspective of the current and ancient conflict as any media organization is ever likely to publish. I've already stated what I believe in the body of this article. It's up to you to decide what you believe and who you believe in.