Sorry, I really shouldn't try to upstage the sublime
Ed West...
For Israelis and Palestinians the quest to find a peaceful settlement in this
tiny piece of land, only 1.2 Waleses in size, is a matter of life and death. For
foreigners active in the conflict on one side or the other it is an
obsession.
I’ve always found it strange that people in the West are so fixated by the
subject, especially now that the rest of the Middle East is filled with daily
atrocities and injustices that dwarf anything in the Holy Land.
In fact one of the few concrete benefits of the 2011 Arab uprisings is that
there has been a marked decline in the number of people offering an opinion on
Israel/Palestine. I know that 100,000 dead in Syria is a high price to pay for
that, but I suppose we should look at the upsides.
There are still a few, such as those people at St James’s in Piccadilly who,
despite Christians
in the Middle East suffering one or two more pressing problems, decided to
construct a replica wall to protest against Israel.
Of course the Israeli barrier is a serious problem for the Christians in
Bethlehem, and people in Beit Jala now face losing their homes. But surely there
is an issue of perspective this year at least? How would they show their
solidarity with Egyptian Christians – by burning down the church?
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