Day 65

I'm doing better, thanks for asking. I got my shizzle figured out and it feels good. I have a chunk of time I am going to use to explore some things I've been thinking about in my copious amounts of free time. I may write one now and one at a later date. We'll see what happens.

I was recently asked by a friend what I thought of the peace talks set to take place between Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine and Ehud Olmert of Israel. A few things came to mind. Some of them I told him via Facebook, here are some other thoughts I had in addition to the ones I gave him.

First. It's great that Olmert and Abbas are trying to work things out. However. Don't let GW "help" them. Find someone else. It's ridiculous to me that he was (and is) so critical of what Clinton tried to accomplish, and yet here he is doing the exact same thing. He and the Hawks have been a disaster at foreign policy so far, and this is his last ditch effort at something worthwhile. Seriously. Make someone else do it.

Second. This just might work. Yes, they're optimistic. They were optimistic last time, too. I feel like the time is right for it, due to political stuff happening in Israel right now and the resurgance of the Likud party (Olmert is from the Labor party, I believe, because the Likud is very much against negotiations of this type. Well. Sharon was Likud. ANYWAY.) The opportunity may or may not arise for these talks again. Whether or not the agreement is recognized in future governments of Israel and Palestine, only time will tell.

Third. Even if this does work, you've still got Hamas in all their militancy that don't recognize Israel, and thus won't recognize any of their agreements. So. People are still going to die.

This isn't really a point I wanted to make, but I wanted to mention it. Saudi Arabia will be represented at these talks. This is interesting because they still don't recognize Israel's right to existance. They are clearly on the side of Abbas. But they will be there. They have a lot of clout because they have oil, so we'll see what happens.

The other thing. And I have been thinking about this for awhile. One of the things on the table is to be Jerusalem and who gets it. To Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, it's a holy place. Not to me. I believe Jerusalem used to be God's city. When Jesus died for us, it lost that special significance. God dwells within the Christ follower. The Church is his city, we are his chosen nation. Does that make sense to anyone but me?

Speaking as a budding historian, Jerusalem does indeed have historical significance. However. It's still dirt. It's a man-made place with man-made significance. Mortar, brick, stone, plaster, whatever. It's dirt. There's nothing holy about it. Same with Mecca, Medina, Bethlahem. I can't be any holier by visiting any of these places. There are so many things that matter more. Family. Friends. Time. Having a relationship with God. Music. So people fighting and blowing themseves up over who gets what holy site seems ridiculous to me. It's dirt.

Also, I must recognize there are differences in beliefs between a 20 year old caucasion male from Bellingham, Washington, a 60 year old Jew from Jerusalem and a 30 year old Palestinian that grew up in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

What does make sense to me, though, is the whole issue of people living in refugee camps because Europeans decided to kick out the people who were living in Israel and decided that the Jews deserved it more. I sympathize with the Palestinian's plight. I know I wouldn't like it if someone from Russia (or something) came knocking on my door and told me I had fifteen minutes to vacate because the land I live on was once the land of Native Americans, and now it was being given back to them. That would suck. I'd deal with it, but it would be lame.

So that's one thought. I will do the other one some other time.