Recently I visited with a young soldier who had just finished his tour of duty. When he discovered that I worked in the field of peace and reconciliation he said, “Can you help me understand what the Middle East conflict is really all about?”

Imagine that – he had been trained in weaponry, in tactical strategies for waging war, how to march and carry out orders, how to kill, shipped to a very unfamiliar part of the world and given his marching orders – but, other than vague statements about ‘terrorists’ and ‘enemy combatants,’ he was never taught anything about the source of the conflict he found himself thrust into. Continue reading…

The band U2 has a popular song entitled, “Stuck in A Moment.” It’s about those times when life is so difficult, so demanding of our attention that the present moment seems inescapable. For ten days, as I walked the streets of Israel and Palestine, that song was blaring in my mind: “…stuck in a moment and you can’t get out.”

That’s where the people in that part of our world find themselves. It’s where the Jews who choose to live in the Land find themselves (and it should be noted that the majority of Jewish people do not desire to live in the Land. They willfully and happily choose to live throughout the world). It’s where the Palestinians find themselves. It’s the land where the three Abrahamic faiths (Jews, Christians, Muslims) variously offer the best and worst of their traditions, as some admirably choose to die for their spirituality and a non-negotiable belief that God is a God of peace, and others choose to kill for their religion – a religion that says the ‘other’ is an infidel and – according to God’s law – needs to be driven out or killed. Continue reading…