ISRAEL: THE JEW AMONG NATIONS By Asithandile Gxumisa
" Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren...Nazareth is [absolutely] forlorn....Jericho...accursed...Jerusalem...a pauper village...Palestine is desolate and unlovely ." So did Mark Twain, author of the classic The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , write about Palestine in 1867. Clearly, the land that we were once told by our elders was running with milk and honey did not at all appeal to the celebrated American skeptic humorist. However, despite the bleak and dreary ambience of this mysterious land that Tom Sawyer observed with apparent disfavour, I do not think it would be a stretch to argue that it has been a magnet for all kinds of ugly, dark and fiery passions like no other land ever has. The Christian once claims it for his own, for his Lord was crucified upon its craggy heights. The Jew claims it for his own, for God gave it as an eternal inheritance to Abraham. And still the Muslim claims it for his o...