Reconciliation is only possible when the aggrieved decide to cease putting grievances — even legitimate ones — in the face of the other
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To Israel’s credit, the international community holds it to the standards of London or Paris or Ottawa, not those of Moscow, or Beijing or Damascus.
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If the mayor of Jerusalem cannot distinguish the identity and mission of the Mamilla Hotel from a pilgrim guest house, he fails to understand a constitutive part of the history of his own city.
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Tax exemption of the Church is not a matter of enhancing social services or achieving more efficient program delivery.
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Russia is now the governing military power in Syria. Can Putin stay aloof as hostilities between the Israelis and Tehran heat up?
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It is an obligation incumbent on whichever power controls Jerusalem to be generous, knowing that it must also prove a worthy custodian of the city’s universal dimension.
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Recognizing that war has consequences for nations and borders and capitals is to acknowledge reality, a necessary foundation for peace.
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The recognition by the United States of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel strikes me as both defensible and anticlimactic
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Hebron thus is at the heart of the promises made by God and the ownership of the land. That makes Hebron a rather intractable sort of place of religious conflict. UNESCO was foolish to declare itself on the matter, which was not necessary.
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The Six Day War, which gave the Arab-Israeli conflict and the wider Middle East its current shape, is an anniversary that is going mostly unmarked this week in the Christian world.
Read MoreOur world was significantly shaped 50 years ago this week by war in the promised land. Six days changed the Middle East; a week changed the world.
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Sixteen Muslim countries – Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen – simply forbid Israeli passport holders entry. Period.
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President Donald Trump visited the Western Wall this week during his visit to Israel. That was wholly unthinkable 50, 70 and 100 years ago.
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In this year of significant religious anniversaries, the 800 years since St Francis sent the first friars to the Holy Land does not register alongside the Reformation or Fatima. Yet that decision continues to shape the Christian presence at our holiest sites.
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A recent, and long needed, restoration of the most sacred chapel in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a small sign of the progress that has been made in the relationship among the Churches which control the shrine.
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The Edicule in Jerusalem marks what used to be a grave, but has long ceased to be: “Here He does not lie…” As the angel said that first Easter morning: “He is not here.”
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The anniversary is the columnist’s reliable friend. Nothing in the news today worthy of comment? How about the news of 10, 50 or 100 years ago?
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