Debbie Blank
The power of religion to shape world events was discussed at the Batesville Memorial Public Library Feb. 24 during a lecture by author Dorothy Drummond, brought here by the Rotary Club of Batesville to celebrate Rotary World Understanding and Peace Week.
The reason Israelis and Palestinians are fighting over the West Bank (the part of Israel on the west bank of the Jordan River) dates back to 70 A.D., when Romans built a temple in Jerusalem. Since destroyed, the spot now features Dome of the Rock, which covers the rock of Abraham.
“Both sides say this area and only this area must be their capital,” reported Drummond, who revealed, “Some fundamentalist Christians feel Jesus will not come again until the temple is rebuilt.”
The Terre Haute resident explained how the fighting over the past 60 years or so has impacted Americans. Osama bin Ladin decided the way to unite all who believe in Islam is to oppose the presence of Israel “and the country that supports it the most, the United States. With that, al Queda was born” and the United States was attacked Sept. 11, 2001.
Ralph Profitt, one of six attendees, observed, “Now we have Iran helter skelter off to develop nuclear weapons ... apparently the Israelis have said to the Arabs, ‘We'll use nuclear weapons if we have to.’”
He was concerned the next attack on the United States will be an economic one, predicting, “The oil supply countries will shut oil off to the United States. We don't have much time” to develop alternative sources of energy, such as wind and solar. “We only have about eight months of oil storage in this country ... This is so tenuous you can't sleep at night when you stop to think about it.”
Mary Meyer decided, “Fixation on your religion is really damaging to this world. Not letting go of your viewpoint” can be destructive. The speaker pointed out religion can be good and bad.
“I've spoken all over the country on this subject because it's important,” Drummond said.
After retiring from teaching at Indiana State University and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, she reported, “I immersed myself” in the topic, paging through three holy books: the Quran, the central religious text of Islam; and the two parts of the Bible (“The Old Testament is the Jewish Bible”).
Drummond then studied what experts have said about the region. “After four months, I found I had a handle on it.” The Valparaiso University and Northwestern University graduate wrote a journal for her three daughters, who suggested the extensive traveler expand it into the book “Holy Land, Whose Land? Modern Dilemma, Ancient Roots.”
“Being a geographer, there are 24 maps in there! It really reflects who I am ... a fairly well educated person who didn't understand this complex situation.”
The Jews who immigrated there picked a good time to declare Israel their country in 1948, according to the speaker.
“The world had a terrible conscience about the Holocaust” and realized Jews needed “a chance to have their own land. They deserved it. They survived” World War II.
“Israel was David and all the Arab countries were Goliath.”
United Nations members voted that the British-occupied land become two states, Jewish and Arab. “Every member of the United Nations voted for this except Britain and every Arab state.” On May 14, 1948, after the British left, Jews declared Israel a sovereign state and “threw Arabs off their lands.”
After the six-day War of 1967, Israel got control of the West Bank. It now has a 20-foot-tall concrete security barrier. The Israeli side contains 14.5 percent of the land, and the Palestinian side 85.5 percent. Now 300,000 Jews are clustered in settlements usually on hills, surrounded by 2.3 million Arabs, including farmers living in the valleys.
The population of Israel has shifted rapidly. In 1945, there were more Arabs than Jews, but three years later the opposite was true. By 2004, the country had three times as many Jews as Arabs due to immigration, first from Europe, especially Russia, then from Arab countries.
In the United States, “Christian fundamentalists support the immigration from Russia ... other American churches have strong feelings pro Arabs,” Drummond said.
Meyer concluded, “So the Christian community within the United States is divided.”
George Mitchell, the American special envoy to the Middle East, feels gaining peace in the West Bank “is doable,” she said. “You never take no for an answer. You must be patient. This is the biggest challenge of his life.”
Profitt asked, “Do you feel a little optimistic?” The author, who plans to travel to the Holy Land for the fourth time in June, pointed out, “There are mothers on both sides. It's the crazies on the edges of both sides who are the problems.”
Richard Cartwright said, “The only way there's ever going to be peace is when everybody accepts their own judgment instead of following a higher authority ... How many wars have been fought in the name of God?”
