Children learn by imitating.

I remember a cartoon I saw many years ago in a local newspaper.

It showed two young boys. One was crying in a corner while his elder brother, who had been fighting him, was being 'punished' by his angry father.

The caption simply read

'Boy, I'll teach you to fight with your little brother!"

The sad thing was, that is just what the father was doing. Modeling violence for his older son.

The attached video shows much the same thing. It depicts Arab & Israeli children 'at play' though it could just as easily be Catholic and Protestant children in Belfast or playground violence in your local school.

Despite the political bias of the video the end result is the same: violence hatred and prejudice is being invested into the future as children on both sides imitate their parents behaviour and practice how to behave themselves when they grow up.

A two nation solution in Palestine by 2009 may tear down the 'Walls of Shame' that physically divide Israel and Palestine but it will take generations to remove the walls that divide their hearts.

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Looking outside the square

Today they arrived.

When I set up the tree and placed the crib beneath it, they were on top of the window sill, on the other side of the room.

Day by day, through the 12 nights of Christmas, the 'Kings' journeyed across my living room till this morning (January 6th) when they reached their destination.

The stable in Bethlehem

Each year, as we approach the Christmas season, our preparations include revisiting the events surrounding the birth of Our Lord. Bethlehem, the shepherds, and the angels are familiar to us all. But not much is generally known about the mysterious "Magi" who came to worship the infant Jesus.

By tradition we refer to them as 'Wize Men from the East' or 'The Three Kings', though general opinion is that they were priests from Persia. Probably the Kurdish area of what is now modern day Iraq.

Their visiting Jesus in Bethleham, referred to as the Epiphany, a word meaning sudden realisation, is important because it illustrates the openness of these men to see the importance of something outside of their cultural expectation.

To find 'an answer' somewhere they would never have thought of looking.

We celebrate this every year. But how often to we take their example into our daily life?

How often do we have the courage to step outside of the comfort of our own western world view to discover truth hidden in the lives and practices of people who may not talk, dress or believe as we do?

Understand them rather than war against them?

Perhaps the significance of the Epiphany is that we need to make that journey.

To quote Neil Armstrong, it would be one small step got man, but a giant leap forward for mankind.

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A one-off stance or the thin end of the wedge?

Today Egypt defied an Israeli request and opened its border with Palestine to allowed more than 1000 religious pilgrims to cross back into Gaza through the Egyptian border with Palestine at Rafah.

But why was this such a big deal?

The pilgrims had left Gaza via the Rafah crossing prior to Christmas to make Hajj at Mecca. They had done this with the full approval of the Israeli authorities (as Palestinians they have no political status) and naturally expected to return the same way.

When they did arrive back at Rafah several days ago they discovered to their surprise that the border was closed to them. Israel was insisting that they returned home via an Israeli controlled checkpoint and had put political pressure on Egypt to support them by closing its border fearing some of the pilgrims might be bringing money with them which could be used in support of Hamas.

The pilgrims were 'held' in a nearby transit camp, political wrangling pursued and in a surprise move today, Egypt took control and allowed the Gazans to return to their homes without passing through Israeli controlled territory.

So, has Israel suddenly gone soft and developed a conscience?

Will Egypt's actions turn a political spotlight on the humanitarian crisis that has gone largely unnoticed since Israel 'blockaded' Gaza last June?

Or is it a one-off gesture that will be smoothed over and quickly forgotten by the international media?

Watch this space!

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