Israel: Small but Significant

"The future of the world may depend on the Middle East talks beginning today in Washington." These were the sober words of William Rees-Mogg in The Times (London). But how could our future possibly even be partially dependent on the fortunes of a nation as small as Israel? How could this be so?

Americans visiting Israel are usually amazed at how small the country is. As Mark Twain once said while visiting the Holy Land, "I could not conceive of a small country having so large a history" (Innocents Abroad, Literary Classics of the United States, New York, 1984, p. 385). Visitors are surprised because we normally equate a state's size with its significance.

“A glance at the map helps to explain why the history of the Holy Land has been so complex. It is small in itself, but fate placed it on the main highway of antiquity . . . Somewhat unwillingly, and often helplessly, it has been close to the centre of the historical stage and has been exalted and battered by its dramas.”

—Historian Paul Johnson,
Civilisations of the Holy Land,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1979, p. 7

How could a country so prominent on television news be so insignificant on the world map? The United States is enormous by comparison, yet many Americans have an awareness of Israel far out of proportion to its geographical size.

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn11/israelsmall.htm

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