Proximity
Proximity - The quality or state of being next in time, place, causation, influence, etc.; immediate nearness, either in place, blood, or alliance.
Back in Israel, proximity is on the rise. This is something of a love-hate relationship for me - I often like being close to the center of action, but need about as much (or more) time in my own bubble.
Literally two hours after arriving to my apartment from the airport, a friend called to say suicide bombers were just captured at the bank around the corner from my building. I had heard a helicopter close by, but this is not uncommon. Then, after this call, I could swear I heard what sounded like a controlled explosion - another common occurrence when a police robot blows up an errant suspicious package or object.
Being ornery and tired from no sleep on a 12-hour flight, I did not care to find things out for myself. Local news briefs mentioned "police activity" at the bank. The next day, the story looked a lot more like a robber dropping his backpack on the way out than a bombing attempt.
Since Palestinian bomb laboratories and suicide bombers are actually intercepted here almost every day (lightly reported on by even Israeli media, though imagine the FOX coverage of such an event in the US!), it's understandable that people are jittery. Word spreads fast in a country of 7 million people (guess where the cell phone was invented).
More interesting proximity-wise is the controversial "discovery" of a tomb believed to be the final resting place of Jesus and family members, about a 10-minute walk from my apartment. Not surprisingly, James "Titanic" Cameron is involved in this emerging story, and the discovery is tied to the production of a documentary. Alleged "overwhelming statistical evidence" points to Jesus having been buried in this tomb, despite New Testament accounts saying otherwise.
A "Jesus son of Joseph" inscription found at the tomb has failed to impress local archaeologists. "Yeshua was such a popular name during the Second Temple Period," said Israeli archaeologist Danny Bahat. "The fact that you have such similar names is due to the fact that these were the prevalent names during that time," he said.
The story has some religious leaders up in arms, as any "proof" of a Jesus family tomb contradicts the resurrection story and - in this case - the belief that Jesus died a "single" man, and childless. Possibly more damaging, the tomb's "discovery" contradicts the central Christian belief that Jesus was buried in the Holy Sepulcher on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem's Christian quarter and was later resurrected.
There's some other Bible-related controversy taking place a half-hour walk from my building at that old hot-spot known as the Temple Mount, and in this case it's getting violent. Muslim extremists have for a century used any Jewish attempts at construction (or, sometimes, even prayer activity) at the site to rile up the masses to violence.
This time, Israeli repairs to a minor ramp leading up to the Temple Mount have sparked Muslim rioting and allegations that Israel intends to destroy mosques built atop the site of the ancient Jewish Temples. Six years ago, Ariel Sharon merely walking on the Temple Mount "caused" the intifada that claimed thousands of lives and squashed hopes for peace.
As we can discern with the "Jesus tomb" and Temple Mount happenings, people just love their religious fervor. If these same people applied some of that outrage to real-life desecrations and atrocities (i.e., Darfur and Iraq), the world would be in better shape.
For some, proximity has little to do with reality, and everything to do with fantasy.
