A small group of Jewish Israeli settlers
has built sukkot – temporary tabernacles,
as the Talmud ordains, to commemorate
harvest time and Exodus – on a rise
not quite two miles from Gaza’s border fence.
The shelters have been built from steel frames
and tent tarpaulins bought at a camping store.
***
‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’
is the initial clause of the contract, the deal,
the covenant. The neighbourhood then was teeming
with gods and goddesses all vying
for obedience. Yahweh’s USP
was the promise of the land between the sea
and the river, the driving out of natives,
like the Hittites and the Canaanites,
– plus milk and honey, of course – in exchange
for unquestioning adoration.
Unmentioned in the covenant is one
of geophysics’ unintended
ironies. The land is placed where, in effect,
the different climatic systems of
Africa, Asia and Europe meet.
Consequently, winds are unpredictable.
***
Many of the peoples of the Book seem
particularly prone to war – Christians,
Jews, Muslims – so, in this small family camp,
all the men feel obliged to carry Uzi
machine guns slung on straps from their shoulders.
Not more than eight miles away black smoke
from the latest bombing begins to rise
on the urban skyline. Occasionally –
while the children are blowing bubbles,
for instance – as the wind shifts, the air
is briefly acrid. The settler families
are waiting fervently for God’s promise
to be fulfilled, and millions of people
be driven from their land.
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