covenant

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.