Behold, he that keepeth Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.

So says the verse from Psalms! Whoever is keeping Israel today is certainly not sleeping, several thousand years later.

I heard a young TV presenter say she was alarmed by all this. She couldn't understand why, considering the history of the Jews, they felt so able to wreak havoc on their neighbours. The guy sitting next to her rounded on her. It seems the very questioning of Jews and their motives is never to be allowed, given the horrors of the concentration camps. I'd like to know, though, what a little girl with scrapnel wounds to her face and body in Beirut knows about Hitler and his repressive cruelty. Is it OK?

The Americans have always seemed to give Israel the nod when it comes to revenge. Given that the Jews are still believing in an eye for an eye, there seems little prospect of lasting peace.

When George Bush gets down on his knees in his adopted Methodist Church perhaps he will remember some pertinent things. John Wesley, in one of his many sermons, said this -

"Hence we may easily learn, in how wide a sense the term peace-makers is to be understood. In its literal meaning it implies those lovers of God and man who utterly detest and abhor all strife and debate, all variance and contention; and accordingly labour with all their might, either to prevent this fire of hell from being kindled, or, when it is kindled, from breaking out, or, when it is broke out, from spreading any farther. They endeavour to calm the stormy spirits of men, to quiet their turbulent passions, to soften the minds of contending parties, and, if possible, reconcile them to each other. They use all innocent arts, and employ all their strength, all the talents which God has given them, as well to preserve peace where it is, as to restore it where it is not. It is the joy of their heart to promote, to confirm, to increase, mutual good-will among men, but more especially among the children of God, however distinguished by things of smaller importance; that as they have all "one Lord, one faith," as they are all "called in one hope of their calling," so they may all "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

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