Conclusion ••• 327East, were they becoming too much like their Arab neighbors? In reaction,
Israelis developed cults of physical fitness and martial might, of archaeolog¬
ical quests to affirm their ties to the land, of redemption through the plant¬
ing of trees. Divided on how Jewish they should be, they ranged from the
ultra-observant (some refused to recognize the Jewish state until the Mes¬
siah came) to those who denied God's existence and the Bible's relevance to
modern life. Jewish religious leadership was no better than its Muslim and
Christian counterparts elsewhere. What part could the Arabs, a sixth of Is¬
rael's population, play in a state whose flag featured the Star of David and
whose anthem expressed the Jews' longing for the land of Zion? What about
the Arabs who had fled from Israel in 1948 and claimed the right to return?
If Jews had remembered Zion for two thousand years, could Palestinians
forget it in fewer than twenty? Amid the mists of ideological confusion and
the dust of political combat brew the storms that have raged in the Middle
East since 1967 and that dominate our final chapters.