Article December 23, 1996 Issue

Safety in the Middle East

with contributions from Martin Luther King

In recent months, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres's political vision of "a new Middle East" seems to have fallen on hard times.

Perhaps it is time to reconsider this concept and translate it out of the political sphere into the metaphysical and spiritual. Certainly the disappointments of the past year cry out for revolutionary thinking.

Recently, after an especially violent period with many casualties on both sides, I was in a Palestinian West Bank village where another clash was expected between stone-throwing youths and Israeli soldiers. The thought came to me, there is no better time than this to pray for yourself and others. My prayer was simply an affirmation. As I walked through the streets of this village, I declared, "God, I know You are in control, that Your angels protect me, my friends, and everyone here because You are omnipotent and omnipresent Love."

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