The Historical Perspective
In 1881, English cartographer Arthur Penrhyn Stanley surveyed the forbidding landscape of Judea and wrote this bleak assessment: ‘It is hardly an exaggeration to say that for miles and miles, there was no appearance of life or habitation.’ *
The dramatic reclamation of the land, beginning with the Zionist pioneers and dramatically accelerated following Israel’s independence, has resulted in a transformation that would astonish Stanley. Dynamic cities, abundant greenery and vibrant cultural centers have replaced the once- barren surroundings.
Jerusalem’s evolution has been especially significant. Today, Jerusalem is a dynamic world capital, center of spirituality and a hub of innovative science and technology, as exemplified by Har Hotzvim, the city’s high-tech industrial park.
* Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, (London: John Murray, 1881), page 118.
In his 1869 travel memoir The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain was decidedly dismissive of the Holy Land, describing it as ‘hopeless, dreary, heartbroken . . . and unlovely.’ *
Today, the land Twain viewed as being beset by ‘desolation…that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action’ is a vibrant nation of modern cities, abundant agriculture and, most especially, a dynamic, forward-looking people. The vision that dramatically transformed the country Twain proclaimed as ‘curse(d)’ is today creating innovation changing lives around the world.
*The Innocents Abroad (American Publishing Company, 1869), pages 361-362.
In 1857, British Counsel in Palestine James Finn offered a bleak assessment to the Earl of Clarendon: “The country is, (to) a considerable degree, empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is that of a body of population.”*
Counsel Finn would be astonished by today’s strong, forward-looking Jewish state with a population of more than 7.5 million. That population, including over 3 million successfully absorbed immigrants, is providing an exceptional resource – brainpower – that continues to change life as we know it.
*Letter to Earl of Clarendon, September 15, 1857; British Foreign Office Documents 78/1294 (Pol. No. 36)