EDITORrnThomas FleminsrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnMANAGING EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnARTDIRKGTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnGONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnf.O. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDI TORSrnBill Kauffman, Donald IJvingston,rnWilliam Mills, William Murchison,rnAndrei Navrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnFOREK;N AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL AFFAIRS FDFLORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O./. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPLiBI.IGALION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnG1RC ULALION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of I’lie Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 611(1?,rnEditorial Flionc: (815) 964-5054.rn.Advertising Phone: (815) 964-5813.rnSubscription Department: P,0. Box 800,rnMonnt Morris, IL 61054 Call 1-800-877-5459.rnU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution h- Eastern NewsrnL:)istribiitors, Inc., One Media Waw 12406 Rt. 250rnMilan, Ohio 44848-9705rnCopTighl © 1999 by The Rockford Institnlc.rn.All rights rescRcd.rnChmnkks (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishedrnniontliK for $39.00 (foreign siibscriphons add S12rnfor surface deliver), $48 for Air .Mail) jser year b”rn’Ihe Rockford Institute, 928 North Main Street,’rnRockford, IL 61103-7061. Preferred periodicalrn|»stage paid at Rockford, IL and additional mailingrnoffices. POSTMASTER: Send addressrnchanges to Chronickfi, P.O. Box 800,rnMonnI Morris, IL 61054.rnThe views expressed in Chronick’s are thernauthors’ alone and do not necessarilv reflectrnthe views of The Rockford Instihite or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited inanuscripts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied hv a self-addressedrnstam]3ed envelope.rnChroniclesrnVol. 24, No. 1 );iiiiuii-v 2(1(10rnIViiitt’il in thf.^ I initcd Sl.itos of iiitric:irnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn “Easter in Palestine”rnI wondered, reading the “Letter FromrnGaza and the West Bank” (Correspondence,rnOctober), what the author wouldrnrecommend as a suitable basis for peacernnegotiations, now so far advanced, otherrnthan dismantling the state of Israel. Herntakes a position that the Palestine Authority’rnhas not adopted.rnAs a Zionist for life, I was saddened byrnthe essay, which, on the Jewish-Israelirnside, could find good words only for anrnapostate from Judaism. And as a faithfulrnpracHHoner of Judaism, I wondered whyrnthis American Protestant so ofiF-handedlyrndismissed the claim upon the Land of Israelrnaccorded to the People of Israel byrnScripture. From Abraham forward, Godrnleaves no doubt that the Land of Israelrnmarks his covenant with the People of Israelrn—a covenant that Chrishanity, fromrnPaul in Romans to the present Pope, hasrnnever denied.rn—Jacob NeusnerrnSt. Petersburg, FLrnMr. Jenney Replies:rnAs Professor Neusner asserts, it is undeniablernriiat the Hebrew Scriptures establishedrna special relationship between thernPeople of Israel and the Land of Israel.rnHowever, while a vast majority of Jews —rnboth religious and apostate — have beenrnpartisans of Zionism, there has also beenrna minoritv, especially in Orthodox sectors,rnwhich has regarded the 20th-centuryrnIsraeli nation-state as a blasphemy, arnsham Israel set up by sham Messiahs likernBen-Gurion and company.rnRegarding Paul’s Letter to the Romans,rnI find much evidence of the specialrnrelationship between God and thernPeople of Israel, and of the affinity betweenrnJews and Christian Gentiles.rnHowever, I fail to find anv reference inrnRomans to the Land of Israel, let alone tornthe modern State of Israel. I suspect thatrnPaul might have had a problem with thernmodern State of Israel, which was notrnfounded by the person he regarded as thernMessiah (i.e., Jesus of Nazareth). Evenrnso, I am not ready to condemn the existencernof the State of Israel on theologicalrngrounds. However, I will continue to decryrnthe injustices visited upon the Palestinianrnpeople during the last 50 years,rnand the decrying of true injustice alwaysrnhas a theological component.rnFurther, I am not in favor of the utterlyrnunrealistic idea of “dismantling thernstate of Israel.” Israel is here to stay. It hasrnmostly made peace with its neighbors. Itrnremains to be seen if it will make peacernwith the people of the occupied territories.rnAny peace settlement will requirernsacrifices from both sides. The Palestiniansrnhave made a great many sacrificesrnover the past half century. In 1947, theyrnstill had 93 percent of the land, the otherrnseven percent having been settled byrnZionists. Then the U.N. partition offeredrnthem 44 percent of the land. By the timernthe fighting ended in 1949, they had onlyrn33 percent left. That was taken inrn1967. If all goes well in the peace talks,rnthey may end up with ten percent. Thernfact tiiat Israelis continue to build settlementsrnin the occupied territories makesrnme wonder how serious the Israeli governmentrnis about making sacrifices.rnI’m sorry that Professor Neusner wasrnsaddened by my essay. I was saddened byrnwhat I saw in the West Bank and thernGaza Strip.rnOn the Individual andrnProtestantismrnDonald W. Livingston’s insightful sketchrnof individualism and its history (“ThernStiange Career of Individualism,” October)rnpays scant attention to what is surelyrnthe most important part of the story: thernProtestant Reformation. For Livingston,rnthe emergence and development of modc>rnS3fieKsrnSave a Stamp! E-mail your letters to the editor to:rnPolemicMChroniclesMn^azine.orgrn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn