This is no time for false modesty ~ we are pretty clever, we human beings.  There is not much we cannot do, from splitting atoms to creating life; from propelling objects through space to modifying genes.  Of course, we have never actually done anything that Nature has not already done, and there are still some things that we just don’t do as well.  Making life the natural way is generally a lot easier, sometimes more enjoyable, than in the sterile laboratory.  And Nature's timescale for genetic modification, or evolution, (unlike ours) is long enough to reduce the risks of unforeseen knock-on effects.  But where Nature really excels is with boundaries.

Oceans, rivers, mountain ranges, are so obvious that even men of limited intelligence can recognise them, but when we divided the continent of Africa we created countries that had no definition.  The straight lines on the maps paid scant regard to the terrain or tribal activities, and when the map-makers went home it is not surprising that all hell broke loose.  We tried to do the same thing in The Balkans, where outsiders with little understanding of regional cultural differences created unstable nations.  And then we turned our attention to the Middle East. 

It is difficult to imagine a more volatile solution to a problem.  The problem was: ‘What shall we do with the Jews?’  The solution was to create an artificial country by taking land from Arabs, with the new state of Israel surrounded by those same Arabs who had now lost valuable land and had long mistrusted the Jews.  Nature would have used a rift valley at the very least.

It was a problem that perhaps did not require a solution.  Jews had lived for centuries across Europe and did not possess a national identity.  There has been no suggestion that we should create a nation for Jehovah's Witnesses, or for Christian Scientists. Even at the time, an argument expressed by some Jews was that Israel was not a state to be achieved on Earth.

Be that as it may, Israel was created, and the Israeli Jews developed a new sense of identity.  Jews had been abused and victimised by many communities over a long period of our history, accepting the role of world victim.  As in the school-yard, the victim seems always to attract bullies.  But now the victim had something to protect, and modern Israelis have become very aggressive in the defence of their precarious state.

Which brings us to the problem we face today.  Don't raise your hopes ~ there are no easy solutions at the end of this article, but just think about it this way:  how can we persuade Jews and Arabs in the Middle East to trust and tolerate each other?  How can they be persuaded to let go of the ‘eye for an eye’ justice recommended by their ancient vengeful God?

There are lessons to be learnt, perhaps the first of which is to let future map-makers beware!  Whether or not the creation of Israel was a wise move, its existence is fact and undeniable.  The situation presents us with is an opportunity to prove that we really are clever, but we who would be masters of the universe still have work to do before we can expect to pass the next examination in the University of Nature. 

It is obvious that the geographical boundaries need clear definition and agreement, and perhaps in the medium term the international community has to take some responsibility for ensuring that there are no border transgressions.  Perhaps Jerusalem will have to be governed by United Nations.  This might begin to produce a political climate in which Jews and Arabs at least feel unthreatened by each other.  And then, over time, they could even grow to like each other.  Put a man and a woman in a room together for a week and see whether nature or religion is more important!  When all is said and done, religion is just another artificial boundary created so cleverly by Man.