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of Israel, recently blocked traffic entering Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, protesting the governments "inaction" in protecting them. At the same time, organizations like The Other Israel and Gush Shalom protest the governments actions in Gaza as over zealous and one obvious cause of the Qassam bombardment. And, as mentioned above, there are religious Jews in Israel who favor abolishing the State of Israel altogether.

And then there are the questions of Bedouins being forced into fixed housing (done in Israel and Jordan) and the Druze, who have not been well treated by the Muslims in the past but fear allying with Israel now, in case Arab Muslims regain West Bank control. Arab Christians are suspect from the more religious sides of the larger Palestinian Israeli conflict, from the Palestinian side for being Christian, on the Israeli from being Arab. Many European and North American Christians are Zionistic, although some for reasons that have to do with the second coming and the forced conversion-or-death of Jews at Armageddon, while others out of solidarity with Jews, which they see as closer allies than the Muslims. Still others are here to serve any suffering humanity, while some of course come to convert.

And this only begins to scratch the surface of long-standing cultural and religious conflicts. There are also historical conflicts in this area going back to Biblical times and before. There is not enough room in this essay to cover those, but suffice it to say that most of the current cultural conflicts have historical antecedents and that other, geographic conflicts arise as the historical picture unfolds.

Then there are the more obvious current issues having to do with economies, water, oil, borders, settlements, agriculture, the environment, and even tourism. All of these in various ways, with more or less weight, shape the conflicts and could be viewed as conflicts in their own rights. That is to say that, as archaeologists, only do we have vessels from various cultures and time periods, we have many types of vessels: pots, bowls, wine jugs, water jugs, oil containers, ritual items, lamps, etc., etc. Each is made of the soil of the Middle East, fired with passion and deep feelings, and glazed with religious, political, and intellectual arguments.

And how will we ever manage to put the pieces back together, just to get a glimpse of the conflicts?

Many people are working on the ground. In the end, it is the interaction of people in peaceful dialogue, in caring

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