Sojourn In Palestine (Welcome To Palestine!) by Alfred N.Muggins : Part 1

Featuring the Three Wise Men!

28/12/23

     The Three Wise Men came to Bethlehem from lands afar, bearing gifts for the new born son, after following yonder star for what had seemed like an eternity! One named Melchior came from Persia. He had studied the histories of man, but also was very much a scientist. He was a prosperous and kind King. The second was from India, Caspar, a ruler in his own right, but one who had many advisors and tended to listen to their many voices before he made his decisions. This was partly how he had been able to create and manage such a large Kingdom, and to protect it by sensible negotiations and good relations with those around his Kingdom, including mutual alliances and understandings.

The third was Balthasar from Africa. They came together, meeting up many miles to the East and sharing the desert crossing from the land of Al Jazeera!

5/3/24

    They had followed the Shining Star, which flew out of the heavens like chariots on fire. The Persian scholar Melchior suggested it had been sent from outside the known world as a signal of some major event upon earth, such as the birth of a leader or chosen one, to be of great importance in the world. The two other wise men concurred. The Indian Raja believed he would be a peacemaker to settle all conflicts and to adjudicate between nations and people. The Persian was impressed by the fire trail following the star which he believed showed the importance of the new leader.

    They travelled across the desert from Babylon, and when they arrived at the other side of the flatlands they noticed things had changed. There were buildings of brick and cement sprawling in every settlement. Roads were often paved and infested with traffic the like of which they had never seen in their own lands of origin. Had the chosen one arrived early and progressed the sciences of this wondrous land in advance of their arrival? It seemed likely they were being shown their future world, and they anticipated meeting the chosen one, who they hoped would be a Prince to save the world.

    And they came to a river, which locals called the River of Jordan and tried to cross. But no sooner did they ride their beasts into the stream than soldiers appeared on the far bank, bearing long pointed metal sticks, which they found out later were what they called firesticks, because they realized they could fire pellets of the most dangerous kind into opponents and even children as many of the children of this land had unfortunately found out the hard way!

    “Go back,” shouted the young, unduly aggressive soldiers. “You cannot cross. We will shoot you if you do!”

    The three wise men were wise enough to realise that it would not be wise to continue to cross. They might just be ‘shot’ by the young soldiers on the far bank, who seemed very angry and very insistent. They were not quite clear what being ‘shot’ would mean, or be like, but it was evidently best not to find out.

    They came back to the east bank of the Jordan and took counsel with some of the natives of the area. “Oh you were very lucky they did not shoot. I and all my relatives once lived on that side of the river, but the soldiers who control and partly occupy those lands deny us access to the lands we once lived in. Our cousins live on the West Bank but they will not allow us to visit them any more. We cannot get the passes we would need to go there, to meet our relatives and see the lands and villages which once our families lived in”

29/4/24 (4/6/24, 16/6/24)

    “That is sad,” declared all three wise men. “We are most sad to hear it. Surely your cousins could come to meet you on the East Bank, if you cannot go there?”

    “At the present time there is war in Gaza and the whole of the West Bank is in lock down. They don’t trust us Palestinians and won’t let anyone out unless they are Jewish. They think we all want to kill them!”

5/9/24

    Melchior asked, “These soldiers are Jewish are they? I remember the histories of King David and King Solomon. Israel became very powerful a few hundred years before our times, but many were made refugees in the times of Assyria and many came to live in the lands of Babylon and Persia, where I come from. So they were freed from these Empires? But what of Rome, the Empire most dominant in all the lands of the middle sea?

    And while they remained as guests of the kind people in the village to the east of the River Jordan they saw the star again still high in the sky even in the day, but it appeared to be leading them into the deserts of the ‘West Bank’ beyond the crossing points of Jericho. Feeling once again the pull of the falling star, which had stayed with them even into the 21^st Century, Caspar knew they had to continue their journey urgently or forever lose contact with their guide. Melchior and Balthasar were of the same mind. None of them knew what or who they would find, but they were being drawn towards the future chosen one or prince. Maybe the one they searched for would be the key towards ending all the conflicts of this ‘Holy Land’, as they had heard it being referred as, by Arabs and apparently also by Jews too.

     Against the advice of some of the villagers they set out once again on their camels towards an official crossing, having been warned to have the correct papers with them. All three believed their powers of explanation would surely see them through so they might follow their star. Surely it was meant to be, and they were wise enough, and faithful enough to go on with their journey despite the warnings.

    They approached the crossing and came to the Israeli checkpoint. Again soldiers were here, but there was an orderly queue and when those who wished to cross showed their papers or explained their purpose they were allowed across.

    “Papers?” demanded the guard on duty. Uniformed soldiers with guns looked suspiciously at all three of them, and their camels. “Where are you from?”

    “I am from the Kingdom of …… in India,” declared Caspar, his brown skin and Indian style clothing adding credence to his assertion. The chains and jewels he wore all seemed to satisfy the soldiers to a degree. They did not seem to regard him as a natural enemy at the least. Nonetheless they searched the bags upon his camel, finding apart from water bottles, his gifts of frankincense, and gold coins.

    But Melchior was treated with more suspicion when he revealed that he came from the land of Persia, a place evidently known to the Jewish soldiers

29/4/24 (4/6/24, 16/6/24)

     Melchior the Persian was arrested as an Iranian spy at the border, although he had never heard of the mullahs, or the Ayatollahs. He was taken to an Israeli Army station, despite being on Palestinian (Arab) partition territory. “I was told this was Palestinian Authority territory,” said Melchior in perfect Persian. Somehow the Israeli officers were able to understand as if he spoke Hebrew, the revamped language of the new nation of Israel, or Arabic, the current language of the indigenous Palestinian people. “Why are you arresting me for entering land which I was told is not yours?” They laughed at him dismissively and said, “We are here to keep Israel safe. Indeed this was our land before it was taken from us, 2,000 years ago. Therefore by right it is ours. The question is ‘what are you doing here?’ Can we see your papers, card or passport?”

    “Papers or passport?” repeated Melchior. Although he had learned a great deal about the modern world in recent days, he was not really up to date on the subject of modern state documentation yet.

    “Yes. Where are you from?”

    “I come from Persia. Melchior held back from revealing that he actually came from Persia more than 2,000 years before, because he realized it might not advance his cause with these military interrogators, who would not be likely to believe him.

    “Persia? So you are Iranian? Not even an Arab! So what are you doing here? This is not your country! Have you come to spy? Are you on a mission? Or working for Hamas?”

    “I am not a spy. I have come to meet the chosen one! To welcome him into the world, to see for myself the plan of the creator unfolding!” He suspected he had not done himself any favours by revealing his real motivations for being here in search of the Prince, to bring peace and genuine love to this fractured world. Now they really did think he was a modern Iranian spy, the sworn enemies of modern Israel.

    It seemed that the military questioners held him under great suspicion because of the region he came from, and his lack of papers just made him more suspicious, although his clothes were not at all normal for the ‘modern’ times. His robes suggested to the suspicious soldiers, a muslim radical, even though Melchior at the time had never even heard of Islam or its prophet.