Movie directors go to extreme lengths to ensure a movie adaptation of a great novel is representative of its essence and literature elegance. Capturing details of authenticity to match the flavor in the mind of those who admired the book. The Great Gatsby, a classic American novel, was, for instance, remade and then released in 2013. The production crew dived into each of the rich descriptive lines and imagined them on a screen, aiming to match what the eye would view with what the brain constructed from reading the book. Staged in 1922, the movie team had to source authentic items and surroundings of that era, from cars to roads, buildings, and the finest details of rich mansion interiors.
As an example described by Fitzgerald in the novel, the white curtains as they enter the mansion: "The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea."
And yet, with all the extraordinary efforts, many would agree that the movie hardly measures to the original work of Fitzgerald. So many examples of exceptional work done over the years to make a book a reality can be given. But none can come even remotely close to the catastrophic adaptation of a story in a book like the novelty of biblical Armageddon. Over 100 years of countless work hours of evangelical Christians and Zionist Jews into adopting a biblical story into real-world action reality. Needless to say, the story is known to end with the end of the world, Armageddon.
Nowadays, our people's reality as Palestinians is immensely driven by 11 million evangelical Christians in the US who seldom believe that bringing all Jews to our grandparents' land will fulfill the Armageddon prophecy of the end of the world. They think they are sanctified if they support the 'chosen people.' Blind support for Israel is religiously blessed. These are republican party supporters that openly demand politicians' blind allegiance to a Zionist Israel. (a Zionist one, not a civilized one; make the distinction.) In a James Bond movie script, MI6 would move mountains to stop an end-of-the-world plot from succeeding. Juxtaposed to reality, there is no James bond trying to stop the-end-of-the-world plot, and US politicians go out of their way to support it. Remind you not; it's the 21st century. The US is the self-proclaimed leader of the progressive liberal and free world.
The irony is that some factions of the Muslim religion believe in the same exact prophecy, where all Jews would be gathered in one spot so the end of the world would happen. However, the ending varies. Muslim God would champion Muslims over Jews. As the prophecy has it, God commands ordinary rocks to shout if an Israeli soldier hides behind them. Furthermore, both prophecies believe Jesus will be resurrected at the end of time. Both believe that Jesus will be their savior and leader.
To summarize, Zionist Jews believe that Israel is a promised land. Evangelical Christians believe that once Jews are in the promised land, they will convert to Christianity as end-of-time comes. Some Muslim factions believe once Jews are in one land, God will grant them victory at end-of-time. Every antisemitic westerner thinks that Jews should go to that land so they purify their society from them. Sadly, we, Palestinians, pay the price in blood because of all these groups' mythical legends. Occupation, social injustice, ethical cleansing, apartheid, exile, and systematic militant oppression. All caused by a fictitious, biblical story that originated from our ancestors; the biblical residents of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. A twist that neither Greek mythology nor Shakespeare could fathom.
Do I believe any of the prophecies?
I believe Israel has enough nuclear weapons to bring the end of time upon the entire region. Its track record shows no respect for UN resolutions or international law. It refuses to sign the nuclear proliferation treaty. It also believes it's an exceptional state; therefore, it self-justifies its aggressions against neighboring countries. And seldom shows humanity to any non-jew in the region. So maybe, one day, the prophecy would self-fulfill. Not out of God's will but more out of Human's stupid pride. What started with a story of a holocaust would then end with the mother of all holocausts upon us here. Maybe the US realizes that religious superstitions are not a sound foreign policy and social justice is better. Perhaps then, our Palestinian catastrophe will not be repeated.
- Child of Handala
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