Sauron

Not that the Israelis would have ever agreed to a meaningful peace proposal *anyhow*, but I thought this Newsweek article was interesting:

http://msnbc.com/news/917023.asp?0cv=CB20

A Very Mixed Marriage

Evangelical Christians lining up to fight for Israel maybe an unmovable obstacle to Bush�s �Roadmap�

[...]
Simply put, the administration won�t be able to lean hard on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon without being attacked by two blocs it cares very much about as the 2004 election approaches. Eager to capitalize on Bush�s standing as a war commander and a friend of Israel�s, White House strategists hope to double the size of Bush�s Jewish vote. Still, the numbers there, however pivotal in places such as Florida, are small. Much more is at stake among the nation�s 50 million evangelicals. Pressuring the Israelis also risks incurring the wrath�perhaps expressed in thundering, Biblical terms�of activists who claim to speak for that constituency, which the White House hopes will turn out in record numbers next year. �We are going to watch the Road-map very carefully,� Jerry Falwell told NEWSWEEK.

Monkeybot

From the article

Still, there�s no doubt the White House is aware of the new Zionist alliance, a typical American marriage of faith, principle and convenience. American Jews who see Israel�s survival as a paramount issue are looking for support. Coming to meet them are the evangelicals, who tend to believe that the �Covenant of Abraham� promised the Jews their entire ancient homeland�including all the modern-day West Bank�forever. Many (though not all) evangelicals believe that Jesus won�t return until the Jewish state is fully re-established, including in Jerusalem.

Unbelievable what religion can do to people's minds! I mean a God who is waiting for armies to take over a relatively tiny chunk of land in the Middle East before he'll redeem everybody makes no sense to me. Then again, this is the God who gets really cheesed off at people having oral sex, so I guess it fits

Mere politics is involved, too. Conservative Christians want to shed their image of intolerance.