One day I posted an article from BBC News about a 13-year-old boy who was murdered by a man wielding an axe. It would be tragic in any account, but what increases the weight of this heartrending story is that the boy was a young Jew living in a settlement in the West Bank, and the man was a Palestinian who lived in the area. Israeli radio reported that the military wing of Islamic Jihad and Imad Mughniyeh Group took responsibility for the act. I immediately felt a twinge of rage in my heart. What kind of evil, malevolent group decides to incite terror in a village by brutally murdering a teenager? I wanted others to read the article I posted and click on more links to learn about the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What it produced instead was a short comment from a former classmate of mine from college who was born in Palestine. She simply said, "The things occupation makes you do." Was she saying the boy's murder was an effect of Israeli occupation, something that was inevitable because of years of living in an oppressed environment? I reflected on this statement and on my own experience living in Israel as a student this past summer. The feeling of tension among so many opposing and hate-filled groups washed over me again. The pressure was so heavy that it was sometimes hard to breathe. Blame is the currency of the conflict. It's passed from one individual or group to the next, never fully stopping at any one destination. It's such an infectious commodity that one runs out of fingers to point. Comment after comment, we continued to debate cause and effect, the power of choice and the influence of our circumstances. She is correct that I cannot understand fully the emotional and psychological effects of oppression. I've always lived in a society that promoted liberty. Still, what both sides of the conflict lack is a genuine understanding of personal accountability. At the end of our discussion, I was emotionally exhausted, but we came to an agreement. No matter what circumstances one may live in or one may be influenced by, each of us still has the power to choose our actions, to decide to give in to hatred or to fight it and enact positive change around us. It's a question of heart: "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29). God's gift of His Holy Spirit changes hearts and makes it possible to love our neighbors, even when they are our enemies. My friend does not have the understanding of God's plan of salvation now. But one day she will, and so will billions of other people affected by Satan's influence in this world, and then positive change can finally take effect. We need more than ever to pray, "Your Kingdom come." UN