I have been reading the spy novel "Prince of Fire" by Daniel Silva. Honestly, I don't like it as much as I did some of his previous work. As much as I love to read stories with Israeli Jews as battle-hardened heroes, this time around the pro-Zionist message is poured on a little too thick. Another problem, though not the author's fault, is that Yassir Arafat is still portrayed as the Palestinian leader which makes the story seem slightly dated.

That being said, I loved this quote from one of the principal characters, a grizzled veteran of 60 years of conflict:

"The Europeans are the best friends the Palestinians have. The civilized world has abandoned us to our fate. We would never have come back to this land if we weren't pushed here by the hatred of Europe's Christians, and now that we're here, they won't let us fight, lest we antagonize the Arabs in their midst."