Have you noticed the propensity humans have for fighting each other no matter how trivial the object of contention is? 

Take any problem and you will inevitably have many ways to solve it.  It can, and usually does, boil down to two opposing sides over an issue and leading proponents for each side slug it out making the initial problem much, much bigger than it was to start off with.

You might have thought I was talking about the issues dividing religions or fights over the ownership and use of fossil fuels.  These are important and should be cautions to the rest of us who fight over smaller, human size problems.

I am bemused by a recent controversy that involves religionists in Gaza being prohibited by Saudi Arabia from making a pilgrimage to Mecca or a hajj which Mohammad made a requirement of the faithful back around 600 C.E.  Now, for those who are not conversant with the tenets of Islam, the importance of such a pilgrimage is not understood.  If you read history you would know that Abraham paid his respects to that visitor from outer space as did many of the polytheists of that time.  The story goes like this:  In the skies of the Arabian Peninsula one day thousands of years ago, a comet appeared and left a trail of sparks and lights causing much interest.  Eventually, that comet ( a black stone probably mostly consisting of lead or iron) came down and dug a hole in the ground that smoked and aroused great interest and dread in the inhabitants of the land.  The city of Mecca grew up around this object and eventually a housing of a square-ish stone building was erected around it and it was covered with black cloth.  It became an object of veneration and a sign from heaven.  People came from all over the known world to visit and pay respects to this "other worldly" visitor.  As I said before, Abraham is recorded to having paid HIS respects to what became known as the Kaaba. 

The present contretemps over Gazans being forbidden to visit Mecca while West Bank Palestinians are welcomed there is a bit hard to understand.  But, Hamas, now the rulers of Gaza, are unwelcome by Arabs as well as the Israelis.

The Hamas rulers of Gaza enjoyed allowing their hot-heads to send rockets into Israel.  Now, instead of Israel slugging it out with these Gazans, there is dissension and Arab Saudis are slugging it out with them in another way. They prohibit visiting Mecca and seeing the Kaaba by Islamists from Gaza.  This is curious and much like the racially similar Pakistanis and Indians who fight over Kashmir and the recent spate of "terrorist" bombings and killings in Mumbai.

Slugging it out over these issues over beliefs makes one wonder if we can achieve peace in our time.  Then, too, did you notice the Christian group that is dividing into two camps over the issue of "gays"?  If not in one place the slugfests take place in another.