Around the globe voices were raised condemning Israel's attack in Nablus. But, Israel has strongly defended its right to 'strike first,' in an act of 'active defense', attempting to prevent potential suicide bombers.

photo/Mike DuBose, United Methodist News Service United Methodist Bishop William Oden and his wife Marilyn in a candlelight procession in Bethlehem, where Olewine lives. Oden and other US church leaders visited the Israeli-occupied West Bank and wider Middle East last December to call for peace and express solidarity with churches in the region. He also said the Middle East needs more attention from local churches in the US.

But one has to question the thinking behind this statement. Does such action prevent future bombs or does it prime the pump on an incendiary situation?

Nablus has suffered numerous assassinations over the last 10 months of the Intifada, and three last week alone. It is a city already boiling under the pressure of a heavy siege. One reporter told me a week ago that Nablus was already at fever pitch when he visited the city for the funeral of another assassination victim. He couldn't imagine it being more explosive. Yet yesterday, just three days later, Israel again used helicopter gunships to fire into the center of the city, killing 10 more people, at least five of whom had nothing to do with Hamas.

In a situation where people can't move, work, or feed their families, one has to ask whether such actions don't ensure that another young man will strap explosives to himself and attempt to kill as many Israelis as possible. Many of the active Israeli peace and justice groups have said just that.

We are living on a powder keg. Lines are being drawn in the sand and the possibilities that large numbers of innocent people will be killed on both sides are increasing daily.

Now is the time for an international presence to get between these two peoples, to increase the sense of security for both, allowing an atmosphere to develop in which negotiations can begin again.

Palestinians have been pleading for such a force since the early days of the Intifada. We can help prime the pump for a just peace by joining the voices calling for an international presence. If we don't, we're likely to continue to see acts that prime the pump for violence and possible widespread death. As people of faith, do we really have a choice?

Rev. Sandra Olewine is United Methodist Liaison in Jerusalem.
She lives in Bethlehem.