1. An interesting aspect of ancient vs modern, that struck me while traveling in Israel, is how geography there has swapped places.

2. In ancient times, the Israelites lived in the rugged hills and their arch-rivals the Philistines along the more fertile seacoast.

3. Today, the Palestinians - with the exception of Gaza - live in the rugged hills and most Israelis live along the more fertile and urbanized coast.

4. One can easily make too much of the parallel, but it's interesting to consider.

5. This isn't an entirely a product of recent history, either. It dates from the original proposed UN partition in 1947, based on pre-state Jewish settlement.

6. It's also why, ironically, many of the places (like Hebron) with the profoundest links to Jewish Biblical heritage are in the predominately Palestinian West Bank, and therefore the focus of new Jewish settlement and heated conflict.