Modern politics bows to economics, not to history. The lessons of the past are oblivion, the mistakes a daily repetition. Yet this, is not true of Jerusalem. Among the Jew, ancient Israel is today and tomorrow and forever. Among the Muslims, the Prophet who stepped into heaven from the Rock, now under its Dome, he lives everlasting. Only the Christians of the West have ignored much of their heritage in the pursuit of a higher standard of living rather than being. Their New Jerusalem lies as much in the supermart as in the heart. But for the last contenders for the Holy City on earth, few of the acts of three thousand years have been forgiven, and none forgotten.