Whose fault was this? Quake shakes but doesn't stir the Holy Land into action

Last week, when a trinity of earthquakes jarred the Holy Land, pundits here kept nattering about displays of divine displeasure or holy nudges into action on a peace plan. Not many secular folks concur. But the geo-faultlines run under the Dead Sea all the way to the Great Rift Valley in Africa, and scientists say the Big One is overdue in this part of the world. (We've got a lot on our tectonic plate, apparently.) After all, there's a tradition of rather fabulous special effects in the earthquake department-- parting of the sea or the retumbling of Jericho's walls, to name two Biblical accounts-- but since 1927, the earth has been pretty quiet until this cluster of geo-hiccups. Two were under the Dead Sea, as is usual, but the epicenter of one on the landmass gave local seismic scientists pause.

Izzy was editing a video on the fifth floor of a building in Ramallah, when the screen started rattling and that lurching sensation in the gut sent me hurtling to the door for a sense of protection. The editor beside me just sat there--did not notice anything, apparently, except the stricken look on my face. Well, it was a comparatively mild little tremor, registering 4.2 on the Richter scale, just like the one on Saturday morning. An after-shock was recorded earlier at 3.0. (Note that this temblor photo was shot elsewhere, and no significant quake damage occurred here after the mini-jolts.)
Most Palestinians shrugged and figured it was explosions somewhere. My Israeli friends are trying to figure out the religious symbolism, or are puzzling whether the earth beneath our feet is building up to a big quake or easing earthly tension.
Israelity bites.