Pessimism and the Middle East

YOWUSA.COM, 16-October-00
John Maynard and Harold Crockett

In view of the current conflict between Israel and Palestine, one wonders if there will ever be true peace in the Middle East. Have the people of this region ever experienced peace or have the sons and daughters of Isaac and their Ishmaelite cousins always been at odds with one another? What have the events in recent history done to alleviate or to aggravate the problem? Why has this problem now reached a crisis stage? How can this crisis be solved?

A recent article posted to by Cal Thomas, a regular host on the Fox News Network, expresses an outright pessimism on the part of the author, as well as others in the world.

The article is very accurate in context, quotes and forethought, but does not address all of the reasons, history, nor prophetic writings behind the years of conflict.

Jewish World Review Oct. 11, 2000 /12 Tishrei 5761
The piecemeal destruction of Israel by Cal Thomas

THE LATEST of many upheavals in and bordering on Israel was planned by Yassir Arafat and his friends in the Arab world. That is what

Palestinian political analyst Khalil Shikaki told the Oct. 4 Jordan Times as he observed the Palestine Liberation Organization's Fatah participation in the violence. How many more examples of intransigence are necessary before apologists in Israel and enablers in Washington understand that the enemies of Israel want nothing less than the complete destruction of the Jewish state?

This has been a piecemeal process, and not one that will lead to peace. Israel has given up land it seized for its own protection following wars started by its enemies. Still, Arabists in the State Department and leftists in Israel proceed with the fiction that peace can be achieved between peoples whose outlooks are irreconcilable.

It was a mistake to give up land without reciprocity. It was a mistake to release terrorists from Israeli prisons so they could rejoin their armed comrades. It was a mistake to allow for the creation of a Palestinian "police force," which has been turned into an army. The vandalizing of Joseph's Tomb on the eve of Yom Kippur, while the "police" did nothing is proof that the "police" won't control a mob determined to carry out Arafat's orders. And the abandonment of that tomb can only encourage Israel's enemies that the Jewish people's strong resolve may be crumbling.

The late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir saw what the current Israeli "leadership" refuses to see. In her book, "My Life," she wrote: "I have never doubted for an instant that the true aim of the Arab states has always been, and still is, the total destruction of the State of Israel or that even if we had gone back far beyond the 1967 lines to some miniature enclave, they would not still have tried to eradicate it and us."

Rioting for the benefit of American and world TV cameras has long been an Arafat ploy. He has orchestrated terrorism and unrest to force concessions out of Israeli leaders that could not be won through war. The visit of Ariel Sharon to the Western Wall was merely a convenient excuse for the rioting to begin. It had been preceded with roadside bombs that killed an Israeli soldier guarding a civilian convoy. Later a Palestinian policeman (terrorist?) killed his Israeli partner in cold blood while they were on a joint patrol. Arafat explained that the Palestinian was "unstable."

There's more violence coming. Iraq, which has not been heard from lately, has been taking a ferocious stand against Israel, unmatched by any state in the region. Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad al-Sahhaf referred to  Israel as a "midget entity, a usurper and a claw of colonialism .... Iraq does not, and will not, recognize this usurper entity." On Oct. 3, Iraqi TV broadcast remarks by Saddam Hussein: "An end must be put to Zionism. If they cannot, then Iraq alone is able to do so. Let them give us a small adjacent piece of land and let them support us from afar only. They will see how we put an end to Zionism in a short time." What piece of land might he have in mind? Some analysts believe he has his eye on Jordan.

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, Congress has appropriated $900 million in foreign aid for the PLO. The speaker of the Palestine National Council says the United States has promised $30 billion to help resettle Palestinian "refugees," meaning they'll be settled in Israel from which, as we are seeing, they will be used by Arafat to undermine the Israeli government.

There is no evidence that Israel's enemies wish to live at peace. Anti-Jewish incitement in PLO school textbooks continues. The PLO Teacher's

Guides read: "The student should learn (that) racist superiority is the heart of Zionism, Fascism and Nazism." Among the "important values" that follow is: "Wrath unto the alien thief (Israel) who obliterated the Homeland and dispersed its people."

Amnesty International says Arafat's Palestinian Authority routinely  arrests those who oppose its policies, creating an atmosphere hostile to free expression. 

New leadership is needed in Israel, as is a new policy by both Israel and the United States. The current one is an obvious failure. If war comes, Israel had better win this one, too, grabbing as much land as it can and never again letting go of it. There will be no peace between Israel and her enemies. The best she can hope for is to maintain order.

It is a known fact that many treaties and alliances have been forged over the years, some to the advantages of, and others to the determent of Israel and the Palestinians. Since 1948 the Arab World has built its hate on the fact that Israel is once again back in the Middle East. This is brought to light in the authors opening statement, but more specifically the failed talks at Camp David.

"Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, Congress has appropriated $900 million in foreign aid for the PLO. The speaker of the Palestine National Council says the United States has promised $30 billion to help resettle Palestinian "refugees,'' meaning they'll be settled in Israel from which, as we are seeing, they will be used by Arafat to undermine the Israeli government."

Why Did Arafat Walk With Nothing?

Before  delving into some of the current and historical background of this current situation in Israel, some imposing questions have yet to be answered. Why would Chairman Arafat walk away from such a lucrative prize at Camp David?

The reasoning behind this has all to do with the current situation, why it was started, and where it will lead. Also, why did Ariel Sharon visit the temple mount? Supposedly, this was what started the escalation of hostilities.

Although on shaky ground as far as the government is concerned, the Labor party has approached the Likud, in the form of a partnership, meaning either really could become the leading party in Israel today. As a result, specific points about each of the questions will have to be addressed.

• One can only speculate on the real reasons that the Chairman walked away from Camp David. What was so abominable to him that he could not touch one dollar of that money?
  It could be the  one thing that is wanted by the Jews, but adamantly opposed by the Palestinians, which as the latest round of hostilities suggests may be a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount, among other reasons.
• Why would a visit to the Temple Mount of a prominent leader in Israel spark riots that have escalated beyond normal reasoning? 
  Reports indicate that the Palestinians may fear that the Jews may want more of the Temple mount than just a Jewish Temple. To them, this would be a fornication of the land.
• Why would the joining of two heavily opposed political parties becomes a worry to the Palestinians?
  The joining of the Labor and Likud parties forms one of the strongest governments that would ever be known in Israel since its formation.

To understand the reasoning behind this the reader has to look not only at the current issues, but the historical and prophetic issues as well. The current issues, the escalation, and support that the Palestinians are currently receiving, will be explored first. These, for all practical purposes support Mr. Thomas' article and juxtaposition. Then, background will be provided on the historical and prophetic aspects of the current escalation.

Current Issues and Background

One interpretation of Mr. Thomas' article, The piecmiel destruction of Israel, suggests this escalation is happening in part because the United States is trying to remain neutral and offend no one. The loyalties of our government have been and are to oil, not to Israel. If Israel had oil, or something of equal importance to offer America then this government would be there for Israel no matter what.

Oil serves as a very powerful leverage tool. The UN is made up of countries that are mostly dependent on Middle East oil. This is being used as leverage against those who would attempt to support Israel. For the sake of political expedience, the rest of the world wrings its hands and deplores the violence, but is unable to offer assistance for fear of offending the oil producing countries and losing their oil supply. 

The UN originally took land that had been owned by Palestinians, passed down from generation to generation, away from Palestine and gave it to the Jewish refugees of WWII and the Palestinians objected, sometimes violently. Technically, to the Palestinians, this has become a blood feud, a holy war. Their land has been taken from them without reparations.  When it became apparent after WWII that the Jews would have to live somewhere other than in the places in Europe they had come to call home, the petitions that followed gave way to the United Nations' establishment of land for the Jews to occupy. However, the newly formed government of Israel never doubted that a fight for the land would be necessary to occupy the land for the Jews.

In his article, Mr. Thomas quoted the late Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir as saying, "I have never doubted for an instant that the true aim of the Arab states has always been, and still is, the total destruction of the State of Israel or that even if we had gone back far beyond the 1967 lines to some miniature enclave, they would not still have tried to eradicate it and us."

Mrs. Meir knew that the Israelis and Palestinians could never coexist truly peacefully, that the aim of Palestine will always be the total destruction of Israel.

This is not merely a racial issue, nor is it a recent development, as we are about to see.

A Historical Grievance

There is one often neglected point, which is probably the most significant of all, and is the basis for all the feuding between the two factions.

It all begins with Ishmael, the first born of Abraham, whom Abraham, upon God's insistence, had to send away. Although, the children of Ishmael never went away from God or denied him, a blood hatred for their true brothers the Hebrew children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob began to grow within their hearts. 

However, regardless of their animosities, they were reunited with Israel by the marriage of Moses to Jethro's daughter, Hebrew to Ishmaelite. This is really strange, as they are also Hebrew because of the blood lineage of Abraham, particularly the Palestinians. If you look at it closely, whose land is it? It is Israel's, or Jacob's land because his name was changed to Israel during the encampment in Egypt.

Before that the land was called Canaan and was occupied by a mixture of Hebrew descendants of Isaac, that did not go to Egypt, and Hebrew decedents of Ishmael. However, the control of the land was in the hands of Canaanites and other warring tribes of the region, who were eventually defeated by the newly formed Israel/Judea, which, under Moses and Joshua returned to reclaim the land left to them by Abraham. This uniting of blood lines between Moses and Jethro brought everyone back into the same house under Jacob/Israel.

The blood feud between the Israelites and the Ishmaelites did not come to a head until the last exile period of Daniel. The Ishmaelites lost their land, never to return until the 1800's under the British occupation, only to lose it again to Israel in 1948. By then they were known as Arabs, which was really a misnomer; they were still Palestinians now under full Muslim heratiage. Thus the fight will continue until one wipes the other out. Through all this the hatred festered under the new teachings of Mohammed and later the Emam teaching of Mohammed in the Qu-ran.

Thus enters Mr. Thomas's comments to complete the saga of the Israelites and the Ishmaelites, a terrible saga that spreads the flame of terror and tyranny through misguided prophets and leaders that outright refuse to believe prophecy as written.

What will be the outcome? It takes visionaries, such as Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce, to fully understand the biblical prophecy and scriptural documentation of those that had visions of future world events, to change the course of human thinking.

Very few people today know what the outcome will be, but those who know the signs and study the prophecies (all of them) are able to discern the times and look forward to a new age that is coming.

Can There Ever Be Peace?

Once again the world watches, with bated breath, the developments in the crisis between Israel and Palestine as the current political leaders of major nations try to bring some semblance of peace to this area that has remained battle-torn for centuries. Israel and Palestine will not be forced into peace any longer.  To achieve peace, both parties to the conflict will have to want it of their own accord.

Does the fact that the current dispute has been focused on the Temple Mount mean that this crisis is any different that those in the past?  No one knows for sure, but for those with the foresight and the understanding of history and prophecy, all will be made clear in its time.