The whole world is pressing to settle the conflict in the Middle East. One "peace plan" follows quickly after the previous one has failed. Earlier this year the Bush administration enthusiastically endorsed the Road Map plan along with Russia, the European Union, and the U.N. They attempted to side-step Yasser Arafat by embracing Abu Abbas as the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. It only took a few months for Abu Abbas to resign (we presume that Arafat would have soon had him killed). Arafat is now solidly in control again and the plan is dead, even though its sponsors have not yet admitted it.
We want to investigate what we believe the will of God is concerning Middle East peace. At first glance it almost seems a given that God's will is peace. Ultimately this is true. However, it may not be true in the short-term sense.
As we consider the conflict we find that there are disputed claims for the land. The Palestinians claim ties to the land from the earliest times. The truth is that a few families have lived in the land for many generations but this represents only a small fraction of the Arab population that now claim such close ties to the land. Arabs moved into the land as the Jewish people returned and began building a national infrastructure. Because the Jewish people were investing money in the process of reclaiming the land and building it up, jobs were available. As a result, many Arabs came to the land.
The real reason for the Palestinian claim to the land is religious and not due to the longevity of the Arab population there. This is never admitted in the Western media because this fact alone is sufficient to doom any "peace plan". The Land of Israel was one of the first areas overrun by Moslems as they began conquest outside the Arabian peninsular. It was taken about 635 AD. With the conquest, the land became the territory of Islam, dar al Islam. Once an area is considered dar al Islam it can never be relinquished to non-Moslems. Therefore, the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state in the Land of Israel is seen as the utmost evil. There can be no compromise by Moslems concerning this matter. Any compromise agreement made by Moslems will be consider temporary until they can gain sufficient strength to enforce their will.
There has always been a small Jewish presence in the Land of Israel dating back to the time of Joshua and the conquest of Canaan. However, since the end of the Second Temple era, only a small number managed to hold on in the land. In fact, Samuel Clement (Mark Twain) traveled through the land around 1870 and found the land largely unpopulated. The population only swelled to its present number as the Jewish people returned and began building up the land. This fact was documented by Joan Peters in her book From Time Immemorial. [See also The History and Meaning of 'Palestine' and 'Palestinians']
The rationale for the formation of the modern state of Israel was humanistic. After the holocaust, it was recognized that the Jewish people needed a homeland which could serve as a refuge for them. Thus a majority of nations approved the formation of the state in 1948.
So we conclude that there has been both Arab and Jewish inhabitants in the land for hundreds of years even though their numbers have been very small. If we consider the conflicting claims to the land from a purely humanistic perspective then a "fair" compromise is difficult to arrive at. This is the reason why diplomats with purely secular, humanistic outlooks find the problem so difficult.
When we look at the situation in the land of Israel from a Biblical viewpoint, we see that God has solemnly vowed to give this land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forever. Furthermore, even after the discipline of dispersion, God promised to restore a remnant to this land in the endtimes. (Jeremiah 31:10)
Furthermore, God declared that He would bring the people of Israel back into the land of Israel, not for humanitarian reasons, but to precipitate a global rebellion against His sovereign authority. (Joel 3:2)
We see this prophecy repeated in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. Endtime events were precipitated by God with the initiation of this ingathering of the Jewish people to the land. There has been a growing international response to this. It is still developing. The prophets declared that all nations would be summoned to the mountains of Israel (Judea and Samaria, i.e., the principle, disputed area) and that God would enter into judgment with them there. I call this the "Har Megiddo plan". Har Megiddo, if translated into Greek and then into English, is recognized as the word Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). This is not a Moslem thing, nor is it a Jewish thing, it is a God thing.
We maintain that "peace in the Middle East" at this stage of history is not the will of God. Indeed, we believe that God is hardening the hearts of the Palestinians to insure that they refuse any reasonable compromise offer. Note the deal that Yasser Arafat refused at Camp David in 2000. We have come to understand that "hardening the hearts" of an individual or a nation means that they act in a foolishly, aggressive way. This certainly describes Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian response to gestures of peace offered by Israel at that time.
Paul declared that a dominant characteristic of the endtimes would be deception (II Thessalonians 2:11-12). It appears that the world media will facilitate this deception. With large sums of oil capital invested in media and industry, it has become "politically correct" to be sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinian people. The public is treated to this view constantly in national and international news programs. Eventually the populace will become so enraged with Israel that they will demand that government do something about it. We expect that all the nations will respond.
Your neighbor's children will form the ranks of those marching up to Har Megiddo. Will your own children join them? Whoever boldly rises to deal with Israel at Har Megiddo will meet a very hostile God.
[ Published: 16 October 2003 ]