Conflict in the Middle East / May 2002

The World believes that an independent Palestinian state sitting side-by-side with the state of Israel is the path to peace. The United States, the chief broker for peace in the Middle East, is now supporting this idea backed by the United Nations.

Critics of this idea claim that the issues are more fundamental. They argue that you can not negotiate with terrorism. They have concluded that Arafat is a terrorist and agree with the government of Israel that the Palestinian terrorist network must be dismantled before peace negotiations can begin. Those opposed say that Arafat is the leader of the Palestinians and that we must deal with him. Who is right?

How does the world get themselves out of this mess called the Middle East?

For where envy and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work.

James 3:16 KJV

Can we agree that the conflict in the Middle East falls within this Biblical definition? I believe it does. I believe that the Middle East is filled with envy and strife. I believe the world and its leaders are very confused with what is happening and do not know what to do in either approaching or solving the problem. Before we go further, we need to get a couple of things clear. We need to use words that have clear definitions that are everyone. This is part of the confusion in the Middle East. Israel says one thing and the Palestinians think it means something else. Here is a quick list of words and definitions commonly used in this conflict. Much of the confusion in the Middle East is due to these different definitions.

Ceasefire – This word to Israel means that everyone is to stop shooting, bombing, and using military weapons. This word to Arabs and Palestinians means for Israel to withdraw and stop shooting, bombing, and using military weapons. It does not mean that the Palestinians are to stop shooting.

It is very apparent that the world is beginning to use the Arab and Palestinian definition as the United States has called for a ceasefire in the Middle East by Israel withdrawing from all Palestinians areas. Only Israel is expected to stop shooting; the Palestinians are expected to continue the violence.

Withdrawal – This word to Israel means to pull back their people and equipment to Israeli owned areas and not intrude upon Palestinian owned areas. This word to Arabs and Palestinians means for Israel to surrender themselves to the fact that the Palestinians will use their areas to train more suicide bombers, build more mortars and explosives, and stockpile more weapons and ammunition for a future conflict.

It is becoming apparent that the world is leaning toward the Arab and Palestinian definition of withdrawal as the United States expects the Palestinians to continue sending suicide bombers to Israel on a daily basis (and there is no real way for anyone to stop it).

In a recent speech at the University of Oklahoma, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi Arabia ambassador to the United States stated, "I can guarantee you 100% that a desperate and oppressed person whose dignity has been insulted and who is willing to die can not be stopped by any means." The world and the United States are beginning to believe this.

Oppression – This word to Israel means great discomfort caused by being overbearing and weighing down the people of Israel causing them worries and problems. It also means to be tyrannical against that people. The Arab and Palestinian leaders say that Israel has oppressed the Palestinian people. They say Israel has done this since 1948 when Israel became a nation. In fact, the Palestinians refer to the Statehood of Israel as the "great catastrophe." Let’s examine this oppression by Israel a bit further. Israel is a democratic state with Arab/Israeli citizens who vote, own property and businesses, and can be elected to the Knesset. Israel builds roads and provides utilities to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza work in Israeli factories and businesses and receive wages just like Israelis. Palestinians buy and shop in Israel and travel just like Israelis. At least this is the way it was until the latest uprising and violence. During the period of 1993 to 2000, Israel accepted the establishment of the Palestinian Authority to establish the Palestinian areas. However, Arafat turned down the deal brokered by Clinton and Barak for full autonomy and statehood. He chose more violence and another uprising. So, who is oppressing who?

During this same period the Palestinian Authority received hundreds of millions of dollars to help the Palestinian people to establish themselves. Did this money and resources go to the people? No. Instead, Arafat built his security forces, bought and smuggled weapons. Meanwhile, the people received nothing. To be paid anything by the Palestinian Authority, you must be part of their military (security forces). It gets worse. The Palestinian Authority is a monopoly for basic services. Arafat personally owns all of the concrete business. You can’t build anything without the services of his company. Doing business in the Palestinian areas is just like doing business in any large American city with a corrupt city hall controlled by the Mob. So, who is oppressing who?

When the Palestinian people ask about hospitals, roads and better homes, they are told to be patient, that they can have the hospitals, roads, and homes of the Jews once they are driven out. I could tell you a lot more but we don’t have enough room in this article to do justice to the subject. The corruption down from Arafat is nothing less than mind boggling. This is well known by the world, even those who donated the money.

Are you saying that the Israeli government has never been in error dealing with the Palestinian people? Are you saying that the government has never exerted its influence over roadways and construction projects? Of course not. I’m saying that Israelis have done nothing worse or more than any other democratic government does when dealing with its own citizens. In fact, there is evidence that Israel lets the Palestinians alone in their areas all together. Depending on which side you hear from, you will hear all kinds of overstated complaints. Take for example, the present situation of Arafat locked up by the Israelis in two rooms with no electricity. You have heard all the press reports about Israel’s siege of Arafat’s headquarters. The reality is that he has about 20 rooms and plenty of electricity. He turns off the lights and lights candles for the cameras. In the Palestinians cities, you have heard them called "refuge camps." Refuge camps sounds like chain link fences with tents for displaced persons. Actually, they are low rent housing (slums) in Palestinian cities. The Palestinian Authority could do something to help them live in better housing, but they wouldn’t be able to say that Israel oppresses them.

The only self-willed tyrant over the Palestinian people is Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestinian Authority for life. You can be assured that he is a dictator using his election for cover. He got 99% of the vote. Saddam Hussein only got 92%. The Palestinian Assembly, like Arafat, is essentially elected for life; there hasn’t and won’t be anymore elections for the Palestinian people. Why should there be any elections? Arafat’s thugs are in and he has the world convinced that no one else among the Palestinian people can lead them.

So, let’s be careful how we use the word oppression. It is something that only Israel does, remember?

Dignity – This word to the world means things of honor and self-respect. Dignity is to be held in high repute and is balanced with humility and proper respect. To a Palestinian, dignity is about Arab and Muslim egotism. Arabs and Palestinians never make a mistake; they are never wrong. Suggesting that they do or proving that they did is even worse than anything they did. You insulted their dignity. Insulting the dignity of a Palestinian is the reason they are justified to slit your throat. Where does humility fit into their culture? Humility is something the Israelis are to show when confronted with Palestinian dignity. Failing to show humility is therefore justification for uncontrolled rage and anger by the Palestinians. You have insulted Palestinian dignity by failing to humbly withdraw yourself or by drawing attention to a mistake made by a Palestinian.

When Israel captured the Karine A, a Palestinian ship carrying 50 tons of weapons from Iran, the United States state department tried to do everything they could to not accuse Arafat of direct involvement. They knew that proving Arafat’s direct involvement would be to insult Arafat’s dignity. They are using the Palestinian definition for dignity. The real word is ego. Arafat is not a dignified man; he is an egotist who plays on the dignity of others to justify his own hatred. The only government willing to serve him a cup of humility is Israel. The rest of the world wants to play to his dignity.

Ask yourself this question. Don’t dignified people continue to act dignified even when they are insulted? Isn’t undignified behavior consistent with undignified people? Is it really proper to treat a murder, liar, and a terrorist with dignity? Should Osama Bin Laden be treated with dignity after he is arrested? He is the leader of a world-wide movement of terror. Why do we treat Arafat with dignity? What is different about Arafat with Israel than Bin Laden with the United States? Why does Arafat get any dignity?

Negotiations – The word means that two parties come to the same table and reach agreements. The agreements are made by using fair and balanced options based upon good faith efforts of both parties. Negotiations for Arabs and Palestinians mean that they tell Israel how the bread is buttered. Israel pays for the bread and the butter. A good and fair negotiation with the Palestinians means that Israel loses and is insulted at the same time. A good negotiation for a Palestinian means that they got everything they wanted and Israel didn’t get anything that they wanted. If the Palestinians get something they wanted and Israel got what they wanted then it was not a good negotiation. Israel cheated them.

This is the reason why Arafat didn’t accept Clinton and Barak’s offer at Camp David. It looked like Israel won something in return (peace and security). Obviously, it is very difficult for Israel or anyone to negotiate in this arena.

It appears that the world and the United States is coming around to the same definition of negotiations that the Palestinians use. President Bush is demanding that Israel do what he says and withdraw their forces. Bush is also demanding that Arafat renounce violence. That sounds fair, right? Who will be really expected to comply and who will really be expected to continue doing what they want?

Israel’s position is that Arafat can not be expected to keep any agreement made. Those agreements are only ways to get Israel to do more. He is expected to lie. He is expected not to negotiate in good faith.

The absurdity of expecting Israel to come to a negotiating table with Arafat and the Palestinian Authority satisfies the definition for pure insanity. Doing exactly the same thing over and over and failing again and again is insane. The world has not gone insane; they are just using Arafat’s definition for negotiations.

Security – This word means to Israel the right to live within secure borders, to be at peace with their neighbors. Security for the Arabs and Palestinians means that Israel has no rights. This includes the right to defend itself. In the recent negotiations just before the Passover bombing and Israel’s attack on the Palestinian areas, General Zinni of the United States was close to getting a cease-fire with Arafat. Israel had already withdrawn. The sticking point was this; Arafat refused to accept the statement that Israel had the right to defend itself.

Israel wants secure borders so that it can not be attacked by one of its Arab neighbors. However, Arafat wants to be able to invite a foreign army to join the Palestinians for a future attack. Can you imagine Arafat inviting the Iraqis or Hezbollah to prestage themselves in Palestinian areas. Arafat wants a secure area to do what he wants. This is Arafat’s idea of security.

The world doesn’t fully go along with Arafat on this, but it is only the choice of the nations and armies that they dispute. The international community wants to put other countries in a buffer zone between Israel and the Palestinians. The UN already does a lot of this now. Arafat wants the UN monitors to be on existing Israeli areas. This is just another way of getting the Israelis to leave and give a little more ground. Israel doesn’t have a lot of ground to give up to begin with. Israel is only about the size of New Jersey.

Peace – This word is probably the most difficult word in the group to get the definition right. Everyone is talking about this word but few know what it means. To Israel peace means something different than the last 50 plus years. This means that children are not doomed to constant threat when they go to a restaurant or a store. This means living and life. To the Arab and Palestinian thinking, peace means Israel does not exist. This means that the Jews went into the sea and drowned themselves or they flew back to America. Make no mistake about it. In the minds of Palestinians there will be no peace until there is no Israel. Prime Minister Sharon is right when he says that Israel is fighting for their very survival.

So, why does the world believe that the road to peace in the Middle East is a state of Palestine side-by-side with the state of Israel? Don’t they understand that Arafat and the Palestinians will never accept a state of Palestine that includes a side-by-side state of Israel? No, they don’t. So what is this all about?

We are watching the fulfillment of the words of Zechariah, Joel, and Ezekiel.

The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.

Zechariah 12:1-3

Jerusalem and its fate has become the focal point of the United Nations, Europe, the United States, China, Russia and the rest of the 190 nations of this world. The prophet says that with this attention comes a siege, a siege against Jews. However, the Jews will not suffer the most. The burden of the Middle East is likened unto a heavy stone that crushes and injures those who attempt to lift it. This truth applies to the United States of America. You can be assured that this conflict will not result in success for any negotiator or peace broker. You can also be assured that the great friend of Israel, the United States, in the end will come against the Jews and Jerusalem.

"In that day," declares the Lord, "I will strike every horse with bewilderment, and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness."

Zechariah 12:4

Have you ever ridden a blind horse? Negotiators in the Middle East go back and forth, from this meeting to the next. It’s like watching a man riding a blind horse. Negotiating a peace agreement with people avowed to kill others is one thing; but, negotiating with a people who blow themselves to pieces is a special kind of madness all by itself.

Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, "A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the Lord of hosts, their God." In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem.

Zechariah 12:5-6

This prophecy says that the Lord will be Israel’s defense. You can be assured that the Israeli Defense Forces will go through their enemies like a hot knife through butter. The actual word picture is that of torching the surrounding areas to their destruction. Quite honestly, the Palestinian gunmen and bombers don’t have a chance against the God of Israel and his hosts (the IDF).

The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first in order that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be magnified above Judah. In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.

Zechariah 12:7-8

The conflict in the Middle East is really a warm-up for a much greater judgment coming. The God of Israel is really the God of the whole world. Once He has dispatched Allah and his followers, God intends to take on the gods of this world.

And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Zechariah 12:9

The prophet Joel addresses these same times and issues bringing a key feature of the present conflict – the idea of dividing the land of Israel.

For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.

Joel 3:1-2

From the beginning, land for peace was a doomed policy. It has not brought peace and security. It moved us even closer to destruction.

They have also cast lots for My people, traded a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine that they may drink. Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head.

Joel 3:3-4

Ancient Tyre and Sidon are the regions of southern Lebanon where Hezbollah fighters attack northern Israel. The regions of Philistia are the present areas of the Gaza and around Hebron. The prophet Joel has rightly described the present enemy of Israel in this conflict.

Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples, and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory, behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head. Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the Lord has spoken.

Joel 3:5-8

The Palestinians don’t know it yet, but Arafat has sold away their hopes of a homeland. Arafat and the Palestinians will soon find themselves with nothing. Even the Arabs won’t have them when this is done.

The prophet Ezekiel also brings out another aspect of this conflict, one which this article addresses specifically – Arab and Palestinian hatred of Israel’s existence.

Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, and say to it,' Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, And I will stretch out My hand against you, And I will make you a desolation and a waste. I will lay waste your cities, And you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 35:1-4

Who is Mt. Seir? The ancient descendants of Esau. Esau was Jacob’s brother who caused such fear in Jacob. When Jacob returned with his family, he had to deal with Esau. Now, in these days, the first of the two companies of Jacob, the House of Judah, is having to face off against the descendents of Esau (the Palestinians). Why is the Lord against them? The answer is given.

Because you have had everlasting enmity and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of the punishment of the end, therefore, as I live, "declares the Lord God," I will give you over to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you.

Ezekiel 35:5-6

These words are a chilling description of the present day activities in Israel and the Palestinian areas. We are at the end of the ages. Israel has suffered much through out the exile. The Palestinians have decided to give to the Jews one last time, to accomplish what the Romans, Spanish, Germans, and a host of others couldn’t do. The problem is that the Palestinians will suffer far more bloodshed that they can dish out. Since the Palestinians love to kill themselves, the Lord says that bloodshed shall pursue them.

And I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and returns. And I will fill its mountains with its slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain by the sword will fall. I will make you an everlasting desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 35:7-9

In the end, any man or people who comes against the God of Israel does not prevail. There is an ancient story told of Pharaoh, the Pharaoh who wouldn’t let Israel go free in the exodus. Pharaoh died and went to his eternal judgment in hell. However, he has a unique duty there. Since Pharaoh was the first of a long line of future dictators, tyrants and enemies of Israel, he is stationed at the gates of hell to greet every leader that follows him. Pharaoh is to stop each one and ask them upon entering hell, "Did you not learn from my example?"

Yasser Arafat will soon have this conversation with Pharaoh.

In the meantime, don’t be dismayed by the conflict in the Middle East. It is prophesied to be and it will work out to the best. It is just tough going right now. This reminds me of the conflict that must have been going through Peter’s heart when the Lord announced that He would be betrayed and have to die. Peter, of course, didn’t want that to happen. We don’t want to see the Palestinians have any success, nor do we want to see Israel forced into anything by the other nations. But, we must be patient. Yeshua asked Peter, "How else will the words of the prophets be fulfilled unless the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners?" The words of the prophets are going to be fulfilled again. It won’t be pleasant, but we know the Lord will prevail and the word of the Lord will be fulfilled.

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