ISRAEL IS REPLAYING AN OLD STORY
Israel is replaying an old, old, story - Hal Lindsey - www.hallindsey.com
It is an old, old story – almost as old as the Bible itself. Jews emigrate to what they believe is a permanent homeland. They settle in, build houses, plant crops and build families and communities. As usual, they find themselves reviled as hated interlopers, and, after a generation or so, they are expelled, and relocated, until the next whim of fate uproots their lives again.
That story is being replayed for the umpteenth time, only this time, the Jews are being expelled to relocation camps by other Jews. As Israeli settlers – some of whom had spent a lifetime building their settlements – were carried away kicking and screaming by Israeli troops, jeering groups of Arab bystanders mocked them and Hamas terrorists fired mortars at Israeli installations.
An Israeli woman at a roadblock in southern Israel set herself on fire to protest the evacuations. Five years of unrelenting terror – coupled with political betrayal and absentee alliances – has forced an Israeli surrender to terror. It doesn't matter what anybody else calls it.
Hamas calls it "surrender." Islamic Jihad calls it "victory." The Palestinian Authority calls it the "first victory in the ongoing struggle for Jerusalem." Whether the West wants to see it or not, to the Islamic world it is proof positive that terrorism works.
The Gaza withdrawal had barely begun when media headlines blared, "Abbas says Israel must give up more than Gaza." The Wafa News Agency quoted Abbas on Monday:
The Israeli withdrawal that has begun today is an important and historic step that shouldn't only happen in Gaza, but also the West Bank and the rest of the land reaching to the 1949 borders.
In 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Both were used as staging areas in a war designed to annihilate Israel. Israel captured these areas in a defensive war in which they were fighting for their lives. They annexed them as a buffer zone against future attempts to annihilate them. All this was in accordance with established international law. The United States annexed California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona with less justification.
Forgetting why Israel took the land in the first place, the media announced the West Bank was "occupied territory." All historical precedence of other nations was denied to Israel.
The cry of "occupied land" was repeated so often that even the next generation of Israelis began to believe it. In 1993, Israel agreed to a "land for peace" formula with Yasser Arafat. Israel offered limited autonomy over Jericho. But the moment it did, Arafat declared himself president of the "occupied" West Bank. The old proverb of "Give them an inch and they will take a mile" perfectly applies here. Before the ink was dry on the Oslo agreement, the media was speculating about a Palestinian state. Sharon's intention in withdrawing from Gaza was two-fold – the first was to demonstrate that it has been the Palestinians who have been the obstacle to peace all along. The second was to use the Gaza withdrawal as a "line in the sand" – putting Israel in a position to refuse further land concessions, thereby permanently establishing Israel's borders.
The Quartet squashed Sharon's first objective, by insisting Israel's "unilateral" withdrawal be coordinated and negotiated with the Palestinians. In so doing, Sharon's unilateral withdrawal became, in practice, a negotiated surrender under fire.
The Bush administration ripped the foundation from under Sharon's secondary plan of refusing future land concessions, creating a de facto Israeli border that included all of Jerusalem.
Out of the blue, it seemed, Bush announced his intention to impose a peace plan based on the 1948 borders, insisting that any deviation be by mutual agreement.
In effect, Bush neutralized Israel's advantage of being in possession of the city. The 1948 borders would put East Jerusalem in Arab hands. Any deviation, according to Bush, would have to meet with Palestinian agreement.
That means that the Arabs would have to agree to give up Jerusalem. If not, it is theirs automatically. Israel is left nothing with which to bargain.
Here is what the world will not learn or believe ... and it is going to bring about its destruction. Jehovah God says that the Land of Israel belongs to Him. God warns the nations surrounding Israel about what He is going to do to them for stealing His land:
Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around – therefore thus says the Lord God: "Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave MY LAND to themselves as a possession, with whole-hearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country ..." Therefore thus says the Lord God: "I have raised my hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame."
– Ezekiel 36:4, 5, 7 NKJ
Note that God declares that Israel is His land. In this same chapter in Ezekiel, God declares that He will bring the Israelites back to the land in the days just before Messiah comes. God testifies that even though the Israelites do not deserve it, He will return them to the land because of His oaths made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Ezekiel and Zechariah warn of the global war that will come because of a dispute with the Muslim nations and the re-born state of Israel over Jerusalem and the land.
It is interesting that the current Israeli leadership is doing exactly the same thing that early generations did. The Lord warned Israel:
And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? Therefore I also said, "I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you."
– Judges 2:2-3
When God gave Israel the great victory of 1967, they failed to kick them off the Temple Mount. Moshe Dayan allowed pagan temples to remain on Israel's sacred Temple Mount. That set up the seeds of rebellion in the resident Muslim population. Then the ultimate compromise was made by Rabin and Perez at the 1993 Oslo agreement. It was at its root a recognition that Palestinian terror had worked. They agreed to give land for peace. As a result, Israel is losing the hard won land that God gave them. They are retreating to the indefensible borders of 1948-49.
Now Israel is capitulating to the very area that hundreds of years ago they failed to cast out – Gaza. Today's enemies are even named after their ancient enemies of this area – the Philistines. Palestinian is the Arab pronunciation for Philistine.
As God promised Israel long ago, this withdrawal from Gaza will be thorns in their side. And the foreign god, Allah, will be a snare to them.
As Bible prophecy declares, they will have to make a covenant with the antichrist for their protection.
And that will bring a catastrophe that only the Messiah can and will deliver them from.
__________________________________________________________________
It is an old, old story – almost as old as the Bible itself. Jews emigrate to what they believe is a permanent homeland. They settle in, build houses, plant crops and build families and communities. As usual, they find themselves reviled as hated interlopers, and, after a generation or so, they are expelled, and relocated, until the next whim of fate uproots their lives again.
That story is being replayed for the umpteenth time, only this time, the Jews are being expelled to relocation camps by other Jews. As Israeli settlers – some of whom had spent a lifetime building their settlements – were carried away kicking and screaming by Israeli troops, jeering groups of Arab bystanders mocked them and Hamas terrorists fired mortars at Israeli installations.
An Israeli woman at a roadblock in southern Israel set herself on fire to protest the evacuations. Five years of unrelenting terror – coupled with political betrayal and absentee alliances – has forced an Israeli surrender to terror. It doesn't matter what anybody else calls it.
Hamas calls it "surrender." Islamic Jihad calls it "victory." The Palestinian Authority calls it the "first victory in the ongoing struggle for Jerusalem." Whether the West wants to see it or not, to the Islamic world it is proof positive that terrorism works.
The Gaza withdrawal had barely begun when media headlines blared, "Abbas says Israel must give up more than Gaza." The Wafa News Agency quoted Abbas on Monday:
The Israeli withdrawal that has begun today is an important and historic step that shouldn't only happen in Gaza, but also the West Bank and the rest of the land reaching to the 1949 borders.
In 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Both were used as staging areas in a war designed to annihilate Israel. Israel captured these areas in a defensive war in which they were fighting for their lives. They annexed them as a buffer zone against future attempts to annihilate them. All this was in accordance with established international law. The United States annexed California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona with less justification.
Forgetting why Israel took the land in the first place, the media announced the West Bank was "occupied territory." All historical precedence of other nations was denied to Israel.
The cry of "occupied land" was repeated so often that even the next generation of Israelis began to believe it. In 1993, Israel agreed to a "land for peace" formula with Yasser Arafat. Israel offered limited autonomy over Jericho. But the moment it did, Arafat declared himself president of the "occupied" West Bank. The old proverb of "Give them an inch and they will take a mile" perfectly applies here. Before the ink was dry on the Oslo agreement, the media was speculating about a Palestinian state. Sharon's intention in withdrawing from Gaza was two-fold – the first was to demonstrate that it has been the Palestinians who have been the obstacle to peace all along. The second was to use the Gaza withdrawal as a "line in the sand" – putting Israel in a position to refuse further land concessions, thereby permanently establishing Israel's borders.
The Quartet squashed Sharon's first objective, by insisting Israel's "unilateral" withdrawal be coordinated and negotiated with the Palestinians. In so doing, Sharon's unilateral withdrawal became, in practice, a negotiated surrender under fire.
The Bush administration ripped the foundation from under Sharon's secondary plan of refusing future land concessions, creating a de facto Israeli border that included all of Jerusalem.
Out of the blue, it seemed, Bush announced his intention to impose a peace plan based on the 1948 borders, insisting that any deviation be by mutual agreement.
In effect, Bush neutralized Israel's advantage of being in possession of the city. The 1948 borders would put East Jerusalem in Arab hands. Any deviation, according to Bush, would have to meet with Palestinian agreement.
That means that the Arabs would have to agree to give up Jerusalem. If not, it is theirs automatically. Israel is left nothing with which to bargain.
Here is what the world will not learn or believe ... and it is going to bring about its destruction. Jehovah God says that the Land of Israel belongs to Him. God warns the nations surrounding Israel about what He is going to do to them for stealing His land:
Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around – therefore thus says the Lord God: "Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave MY LAND to themselves as a possession, with whole-hearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country ..." Therefore thus says the Lord God: "I have raised my hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame."
– Ezekiel 36:4, 5, 7 NKJ
Note that God declares that Israel is His land. In this same chapter in Ezekiel, God declares that He will bring the Israelites back to the land in the days just before Messiah comes. God testifies that even though the Israelites do not deserve it, He will return them to the land because of His oaths made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Ezekiel and Zechariah warn of the global war that will come because of a dispute with the Muslim nations and the re-born state of Israel over Jerusalem and the land.
It is interesting that the current Israeli leadership is doing exactly the same thing that early generations did. The Lord warned Israel:
And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? Therefore I also said, "I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you."
– Judges 2:2-3
When God gave Israel the great victory of 1967, they failed to kick them off the Temple Mount. Moshe Dayan allowed pagan temples to remain on Israel's sacred Temple Mount. That set up the seeds of rebellion in the resident Muslim population. Then the ultimate compromise was made by Rabin and Perez at the 1993 Oslo agreement. It was at its root a recognition that Palestinian terror had worked. They agreed to give land for peace. As a result, Israel is losing the hard won land that God gave them. They are retreating to the indefensible borders of 1948-49.
Now Israel is capitulating to the very area that hundreds of years ago they failed to cast out – Gaza. Today's enemies are even named after their ancient enemies of this area – the Philistines. Palestinian is the Arab pronunciation for Philistine.
As God promised Israel long ago, this withdrawal from Gaza will be thorns in their side. And the foreign god, Allah, will be a snare to them.
As Bible prophecy declares, they will have to make a covenant with the antichrist for their protection.
And that will bring a catastrophe that only the Messiah can and will deliver them from.
__________________________________________________________________
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