From rockets and rhetoric to revisionist history

David Longworth on the ultimate goal of Iran’s militant posturing.

On Ari Fuld’s loss and Palestinian incitement to kill.

Last Sunday, 16 September, a 17-year old Palestinian high-school student stabbed to death a 45-year old father of four who was shopping for groceries at Gush Etzion, south of Bethlehem.

The father was Ari Fuld, an American Jew who had immigrated to Israel in 1994 and held dual nationality, living in the nearby settlement of Efrat.

In spite of his fatal wound, he prevented his assailant from then attacking the female shop assistant, saving her life by shooting and wounding the youth.

The young attacker, Khalil Jabarin, is from the village of Yatta, some five miles south of Hebron and is receiving treatment in Israel’s Hadassah hospital in Ein Kerem. His father had informed Palestinian authorities that he was missing following an argument about skipping school, whilst his mother had notified Israeli authorities of her fears that he was intent on making an attack somewhere.¹

The Fulds and the Jabarins. Just two of many devastated families in the ‘Land of Promise’.

Incitement with Money and Lies

Such attacks are encouraged by the long-term policy of the ‘cash-strapped’ Palestinian Authority of rewarding families of injured or killed perpetrators of violence (otherwise known as ‘martyrs’) with substantial sums. In this case, the Jabarin family is eligible for some £2,500.²

But the situation is also made far worse by incitement to violence from Palestinian leaders and media, wielding claims about Palestinian ‘heritage’ and Israeli ‘occupation’ that are blatant lies. Let’s consider this in more depth.

Such attacks are encouraged not only by the ‘pay-to-slay’ policy of the PA – but also by inciteful lies from Palestinian leaders and media.

‘Al-Aqsa Intifada’

Shortly after Sunday’s attack, Palestinian media claimed that it had been carried out in defence of Al-Aqsa. According to the news agency Donia al-Watan, Ari Fuld’s murder “is a response to warnings regarding the danger of what the occupation is currently doing, and what it intends to do at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”³ What, you may ask, was the connection with Al-Aqsa?

To understand this, we need some background. The so-called ‘Al-Aqsa Intifada’ began in 2015. Between 1 October and 31 December of that year there were 88 stabbings, 32 shootings and 14 car-ramming attacks. Allegedly ‘spontaneous’, it was accompanied by vicious incitement. In early October a Palestinian Member of the Knesset, Haneen Zoabi, had written in the Hamas-affiliated newspaper al-Resalah,

Hundreds of thousands of worshippers should go up to al-Aqsa in order to face down an Israeli plot for the blood of East Jerusalem residents. Today there are actions only by individuals, and what is needed is popular support. If only individual attacks continue without popular support, they will sputter out within a few days. Therefore the outpouring of thousands of our people will make these events a real intifada.⁴

On 9 October, in a sermon at Friday prayers in Rafah (Gaza) which was streamed online, imam Sheikh Muhammad Sallah called on Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to “attack in threes and fours…cut them into body parts…stab the myths about the Temple in their hearts!”⁵

Around the same time, a slew of posts appeared on social media praising attacks and providing advice for how to make them effective. One Gazan, using the hashtag #Stab, posted an anatomical chart on Facebook showing which parts of the body to aim for. Using the hashtag #SlaughteringtheJews, another user posted a message addressed to "our brethren in the West Bank and all of Palestine" who wish to kill "pigs" (an Islamic epithet for Jews) in the quickest possible manner, including graphic advice.⁶

The official PA daily al-Hayat al-Jadida has acknowledged that in the first year alone of that intifada “250 [Palestinian] civilians died as Shahids [martyrs], 161 of them while carrying out stabbing operations against the occupation's soldiers and its settlers” (my emphasis).⁷

The allegedly ‘spontaneous’ Al-Aqsa Intifada has been accompanied by vicious incitement since it began in 2015.

False Claims of Excavation

This year, although the casualty rate is much lower, the Islamic rhetoric has been ramping up again.

In July a member of the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem said on the Palestinian Authority’s official TV channel, "The blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque has no foundations now...Al-Aqsa is now empty of the rocks and that which supports it, due to the Israeli machine that is excavating under it, as rats burrow under the ground only for evil and destruction."⁸

This is pure fabrication – the only excavators of the Temple Mount since 1967 have been Muslims! Yet, a few days later, this was broadcast on PA TV:

The Fatah Movement emphasized that Israel has prepared a plan - and began carrying it out a while ago - to destroy the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque through the ongoing excavations underneath the mosque…[and] that the Al-Aqsa Mosque – above ground, under it, and around it - is a completely Islamic site to which the Jews have no right.⁹

Muslim worshippers during Ramadan, earlier this year. See Photo Credits.The provocative nature of these and many more such statements is recognised by Samir Awad, a political scientist at Bir Zeit University north of Ramallah:

Al-Aksa is a place heavily charged with emotions, people are willing to die for it and become martyrs going to heaven. A lot of Palestinians feel they are defending al-Aksa on behalf of all Muslims. Palestinians consider al-Aksa the gem of their future state. It signifies Palestine itself.¹⁰

Denying History

Denial of the existence of a Jewish Temple is an essential part of the ‘Palestinian narrative’. For example, Mahmoud Abbas said in 2000:

[The Jews] demand that we forget what happened 50 years ago to the refugees – and I speak as a living, breathing refugee – while at the same time they claim that 2000 years ago they had a temple. I challenge the assertion that this is so. But even if it is so, we do not accept it, because it is not logical for someone who wants a practical peace.¹¹

Denial of the existence of a Jewish Temple is an essential part of the ‘Palestinian narrative’.

So much for ‘logic’! Speaking to a journalist at Die Welt in 2001, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri (then Grand Mufti of Jerusalem), said,

There is not the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish Temple on this place in the past. In the whole city, there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history…¹²

To make such statements is not only a denial of Jewish history and archaeology, but of Islamic history! The Brief Guide to the Al-Haram Al-Sharif, published in 1924 by the Supreme Muslim Council of Jerusalem, freely states, “Its identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute”, even quoting 2 Samuel 24:25. Much longer ago, Islamic historians and writers such as Abu Jafar Muhammad al-Tabari (9^th Century),¹³ Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi (10^th Century)¹⁴ and Nasir-I Khusraw (11^th Century)¹⁵ all acknowledged the same.

Western Perspective Change

In the West, there is still no official recognition of the ongoing anti-historical brainwashing and anti-Semitic incitement in the disputed territories, especially of young Palestinians, deceiving them into committing atrocities against ordinary Jewish people such as Ari Fuld.

Whether or not Jabarin was acting out of genuine concern for Al-Aqsa, as Palestinian media claim, the claim itself should not go unnoticed as yet another instance of incitement.

When 28-year-old American Taylor Force was stabbed to death in Tel Aviv in 2016, also as part of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, the issue of ‘martyrdom’ payments gained widespread media and political exposure in the US, with direct consequences for US-Palestinian diplomatic relations and for PA funding.

In this extraordinary window in international politics, is it too much to pray that blind eyes in Western politics and Church life would also be opened regarding the vicious incitement to violence coming from Palestinian leaders and media? At root it is all part of an intense spiritual battle against God, his covenant People and Land, but if ever there was a time when a change of perspective in the West was possible, it is now.

In the West Bank, the best hope for Palestinian youths is that Almighty God would grant them access to the truth before they reach for a knife. Surely our prayers for “the peace of Jerusalem” should be oriented in these ways.

Postscript: As the latest example of the perversion of truth in Palestinian youth, readers are advised to read about Ahed Tamimi's media tour and compare it with an interview broadcast on Russian TV, translated by Palestinian Media Watch here.

Also recommended:

• This 2-minute video from Boomerang on Palestinian indoctrination of children.
• Melanie Phillips’ recent article for the Jewish News Syndicate about the Western media’s excusal of Ari’s murder and general complicity in Palestinian violence.

References

1 Terrorist’s parents say they alerted PA, Israel before deadly stabbing of Fuld. Times of Israel, 16 September 2018.

2 PA hasn’t yet paid family of terrorist who killed Fuld, but they’ll be eligible. Times of Israel, 19 September 2018.

3 Translation by Palestinian Media Watch.

4 Eldar, S. Bibi blames everyone but himself for recent violence. Al-Monitor, 12 October 2015.

5 Gaza cleric calls on Palestinians to stab Jews, ‘cut them into body parts’. Times of Israel, 12 October 2015.

6 Social Media As A Platform For Palestinian Incitement – Part II: Video Tutorials, Tips For Achieving More 'Effective' Attacks. MEMRI Special Dispatch No.6186, 14 October 2015.

7 Marcus, I and Zilberdik, NJ. Official PA daily admits 161 Palestinians did carry out stabbing attacks during Palestinian terror wave 2015-2016. PMW Bulletin, 6 February 2018.

8 See note 3.

9 Ibid.

10 Lynfield, B. Is the ‘stabbing intifada’ back? Jerusalem Post, 23 July 2018.

11 In Kul Al-Arab on 2 August. Hollander, R. The Battle Over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. CAMERA, 26 March 2010.

12 Ibid.

13 Friedmann, Y, 1992. The History of al-Tabari: Volume XII, The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine. NY: State University of New York Press, p195.

14 Jerusalem mufti: Temple Mount never housed Jewish Temple. Times of Israel, 25 October 2015.

15 Nasir i-Khusrau, Diary of a Journey Through Syria and Palestine. Translated and prefaced by Guy Le Strange. London: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1893.

Our second excerpt from Sandra Teplinsky's ‘Why Still Care About Israel?’

Palestinian Injustice

A sad reality is that the War of Independence was not fought without collateral damage to both Palestinian and Jewish civilians. For the sake of perspective, no war can be fought without collateral damage - and in this instance, there would not have been a war if the Arabs had not insisted on starting one. Nevertheless, some Arab families and villages were wrongly expelled or inexcusably overrun by Jewish soldiers.^q In at least one such raid at Deir Yassin, genuinely innocent victims were massacred.³¹ Upon learning of the sordid event, Israel denounced it and sought to compensate the victims.^r

The Palestinian narrative claims that since 1948, Israel has stolen or destroyed over four hundred Arab villages. This figure, based on a recently created map of dubious veracity, cannot be objectively verified. Israeli historians point out that many Arab families who were forced to leave their homes did not actually own the lands or homes they left. Some were long-term renters - for generations - of lands sold legally, but without their knowledge, to the Jews.^s

Moreover - and without diminishing the loss some Arabs have suffered - a large Palestinian state (Jordan) existed just across the border. Those who might be displaced were expected to seek refuge there, just as 800,000 Jewish refugees were forced to leave their homes and wealth behind and relocate to Israel.^t (More on this momentarily.)

No war can be fought without collateral damage - and in 1948, there would not have been a war if the Arabs had not insisted on starting one.

Lacking objective documentation of their plight, Palestinians have amassed global sympathies through a narrative that inverts history.^u Many share tragic personal tales - that prove either unverifiable or outrageously embellished.^v Their stories tend either to romanticize Arab tribal-village life or misrepresent it as a bustling society.^w Sadly, some of these accounts are presented by Christians as honest-to-God facts. Their pitiable tales tug at the heartstrings of any hearer. It’s their personal story, we reason. How can it not be true - and how can we not be deeply moved? Emotions are stirred, then inflamed - against Israel. Gradually, hearts are hardened against the Jewish people and what God is doing with them today.

Jesus loves and died for the Palestinian people: He does not want us to disparage them. We must compassionately acknowledge their suffering and seek a right response to it. But even genuine suffering must be viewed in context to rightly ascertain truth and transform realities justly.

Palestinian - and Jewish - Refugees

Palestinians were not the only refugees to result from the War of Independence. According to official UN figures, over 800,000 Jewish refugees were forced to flee homes and lands in North Africa and the Middle East where they had lived for generations.³² Unlike some Palestinians, they were in no sense “voluntary refugees”. Jews were expelled, stripped of citizenship or both in retaliation for Israel’s declaration of statehood. Arab nations have persistently refused to compensate these refugees for their confiscated properties, valued today at billions of dollars.³³

Meanwhile, during the War of Independence, unincorporated areas proposed by the Partition Plan for a second Palestinian Arab state were illegally annexed and occupied - not by Israel but by Jordan and Egypt. Jordan seized Judea and Samaria, including East Jerusalem, while Egypt staked claim to Gaza.

Now, the Arabs’ publicly stated goal for the war had been to liberate Palestine. But neither Jordan nor Egypt ever gave the territories they annexed back to the Palestinians to liberate them. Instead, the latter were compelled - by their own brethren - to stay put indefinitely in refugee camp limbo.^x Why? you may ask. They would not talk about it; let me explain.

Lacking objective documentation of their plight, Palestinians have amassed global sympathies through a narrative that inverts history.

Israel began offering, as early as 1949, to negotiate for the refugees’ return - and full repatriation - back into the Jewish state. But no Arab leader was willing to negotiate with the Jews. Transacting with Israel, they said, would involve an implicit recognition of her existence. This they had vowed never to do.³⁴ Further, by refusing either to negotiate for the refugees’ return or to absorb them themselves, they could continue the war against Israel in the political realm.^y This they had vowed never to cease doing.

Children in Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza. See Photo Credits.In 1949 the UN established a relief fund (United Nations Relief and Works Agency or UNRWA) to provide for the refugees’ basic needs. Soon thereafter, UNRWA acceded to Arab demands to grant refugee status - for the first time in history - not only to those who fled but to their descendants, indefinitely. This redefinition of “refugee” guaranteed the Palestinian population would dramatically increase over time.³⁵ By 2013, of an estimated Palestinian population of five million, only 30,000 - or approximately half of 1 percent - actually ever left a home in Israel.³⁶

Meanwhile, many billions of dollars have been given to Palestinians by Israel and other nations to provide for their “basic needs”.^z At this writing, UNRWA remains the largest employer in the West Bank, with thousands of Palestinians on its payroll and, according to some, padding the personal fortunes of Palestinian leaders.³⁷

Former UNRWA director Ralph Galloway concluded early on:

The Arab States do not want to solve the refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore…as a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders don’t give a damn whether the refugees live or die.³⁸

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu similarly noted:

The consistent refusal of Arab leaders to solve this problem is particularly tragic because it would have been so easy to do…That the fifty million Arabs In 1948 could not absorb 650,000 Arab refugees - and have not finished the job even after half a century, and even after the fantastic multiplication of their oil wealth - is an indication of [how] the Arabs have manipulated the refugee issue to create reasons for world censure of Israel.³⁹

Of the situation an Arab American journalist comments:

What are the real roots of this [Palestiman-Israeli] conflict?...That Palestinians want a homeland and Muslims want control over sites they consider holy?...These two demands are nothing more than strategic deceptions. propaganda ploys. They are nothing more than phony excuses and rationalizations for the terrorism and murdering of Jews. The real goal of those making these demands is the destruction of the State of Israel.⁴⁰

Israel began offering, as early as 1949, to negotiate for the refugees’ return - and full repatriation - back into the Jewish state. But no Arab leader was willing to negotiate.

Palestinian Statehood and the Phased Plan

In 1964, Yasser Arafat assumed leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a terror group with the stated purpose to liberate all of Palestine. It was not, however, created to liberate the West Bank and Gaza; this was never the “Palestine” to which it referred. Recall that in 1964, Gaza still belonged to Egypt and the West Bank was governed by Jordan. Since 1964 the Palestinian agenda has been to liberate a Palestine that includes, by definition, every square inch of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River - that is, all of Israel.^{41 aa}

Shortly after the PLO published its goals, Israel fought for her life in the Six Day War of 1967. To the world’s surprise, she defensively acquired Gaza from Egypt and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from Jordan. Then, in 1973, Egypt and Syria launched another unprovoked attack, the Yom Kippur War. Again Israel prevailed. As a result of these mounting Arab defeats, the PLO announced its “Phased Plan” the following year. The Phased Plan has never been revoked and still represents Islamist/Arab/Palestinian strategy today.

The Phased Plan refers to the slightly revised goal of liberating Palestine not all at once, but in stages. Phase One is the establishment of an independent, combatant national authority consisting of Gaza and the West Bank. This was to a large degree accomplished by developing the PLO into the PA and by Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. Phase Two is the reconfiguration of Gaza and the West Bank into launching pads for provoking an all-out regional war, in which Israel is wiped off the map.⁴²

This is to be accomplished by military operations, lawfare diplomacy, cyberattack or any combination thereof.

On the Occupation

When Israel pushed back her attackers in the Six Day War and gained Gaza and the West Bank, she acquired land that had been originally allotted to her in 1920. By 1967, however, the areas were inhabited by over a million Jew-hating Palestinians and angry insurgents.⁴³ Israel had no desire to “rule over” them.⁴⁴

The Six Day War ended with UN Security Council Resolution 242, a truce that purposefully did not define borders. Resolution 242 authorized Israel to remain in possession of newly acquired territories until peace was established and final borders secured. It was meticulously and explicitly worded so that Israel would not be forced to withdraw from all the newly acquired territories, back to the boundary lines from which she had just been attacked.⁴⁵

When Israel pushed back her attackers in the Six Day War and gained Gaza and the West Bank, she acquired land that had been originally allotted to her in 1920.

Those boundaries, the 1949 armistice lines ending the War of Independence, were never meant to be permanent. Nor were they intended to substitute for negotiations to determine final borders. In less than twenty years, the lines had proved indefensible,^{46 bb} leaving the middle and most populous section of the country only nine miles wide. With Palestinians having shown themselves unwilling or unable to make peace, some Israeli leaders have termed the 1949 lines “Auschwitz Borders”, referring to a notorious Nazi death camp. Nevertheless, by 2011 the international community would euphemistically call them “pre-1967 borders” and urge Israel to retreat to them - with no enforceable guarantee of peace in return.

After the Six Day War, Egypt and Jordan eventually signed peace treaties with Israel. These nations refused, however, to take back either Gaza or the West Bank. Reclaiming these territories would have betrayed the pan-Arab plan, notoriously reaffirmed after the war,⁴⁷ to leave in place a local population to help destroy Israel. As a result, Gaza and the West Bank remained in a state of perpetual war with Israel, ruled by the increasingly militant PLO. That being the case, Israel was authorized by international law to administratively govern the territories, with quasi-military powers of enforcement, until peace could be achieved. The administration of law and order in a hostile, enemy population in such circumstances is called an occupation.

Some Israelis say, however, that they have not occupied any of these areas because the land rightfully belongs to them under customary international law. Customary international law refers to the body of international law and policy that Western nations have traditionally practiced and followed.

In either case, Israel’s quasi-military administration known as the “occupation” is not illegal. The term “illegal occupation” is a pejorative mischaracterization, intended to conjure up images of oppression and abuse. Admittedly, Israel has not always acted fairly or justly during the difficult course of governing people dedicated to her demise. But to brand her lawful jurisdiction “illegal” or “oppressive” obscures the reality that if Palestinians sincerely accepted Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, the war and the occupation would be history. Allow me to explain.

Peace Negotiations

In 1993, the PLO morphed into the Palestinian Authority under an agreement called the Oslo Accords. At that time Palestinians gained the right to negotiate peace with Israel for themselves.^cc Sadly, rather than pursue a peaceful coexistence alongside Israel, history records how they proliferated terror instead.

Nevertheless, in 2000, Israel offered the Palestinians full sovereignty over 95 percent of the disputed territories, including East Jerusalem, with secured geographic contiguity. There was virtually nothing left for the Jews to give away. But the Palestinians said no. Offering no counterproposal to the offer, they literally walked out on negotiations⁴⁸ and immediately launched a violent intifada (“uprising”) of deadly terror lasting several years.^dd US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, who was present, said the Palestinians’ main objection was the insertion of one critical clause in the agreement: “This is the end of the conflict."^{49 ee} The Palestinians could not end the conflict with anything less than ending Israel.^ff

In 1993, the Palestinians gained the right to negotiate peace with Israel for themselves – but rather than pursue this, they proliferated terror instead.

Yasser Arafat, who signed the Oslo Accords and walked out on the offer of a sovereign state, said (in Arabic): “I do not consider the [Oslo] agreement any more than the agreement which was signed by our prophet Muhammad and the Qurayish.”⁵⁰ Arafat referred to an agreement that established the right, called hudna, for Muslims to fake peace when they are weak so they can wait for better timing to fight when they are strong.^gg Thus an Arab saying goes like this: “When your enemy is strong, kiss his hand and pray that it will be broken one day.”⁵¹

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres signs the Oslo Accords outside the White House, alongside PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. See Photo Credits.Faisal Husseini, a moderate Palestinian leader, compared the whole peace process to a proverbial “Trojan horse”.⁵² From the Arab perspective, it had been designed to fool Israel into letting the Palestinians arm themselves in order to destroy it. Said Husseini, “If you are asking me as a pan-Arab nationalist what are the Palestinian borders according to the higher strategy, I will immediately reply, from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.”⁵³

Perhaps that would explain why, in 2008, when Israel offered Palestinians 93 percent of the territory they desired - including 98 percent of the West Bank - they again said no.⁵⁴ And why, in 2009, PA leaders said they would resume negotiations on the pre-condition that Israel stop all settlement construction - but still refused to talk when Israel complied with their demand. After that, with one perceived betrayal following another, Israelis were not so willing to believe Palestinians were sincere about peace.^hh

In 2011, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu tried to restart peace talks and pleaded at the UN with PA President Abbas to meet face-to-face, without preconditions. Abbas refused, demanding that Israel first agree to an expanded list of preconditions.ⁱⁱ Under the Oslo Accords and other agreements, however, these preconditions were in fact supposed to be the subject of the negotiations. By agreeing to all the preconditions first, there would be very little left to negotiate. So Netanyahu replied with one precondition of his own. He demanded that Palestinians recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. If the PA would agree to the one precondition, Israel would agree to their whole list of them. But the Palestinians refused.^jj

In 2012, Palestinians sidestepped negotiations, and thus breached the Oslo Accords, by seeking to forge a path for statehood in the UN. At the same time, they launched a war from Gaza and a terror wave in the West Bank. In 2013, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon commented on the situation:

This is our history: Every time a proposal was raised to partition the land, the other side started a war. Every time we expressed willingness to give up territory, terror rose to new heights.⁵⁵

In 2012, Palestinians sidestepped negotiations, breaching the Oslo Accords, by seeking to forge a path for statehood in the UN.

Palestinians often say they resort to terror because Israeli proposals do not offer them a universal “right of return”. Israelis reply this is because Palestinians are unwilling to limit the “right” to refugees who personally left Israel; they insist on extending it to every Palestinian in Gaza, the West Bank or anywhere else in the world. Therefore, when Israel has expressed willingness to give them land, Palestinians have sometimes agreed to recognize a country named Israel - but never as a Jewish state.^kk The difference is critical. If Palestinians acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, they relinquish a strategy for turning it into a Palestinian/Islamist one by flooding it with millions of Arabs “returning” there.^ll

The right of return has remained, at this writing, uncompromisable - even though “homeland” is only a few miles away, and even though Palestinians would finally be getting a second sovereign state. From Israel’s perspective, granting several million Muslims, many of whom are murderously militant, permission to immigrate and repopulate the country is tantamount to committing national suicide.

Israeli Settlements

In 2012, the PA began claiming that Israeli settlements were the main reason for the failure of the peace process. In fact, settlements represent only 1.6 percent of the disputed territories,⁵⁶ and 70 percent of settlers live in suburbs adjacent to major Israeli cities, not deep inside the West Bank.⁵⁷ Settlements do not disrupt Palestinian geographic contiguity. Despite public opinion to the contrary, settlements officially authorized by the Israeli government are not illegal under standards of customary international law.^mm To be sure, settlements have been built on lands whose ownership is disputed. But in this dispute, Israel actually possesses the best claim to lawful - if not politically feasible or practical - ownership.ⁿⁿ

Recall that when Israel acquired the West Bank, no state or political entity held legal title to it. The last rightful owner of the land had been Israel, and historically, a Jewish presence has been maintained in Judea and Samaria for thousands of years. After World War I, Britain obtained the land and, through international agreements, returned recognized legal title to the Jews. When the UN offered the land to Palestinian Arabs in 1947, it wrongfully tried to take that title away. But the Palestinians rejected the offer, thereby rendering it null and void.

Years later, Jordan illegally annexed the West Bank, but Israel defensively - and therefore, legally - acquired it from Jordan in the Six Day War. Under international law, the land has been technically “disputed” since 1967.^oo In the future, international bodies may decide to rule on the legality of the territories and settlements built on them. Given the nations’ collective stance toward Israel, it would likely take an act of God for a ruling in her favor to result. Which of course we cannot rule out.

In this dispute, Israel actually possesses the best claim to lawful - if not politically feasible or practical – ownership of the ‘disputed’ territories.

Meanwhile, Israel’s settlement policies are not necessarily perfect. Growing numbers of extremist settlers (and Palestinians) have turned violent, and the violence must be stopped. Some Israelis have tried to stake claim to biblical lands by erecting self-declared, unauthorized outposts. Usually these are dismantled by Israel within a short time. Jewish settlement construction has resulted in genuine hardship for some Bedouin and other Arabs, not always handled properly by Israeli courts.^pp But these proportionately few unfair cases do not make all the settlements illegal. Nor do they provide a reason to suspend peace negotiations, if the parties sincerely desire peace.

Future Palestine

Repeatedly, Israel has demonstrated her willingness and even desire to accept Palestine as a new sovereign state. But as this book goes to print, Palestinians still insist (in Arabic) their state must stretch from the “river to the sea” and encompass all of Israel.⁵⁸ Surveys consistently reveal that a solid majority of Israelis would agree to live alongside a peaceful Palestinian state. (The operative word is peaceful.) But similar surveys consistently show the majority of Palestinians say they would never accept peaceful coexistence with a Jewish state.^qq In 2011, 66 percent of West Bank Palestinians said that while they would accept a two-state solution as a “first step”, they wanted to eventually replace Israel with a single Palestinian state.⁵⁹ In 2012, 88 percent of all Palestinians preferred a strategy of terror, or another intifada, over diplomacy to achieve it.⁶⁰ In 2013, similar polls yielded similar results.⁶¹

As you can see, the root of the Palestinian plight is well hidden beneath the surface tension exposed to public view. Deep-seated realities that will not change unless faced forthrightly are disguised and distorted. I do not minimize the genuine suffering, frustration and injustice that affects some Palestinians. But, fundamentally, these conditions are not the cause of Arab and Islamist enmity toward Israel; they are the result of it. Moreover, injustices have repeatedly come about at the hands of Arab, not Israeli, leaders betraying their own people. That the world faults Israel - and threatens her survival - for a Palestinian plight that is Islamist/Arab generated, is highly unjust.

God wants transformational justice for both Israelis and Palestinians. But justice must be pursued and attained His way - according to righteousness based on truth - however His enemies try to obscure it. He wants us to “test and approve what [his] Will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2) as He restores His ancient covenant people. Toward them we must “not be arrogant, but tremble" (Romans 11:20).

About the author: Sandra Teplinsky is a Messianic Jew who lives in Jerusalem and teaches about Israel. With her husband, Sandra runs a ministry called Light of Zion. Find out more about the book 'Why Still Care About Israel?' on its website.

References

Letters q-qq can be found on this page.

31 Bard, “The Refugees”, Jewish Virtual Library, accessed April 30, 2013; Efraim Karsh, Palestine Betrayed (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), 122

32 Auguste Lindt, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, “Report of the UNREF Executive Committee, Fourth Session”, Geneva, January 29 to February 4, 1957; Dr. E. Jahn, Office of the UN High Commissioner, “United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Document No.7/2/3," Libya, July 6, 1967, as cited in Alan Baker, ed., Israel's Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and World Jewish Congress, 2011), 50.

33 “Refugees Forever? Issues in the Palestinian-lsraeli Conflict," International Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2003, special supplement; Bard, “The Refugees."

34 Terence Prittie. “Middle East Refugees,” in Michael Curtis, Joseph Neyer, Chaim Waxman, and Allen Pollack, ed., The Palestinians: People, History, Politics (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1975), 66—67.

35 Daniel Pipes, “Peculiar Proliferation of Palestinian Refugees,” Washington Times, February 20, 2012.

36 Donna Cassata, “Defining a Palestinian Refugee,” Associated Press. May 31, 2012.

37 Jonathan Shanzer. “Chronic Kleptocracy: Corruption within the Palestinian Political Establishment,” Hearing before House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congressional Testimony, July 10, 2012.

38 As cited by Prittie, “Middle East Refugees," 71, emphasis mine.

39 Netanyahu, A Durable Peace, 155.

40 Joseph Farah, speech given at Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania, July 3, 2003.

41 See for example Palestinian Media Watch, “PA Depicts a World Without Israel,” 2011; “Mashaal: We Will Never Give Up Any of Palestine,” International Jerusalem Post, December 14-20, 2011.

42 “Political Plan of the PLO Council," June 8, 1974.

43 Jewish Virtual Library, “Demography of Palestine & Israel, the West Bank & Gaza."

44 See for example Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East (New York. Ballantine Books, 2002), 306-27.

45 Jewish Virtual Library, “The Meaning of Resolution 142"; Dore Gold, The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West and the Future of the Holy City (Washington D.C.: Regnery, Inc, 2007), 172-74; Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Disputed Territories-Forgotten Facts About the West Bank and Gaza Strip.” February 1, 2003.

46 Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Israel's Critical Security Requirements for Defensible Borders (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs).

47 The Arabs' Khartoun Resolutions of 1967 solidified the notorious “Three No’s”: No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel. Jewish Virtual Library, “The Khartoun Resolutions.”

48 Benny Morris, “Camp David and After: An Exchange (Interview with Ehud Barak),” New York Review of Books 49, no. 10, June 13, 2002.

49 Ambassador Dennis Ross, in a Fox News interview, as reported by David Kupelian, “The Real Reason Arafat Rejected a Palestinian State,” Whistleblower 12, no. 3 (March 2003): 7.

50 Speech by Arafat in Johannesburg, May 10, 1994 (while Oslo was in effect), as cited in Daniel Pipes, “Lessons from the Prophet Muhammad in Diplomacy,” Middle East Quarterly, September 1999.

51 Kupelian, “The Real Reason,” 8-9; Pipes, “Lessons.”

52 “Faysal al-Husseni in His Last Interview,” MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 236, July 6, 2001.

53 lbid.

54 Reuters and Aluf Benn, “PA Rejects Olmert‘s Offer,” Haaretz, August 12, 2008.

55 Mazal Mualem, “New Defense Minister No Threat to Netanyahu’s Policies,” Al-Monitor, March 13, 2013.

56 See Michelle Whiteman, “To the Media, Building Settlements in Israel’s a Crime,” Huffington Post, December 26, 2012; and Mitchell G. Bard, “The Settlements,” Myths and Facts Online, Jewish Virtual Library, accessed April 30, 2013.

57 Bard, “The Settlements.”

58 “Jerusalem-on-the-Line,” Jerusalem News Network, Prayer Letter, April 3, 2013, quoting Palestinian Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal’s speech in Arabic at a rally in Gaza City, March 30, 2013.

59 United Press International, “Poll: Arabs Reject Two-State Solution," July 26, 2011.

60 Elhanan Miller,“88 Percent of Palestinians Believe Armed Struggle Is the Best Way," Times of Israel, December 16, 2012.

61 Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, “Palestinian Public Opinion Poll No. 47," press release, April 1, 2013.

Part 2 of 2: Dismantling the lies.

Israel is so bursting at the seams with archaeological remnants from Bible times that it is remarkable that Palestinian denials of this record are not immediately laughed out of the room.

Every year new discoveries come to light – often by accident as evidence is so abundant - all of which prove that what God’s word says is true. Here are just a few examples.

Whilst excavating in the Ophel area in 2015, just south of the Temple Mount an ancient rubbish dump was exposed, the contents of which were wet-sieved. What came to light was remarkable – 33 tiny clay document-seals, amongst them one bearing the Hebrew inscription “belonging to Hezekiah, (son of) Ahaz, king of Judah.”¹

A further exciting find was announced only a few days ago, on 1 January 2018. Beneath the Roman paving west of the Temple Mount, beside the ruins of a 7^th-Century BC house, another seal was identified, bearing the Hebrew inscription, ‘Governor of the City’ and depicting two men wearing striped robes.²

A 2,700-year-old seal bearing the mark of the governor of the city of Jerusalem has been discovered under the Western Wall plaza, at a site where a First Temple–period building has been found. https://t.co/bGS41jXoko pic.twitter.com/YkIXPBmvby

— Archaeology Magazine (@archaeologymag) January 2, 2018

There are two references to such a title, both during the reign of King Josiah, and both named – Joshua (2 Kings 23:8) and Maleah (2 Chron 34:8).

Among the finds for the Temple Mount Sifting Project, which sorted through the Muslim debris dumps referred to in Part 1 (last week), was a type of iron arrowhead complete with shaft which, according to Dr Gabriel Barkay, “was launched from catapults exclusive to the Roman army” during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.³

Every year new discoveries come to light which prove that what God’s word says is true.

Also particularly striking has been the recovery of fragments of the coloured paving of the Herodian Temple courts, painstakingly reconstructed by Dr Frankie Snyder and announced in 2016,⁴ reminding us of the ‘beautiful stones’ of the Temple drawn to the attention of Jesus (Luke 23:5; Mark 13:1).

Yet another seal was found in the same Muslim debris removed from the Temple Mount. This one, although partly broken, is inscribed in ancient Hebrew, ‘(Belonging to) [….]lyahu (son of) Immer’.⁵ The Immer family was a well-known priestly family around the 7^th-6^th Centuries BC. “Pashur son of Immer” is mentioned in Jeremiah 20:1 as “Chief Officer in the House of God” – a clear reference to the Temple. Its reverse side shows that it was used to seal sacking, possibly a bullion sack of Temple taxes.

Rare seal impression from First Temple priest #FoundbytheSiftingProject pic.twitter.com/VFEnVinweu

— Temple Mount Sifting (@TMSifting) April 3, 2017

As for other examples, there are literally thousands from which to choose, ranging from a Jewish chalk-vessel factory near Nazareth,⁶ to the ruined city of Lachish, excavated in the 1930s by the British archaeologist James Starkey. The city has extensive remains from various biblical periods, and is famous for the letters written in ancient Hebrew on pottery fragments (ostraca).

One message reads, “May YHWH cause my lord to hear, this very day, tidings of good…And may [my lord] be apprised that we are watching for the fire signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my lord has given, because we cannot see Azekah.”⁷ As well as including the ancient unpronounceable name of the LORD, the message clearly ties in with the book of Jeremiah: “‘O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee…Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a signal-fire in Beth Haccerem” (6:1) and “when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities” (34:11).

Other aspects discovered by British experts include the Lachish Reliefs, which are a set of Assyrian palace panels which narrate the story of the Assyrian victory over the kingdom of Judah during the siege of Lachish in 701 BC. Carved between 700-681 BC, as a decoration of the South-West Palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh (in modern Iraq), the reliefs are today in the British Museum, along with the ostraca and siege weapons. Sennacherib’s presence at Lachish is noted in 2 Kings 18:14.

Lachish ruins (author's collection) and the Lachish Letter 4 (see Photo Credits).There can be no question whatever of falsification of Jewish history in such cases! Archaeology speaks!⁸ It is high time to mount a widespread challenge to the kinds of rhetoric outlined last week – to educate the Church and to hold politicians and the media to account. To that end I offer the following further comments.

Understanding the Deception

Holding up Palestinian narratives to the light, one principle becomes stark – that of deception. There are those who deceive and those who are deceived.

As noted at the start of last week’s article, Palestinian deception is a complex, intricate web – but two simple, vital things can still be noted about it. The first is the spirit behind it, which is anti-Semitism. Indeed, the very definition of Palestinian nationalism and culture – the crux of what brings them together as a people – is anti-Semitism, or a hatred of Jews and a disavowal of Israel’s right to exist.

In 1977, Zuheir Mohsen, a member of the PLO Executive Council, articulated the goals of their ‘peoplehood’ strategy saying, “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.”⁹

The second thing to note about Palestinian deception is that the main framework through which it is delivered, its language and its cultural and political driving force, is that of Islam.

Here, most Westerners, including myself, are confronted with an impenetrable script - we cannot read Arabic! Establishing the truth about Islamic teaching often feels like trying to catch an eel with bare hands. However, the doctrine of taqqiya forms an important part. Raymond Ibrahim, an American Arabic linguist and political analyst, points out:

According to the authoritative Arabic text, Al-Taqiyya Fi Al-Islam, deception is of fundamental importance in Islam. Practically every Islamic sect agrees to it and practices it. We can go so far as to say that the practice of taqiyya is mainstream in Islam, and that those few sects not practicing it diverge from the mainstream...Taqiyya is very prevalent in Islamic politics, especially in the modern era. [my emphasis]

The very definition of Palestinian nationalism and culture – the crux of what brings them together as a people – is anti-Semitism.

The Qur’an’s Sura 3:28 is acknowledged as the primary source for this doctrine, regarding which Raymond Ibrahim says, “…the Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir (1301-1373) wrote: ‘Whoever at any time or place fears their [infidels'] evil, may protect himself through outward show.’ As proof of this, he quotes Muhammad's companions. Abu Darda said: ‘Let us smile to the face of some people while our hearts curse them.’ Al-Hassan said: ‘Doing taqiyya is acceptable till the day of judgment.’ [i.e. in perpetuity]”.¹⁰

For the Bible-believing Christian, it is not difficult to see that deception goes back to the very foundation of Islam. While Mohammed was in contemplation in 600 AD, allegedly the Archangel Gabriel appeared before him and instructed him to recite verses, which begin with:

In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher,

Who created man, out of a clot of congealed blood… (Qur’an, Sura 96:1-2)

If the Archangel Gabriel really appeared to Mohammed, he would only have spoken the truth. Instead, the apparition’s statement flatly contradicts the word of God (man was created in the image of God from the dust of the earth, Genesis 1:27, 2:7).

Who was the very first to contradict the word of God? Satan himself (‘Did God really say…?’ and then ‘You shall surely not die’, Gen 3:1-4)! And in 1 Corinthians 11:14 we are told that “Satan transforms himself into an angel of light” – not Gabriel then! Poor Mohammed!

Not only does the Qur’an contradict the Creation account, but it strikes at the very heart of the Gospel. According to Surah 4:157-158, speaking of the Jews, “…they said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Apostle of God’; but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not…”.

The main framework through which Palestinian deception is delivered, its language and its cultural and political driving force, is Islam.

Commenting on Sura 3, Al-Tabari (9^th Century) says that the deceit of Allah applies to the time where the Jews wanted to kill Isa the son of Mary. In order not to be killed, Allah put the appearance of Jesus' face on someone else, who was crucified instead of Jesus. This is how Allah had everybody, even Jesus, deceived.¹¹

Dealing with Deception

The ultimate source of all this is clearly Satanic, “that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Rev 12:9).

For all of us who believe in Jesus Christ, in Yeshua haMaschiach, our starting point in responding should be the recognition that, as Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:12ff, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore put on the whole armour of God…” [my emphasis].

Remember that in applying the verses which follow there has often been an overemphasis on personal, individual equipment and action, whereas battle between armies is rarely, if ever, settled by single combat.¹² We must work together.

In addition to the defensive equipment, there are the weapons of offence: “take…the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end…” [my emphases].

‘All prayer’ is a potent weapon: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…” (2 Cor 10:4-5).

So, too, is the word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, long neglected and ill-treated in many of our churches (and outside them a veritable desert!). Precious though the New Testament is, it cannot stand without the Old. Those scriptures were the only ones available to the first generation of Christians. Those were the scriptures familiar to Jesus and used by him, of which Paul said to Timothy, “from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures” and “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim 3:15-16, my emphases).

For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ, our starting point in responding to Palestinian narratives must be a recognition that we do not battle against flesh and blood.

Those are the scriptures which have been undermined and devalued in the West, including within the Church. How the people of God need to recover confidence in his word – especially if they are to recognise and counter the lies of the enemy! How we need to appreciate that, as archaeologists physically dig into the layers of the past in the Holy Land, thrilling us with insights into God’s dealings with Israel, they are confirming the truth of Scripture and prophecy!

The hour is late. There is a desperate need for teaching on these matters. Well-guided tours of Israel are an enormous help. From such a broad basis we may become better equipped to witness more effectively, speak out publicly, and hold our politicians and the media to account, “speaking the truth in love, [growing] up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ…” (Eph 4:15, my emphasis). God grant that truth prevail!

References

1 For more details, click here.

2 Schuster, R. Governor of Jerusalem's Seal Impression From First Temple Era Found Near Western Wall. Haaretz, 1 January 2018.

3 Artifacts with links to Bible unearthed. Washington Times, 2 January 2006.

4 Flooring from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Ritmeyer Archaeological Design, 12 September 2016.

5 Archaeological Evidence of the Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount. Temple Mount Sifting Project, 14 October 2016.

6 Ngo, R. Jewish Purification: Stone Vessel Workshop Discovered in Galilee. Bible History Daily, 25 August 2016.

7 For more details see ‘Lachish Letters’ on Wikipedia.

8 To explore this further, I suggest the following sites: Associates for Biblical Research, Bibleplaces (for frequent updates), Israel’s Antiquities Authority, Ritmeyer Archaeological Design.

9 As quoted from: Dorsey, J. Wij zijn alleen Palestijn om politieke reden. Trouw, 31 March 1977.

10 Ibrahim, R. Islam's doctrines of deception. Middle East Forum, October 2008.

11 Deception in Islam. Muslim Hope, December 2008.

12 Interestingly, the shield of faith mentioned by Paul is the thureos of the Roman armies, a curved door-shaped shield, which did more than provide personal protection. Its most effective use was in forming the testudo: “The first row of men, possibly excluding the men on the flanks, would hold their shields from about the height of their shins to their eyes, so as to cover the formation's front. The shields would be held in such a way that they presented a shield wall to all sides. The men in the back ranks would place their shields over their heads to protect the formation from above, balancing the shields on their helmets, overlapping them” (see here). In a sense, it was the forerunner of the tank! And it is a powerful reminder of the corporate nature of spiritual warfare!

All Scripture quotes NKJV.

David Longworth unravels a web of deceit and distortion. Part 1 of 2.

On 6 December 2017, following President Donald Trump’s official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Palestinian National Council member Hanan Ashrawi was interviewed by Matthew Amroliwala on BBC News.

Asked for her reaction to the proposed visit of US Vice-President Mike Pence, she angrily rejected his Christian viewpoint by asserting, “We are the original Christians, we are the owners of the land, we are the people who've been here for centuries. How dare they come here and give me biblical treatises and absolutist positions!” [my emphasis].¹

I sat aghast, especially as this ludicrous nonsense went completely unchallenged by the BBC. She holds a doctoral degree from the University of Beirut and is acknowledged as a leading Palestinian legislator and scholar. Yet, in the very same interview, she had previously expressed absolutist claims of her own. She had accused the Israelis of “transforming Jerusalem into a historical forgery” and asserted that “Jerusalem is a Palestinian city”.

Such Palestinian rhetoric is far from unusual and has considerable depth, involving denials or perversions of many well-established facts. One of the problems we Westerners face is that much is said or written in Arabic, inscrutable to the vast majority. Thankfully, organisations like Al-Monitor, Middle East Media Research Institute and Palestinian Media Watch provide translations. Although the rhetoric forms quite a tangled web, we can still tease out some important elements.

Denying Jewish History

As recently as 15 November 2017, Saleh Rafat, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, stated on the national TV programme Palestine This Morning: “There are deep Palestinian roots in Palestine throughout all of history. It is a Zionist invention that this is the land of the Jewish Patriarchs.”²

In an article in The American Spectator on 6 May 2016, Ziva Dahl quoted the Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, “Zionism is the invention of robbers who stole Palestine from its inhabitants…whose lies are not supported by any archaeological remnants…Israel has no right to exist…The stories of Jewish prophets are a sick invention”. In that same official PA newspaper, columnist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul remarked, “Religious, historical, and even biblical facts deny any connection between the Jews and Jerusalem” or to “historic Palestine.”³

Palestinian rhetoric about the Land has considerable depth, involving denials or perversions of many well-established facts.

Palestinian Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, is no better. On Palestinian Authority TV, on 21 March 2016, he said:

Our narrative says that we have been in this land since Abraham. I am not saying it; the Bible says it. The Bible says in these words that the Palestinians existed before Abraham, so why don’t you understand my right?...This land was never without a people, as we have been planted in its rocks and dust and hills since the beginning of civilisation and writing and the invention of the Canaanite-Palestinian alphabet more than 6000 years ago.⁴

The same speech, translated by The Times of Israel, went on as follows, “At this occasion, I don’t want to discuss history or religion, because there is no one better at falsifying history or religion than them. But if we read the Torah, it says that the Canaanites lived here before Abraham and haven’t left since that time. It hasn’t been interrupted. That’s in the Torah. If they want to fabricate, ‘to distort the words from their [proper] usages,’ as God said, I don’t want to get into religion.”⁵

To illustrate how pervasive is such rhetoric, let me quote an example from the Palestinian conservation movement. On 16 March last year, the Chairman of the Green Life Association, Faisal Zakarneh, launched the Gilboa Lily as the National Flower of Palestine. On the TV programme Palestine This Morning, he said:

This is a flower that grows in the Gilboa Mountains. At this opportunity, let me explain that Gilboa is an ancient Palestinian-Canaanite-Arabic word, and not Hebrew-Israeli. This needs to be clear. In our minds [the name Gilboa] is connected to the Gilboa Prison...but the occupier has always made us used to him using our language and stealing it and its Arabic-Canaanite-Palestinian names.⁶

Gideon’s Spring (Ein Harod), 2015. Author's collection.Actually, the name is Hebrew, meaning ‘swelling spring’. It is found eight times in the Tanach, between 1 Samuel 28:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:8, in six of which it refers to ‘Mount’ (Hebrew, har) Gilboa. The spring to which it refers is likely the most prominent along the mountain foot, Ein Harod (‘trembling spring’), which figures prominently in the account of Gideon’s preparation for battle (Jud 7:1ff) and can still be visited today.

Stealing the Jewish Basis of Christianity

Hanan Ashrawi’s outrageous claim that the ‘original Christians’ were Palestinian is far from unique.

Husam Zomlot was the PLO Representative to the UK from 2003 to 2008; he is now Ambassador-at-large for the Palestinian Authority and Co-Chair of the School of Government at Bir Zeit University, Ramallah. Here’s an extract from what he said in an interview with Judy Woodruff on PBS news (USA) on 6 December 2017:

We are a dignified nation. In fact, we are the nation that has produced all religions. We are celebrating Christmas now. Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus and Christianity. We are such an ancient nation. And surrender is nothing we know. But we know the message of Jesus. We know the message of peace. We celebrate it. We [the Palestinians] are a model in the region of — a model as a society…of diversity and tolerance.⁷ [my emphasis]

On 3 December 2010 Samih Ghanadreh from Nazareth, when interviewed on PA TV about his new book Christianity and its Connection to Islam, had this to say: “The Shahid [martyr] President, Yasser Arafat, used to say, ‘Jesus was the first Palestinian Shahid’. I heard him say that sentence many times.” The TV host responded, “He [Jesus] was Palestinian, no-one denies that”, to which Ghanadreh replied, “He was the first Palestinian Shahid. Arafat attributed this martyrdom to Palestine as well.”⁸

Hanan Ashrawi’s outrageous claim that the ‘original Christians’ were Palestinian is far from unique.

In the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on 6 May 2013, Adel Abd Al-Rahman, a Fatah official and arts event organiser, commented: "Easter...is not a holiday for Christian Palestinians only, but a holiday for Palestinian nationalism, because Jesus, may he rest in peace, is a Canaanite Palestinian. His resurrection, three days after being crucified and killed by the Jews - as reported in the New Testament - reflects the Palestinian narrative, which struggles against the descendants of modern Zionist Judaism, in its new colonialist form, that conspires with the Western capitalists who claim to belong to Christianity.”⁹

Note how the only mention of Jews is to blame them for the death of a ‘Palestinian’. The same trope was used by Omar Hilmi A-Ghoul, adviser to the former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyed, in the same paper on 6 September 2016: “…indeed as I have said in a number of relevant articles – Jesus, Issa, son of Maryam, peace be upon him, was the first Palestinian Martyr, who was crucified by the Jews, or they think they crucified him. He was born to a Palestinian mother and grew up in Palestine.”¹⁰

Denying the Jewish Temple

As long ago as 25 August 2000, Mahmoud Abbas used the Nazareth-based newspaper Kul al-Arab to declare,

Anyone who wants to forget the past cannot come and claim that the Temple is situated beneath the Haram. They demand that we forget what happened 50 years ago to the refugees – and I speak as a living, breathing refugee – while at the same time they claim that 2000 years ago they had a Temple. I challenge the assertion that this is so. But even if it is so, we do not accept it, because it is not logical for someone who wants practical peace.”¹¹

One wonders, what kind of logic is his?

This was followed on 17 January 2001 by a pronouncement by Sheikh Ikrima Sabri (Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, October 1994-July 2006) during an interview for the German daily newspaper Die Welt: “There is not the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish Temple on this place in the past. In the whole city there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history…The Jews do not even know exactly where their temple stood.” Responding to a challenge by the interviewer, he said, “It is the art of the Jews to deceive the world, but they can’t do it to us. There is not a single stone in the al-Buraq wall relating to Jewish history”¹¹ (‘al-Buraq’ is the Muslim name for the unquestionably Herodian Western Wall).

Western Wall, incomplete verse from Isaiah 66:14, attributed to the 5th Century AD. See Photo Credits.Temple denial is not restricted to political and religious figures. Here’s the opinion of a lecturer in urban planning at Bir Zeit University, a member of the Scientific Committee for the 2008 Urban Planning Conference at An-Najah University in Nablus, as expressed on PA TV on 23 June 2009 in regard to the Muslim Dome of the Rock:

There is a view that where it stands was the Holy of Holies of the fictitious Temple – and by the way, that is merely an illusion. There is no remnant of it. It's a myth. A story of no value, like the Arabian Nights, and other legends…60 years of digging, and they've found nothing at all. Not a water jug, not a coin, not any earthen vessel, no bronze weapons, no piece of metal, absolutely nothing of this myth, because it's a myth and a lie. This digging has not left a single metre [unturned], but it has achieved absolutely nothing.¹²

These archaeological allegations will be addressed in the next section, but it important to note that, contrary to several Palestinian allegations, Israel’s Antiquities Authority allows no excavation under the Temple Mount itself. However, illegal Muslim alterations within the Mount have removed large quantities of sub-surface material, destroying portions of the archaeological layers. Ironically, this has further undermined their rhetoric, as will be seen in Part 2 (next week).

Temple denial is not restricted to political and religious figures – even academics join in.

Tisha Ba’Av is an annual day of Jewish mourning, fasting and prayer, principally for the fall of the First and Second Temples. Reporting events in 2011, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida stated on 9 August:

Since Monday morning, groups of extremist Jews have been roaming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque [the Temple Mount] one after the other, under heavy police protection, on the occasion of the so-called "destruction of the Temple"...This Sunday, the occupation's police handed the shop owners in the Market of the Cotton Merchants...which leads to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, an order forcing them to close their shops on Monday afternoon, in order to facilitate the arrival of the settlers to the Market, for the sake of holding special Talmudic rituals on the occasion of the destruction of the alleged Temple.¹³

Such rhetoric has had a serious impact. James Davila, Professor of Jewish Studies and Principal of St Mary's College, University of St Andrews, has drawn attention to the increasing practice among Western journalists of writing as though the existence of the ancient Jewish temples on the Temple Mount were a disputable question, with two legitimate "competing narratives". According to Professor Davila, "reporters need to get it straight that there is no debate among specialists in specialist literature about the existence of the Iron Age II Judean Temple and the Second and Herodian Temples in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount platform. Again, narratives to the contrary are propaganda, not scholarship."¹⁴

Tragically, the propaganda has had another result. In April 2016, a resolution on Jerusalem drafted on behalf of the Palestinians by seven Muslim countries was adopted by the Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The resolution essentially erased the Temple Mount's Jewish history, referring to it only as "al-Aksa Mosque/al-Haram al Sharif and its surroundings" and to the Western Wall as the "al-Buraq Plaza". This was not only an undeserved victory for the Palestinians but also for Islam.

Perhaps the greatest oddity is that Temple denial runs counter to Islamic history. In 1924, the Supreme Moslem Council published an English-language tourist guide to the Temple Mount entitled ‘A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif’, which stated (p4): “The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings”¹⁵ [my emphasis]. It even adds the reference to 2 Samuel 24:5.

The guide was reprinted several times, but withdrawn from sale in 1954. A professional-quality replica is presently advertised on CCNow.com for £6.05 + P&P!

Denials of Biblical Archaeology

Here are two examples of Palestinian attempts to deny the archaeological record, published in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the Palestinian Authority’s national newspaper, in Ramallah. On 5 October 2015, according to the writer, Yahya Rabah, a member of the Fatah Leadership Committee in Gaza:

Netanyahu turned to the old fraud, the fraud of the Jewish myths and the historical lies, that are refuted by the book of the first Jews, the Bible, and that have been refuted by hundreds of archaeological missions over hundreds of years, that did not find remains of the myths according to which Palestine is the land of the Jews and their homeland…”¹⁶

The propaganda is misleading Western journalists and influencing global politics.

Then on 16 September, in the London-based edition of the same paper, Jihad Al-Khazen wrote, “In college I was a student of history. I focused on the modern history of the Middle East, but the material also included the study of ancient history, on the assumption that it serves as a ‘background’ for the present. I ask the students of religion to accept what I say: there are no Jewish archaeological remnants in our lands. There are no archaeological remains of kingdoms or prophets…”.¹⁷

This latter writer is no mere lightweight. According to the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (2017), he is a Lebanese columnist based in London, a board member of the Arab Thought Foundation and also a Member of the Board of Advisors of the World Bank, Middle East and North Africa. He has a BA degree in Political Science and a Masters in Arabic Literature from the American University of Beirut: he should know better!

Much more recently (5 October 2017), speaking of excavations in Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Governor of the Jerusalem District, Adnan Al-Hussein, said, "Most of the antiquities that have been found in these excavations are antiquities from the Islamic culture in its different periods - along with Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad antiquities - and Israel's claims regarding the finding of Jewish antiquities are a clear falsification of the city’s history."¹⁸

Such claims are so easy to refute that one wonders why and how they should even be contemplated, let alone expressed publicly. Next week we will turn to the archaeological record and ask why the Palestinian narrative departs so totally from reality.

References

1 Usher, B. Trumplomacy: Key takeaways from Jerusalem policy shift. BBC News, 7 December 2017.

2 Marcus, I and Zilberdik, NJ. PA: Jews have no history in "Palestine". PMW Bulletin, 14 December 2017.

3 Dahl, Z. In Their Own Words: An Invented Palestinian Nation. The American Spectator, 6 May 2016.

4 PA and Fatah personalities: Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinian Media Watch.

5 Ahren, R and Lieber, D. Israel’s leaders atypically quiet after Abbas asserts their state is invalid. Times of Israel, 15 December 2017. The phrase “to distort the words from their [proper] usages” is an expression directly quoted from the Qur’an, widely interpreted to refer to the Jews.

6 Rewriting history: Palestinian history fabricated. Palestinian Media Watch.

7 How Israelis and Palestinians see Trump’s Jerusalem move. PBS News, 6 December 2017.

8 Arafat said Jesus was a Palestinian. Palestinian author and TV host agree. Youtube/Palestinian Media Watch, 23 December 2010.

9 Rewriting history: Jesus misrepresented as “Muslim Palestinian”. Palestinian Media Watch.

10 Ibid.

11 MEMRI translation. Hollander, R. Updated: The Battle Over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. CAMERA, 24 July 2017.

12 Rewriting history: Jewish history rewritten. Palestinian Media Watch.

13 Marcus, I and Zilberdik, NJ. The PA denies Jewish history in Jerusalem: The Jewish Temple is "the alleged Temple". PMW Bulletin, 11 August 2011.

14 Davila, JR. Temple Mount Watch: The BBC is taking Jewish-Temple denial in Palestinian circles rather more seriously than it deserves. Paleojudaica.com, 2 June 2009.

15 Supreme Muslim Council, 1924. A Brief Guide to Al Haram Al Sharif Jerusalem. Jerusalem.

16 PA depicts a world without Israel. Palestinian Media Watch.

17 Ibid.

18 Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 5 October 2017. See note 2.

[All Scripture quotes NKJV]

British politicians seek ‘way of peace’, but are back in appeasing mode.

British politicians are once again demonstrating the moral confusion that has seen them pass so many laws contradicting the biblical precepts upon which our civilisation was based. The latest example is the suggestion from an influential House of Lords committee that the UK Government recognise a new state of Palestine.

In a report titled The Middle East: Time for New Realism, published on Israel’s Independence Day,¹ the upper house’s International Relations Committee (chaired by former Conservative cabinet minister David Howell) called for the government to “give serious consideration to now recognising Palestine as a state, as the best way to show its determined attachment to the two-state solution”.

And the relevant paragraph was prefixed by the extraordinary statement that “the balance of power in the delivery of peace lies with Israel”.²

Yet the Palestinians have repeatedly made clear their commitment – not to the two-state solution so precious to Western leaders, but to a single-state solution with Israel driven out of the region altogether. PA president Mahmoud Abbas and his rivals in Gaza, Hamas, want all of it; that is why they refuse to recognise the Jewish state!³

The Palestinians have repeatedly made clear their commitment – not to the two-state solution, but to a single-state solution with Israel driven out of the region.

Surely – judging from their oft-repeated comments over the years – it is obvious to anyone with a semblance of elementary education (Lord Howell went to Eton) that these men do not want peace, but rather a jihad (holy war) against the ‘infidel’ seed of Abraham!

The ancient ruins of a synagogue at Capernaum undermine the Palestinian narrative about land.Promises of Peace

The report does not specify where the borders of this new state should be drawn, or even who should run it – Fatah, in charge of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) in the guise of the Palestinian Authority, or Hamas, who run a chaotic Gaza; factions which are constantly at loggerheads with each other. What kind of stable society will that produce?

The report also suggests that Britain work with Iran, despite current US policy, “to ensure the stability of the Iran nuclear deal”, adding: “That would be a way of peace in a region needing stability.”

Oh really! Such potential treachery has echoes of 1938, when Neville Chamberlain returned from Germany promising “peace in our time”. Have we learnt nothing in the past 80 years; that appeasement with dictators doesn’t work, for instance? In the case of the Munich meeting, it only further encouraged Hitler in his madness and hastened the death of some 50 million people!

Palestinian Pressure

Meanwhile the British Government has rightly refused persistent requests by the Palestinians to apologise for the Balfour Declaration which, 100 years ago this November, promised to do all in its power to enable Jews to re-settle their ancient homeland.

Such requests suggest that the Jews should never have been allowed to return to the region, which is in fact exactly what the Palestinians think. But instead of giving the Palestinians short shrift while fully backing Jewish aspirations, we keep kowtowing to international demands for endless peace talks which only ever seem to produce more conflict.

The British Government has rightly refused persistent requests by the Palestinians to apologise for the Balfour Declaration.

Israel withdrew from Gaza under international pressure, for example, in one of these so-called ‘land for peace’ deals. And what was the result? A continuous volley of rocket fire into Israeli territory.

Britain’s Historic Failures

We certainly have no need to apologise for the Balfour Declaration. But we do need to apologise for repeatedly going back on our word in subsequent years, as we betrayed the Jews again and again – firstly, by giving the bulk of the land we originally promised them to the Arabs (now Jordan) and then by persecuting them in various ways during Britain’s Mandate of the territory then known as Palestine, particularly by restricting Jewish immigration (to appease the Arabs) at a time when they could have done with a bolthole from Nazi threats.

Then, shamefully, we abstained in the 1947 UN vote to recognise the new state. And it was around this time (70 years ago this summer) that, quite disgracefully, we turned away Holocaust survivors from the port of Haifa, sending some of them back to Displaced Persons’ Camps in Germany, of all places.

For such treatment we should hang our heads in sorrow and shame. Among the dozens of refugee ships turned back in this way by the Royal Navy was the Exodus, with over 4,500 on board, mostly Holocaust survivors. Boarding the ship in international waters, the British killed three and wounded many more.

We have no need to apologise for the Balfour Declaration - but we do need to apologise for repeatedly going back on our word in subsequent years.

Leading the Way of Repentance

I’m glad to report that, two years ago, such sorrow and shame was expressed on our behalf by a group of some 100 British people, including Col Richard Kemp and Rev Alex Jacob.⁴ They travelled out to Israel for an event at Haifa and Atlit (location of one of the camps) where they asked forgiveness for our action from a similar sized group of Israelis, many of whom had suffered under the Mandate.

We do need to apologise – but not for the Balfour Declaration which, to quote journalist Melanie Phillips, was “the high-water mark of British decency towards the Jewish people. But it’s been downhill all the way…ever since”.⁵

Notes

1 Also on Independence Day, UNESCO (the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) voted – by 23 votes to 22 – to adopt a resolution denying Israeli claims to Jerusalem. Britain voted against it.

2 Recognise Palestine State says Lords. Christian Voice, 2 May 2017.

3 Hamas has unambiguously stated that “there is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad”. And senior PA official Jibril Rajoub has emphasised that “all of Palestine, from the river (Jordan) to the sea (Mediterranean), it’s all occupied,” clearly implying that he does not accept Israel’s right to exist under any borders. Taken from Peace in Jerusalem by Charles Gardner, olivepresspublisher.com, pp143-149.

Reports that Hamas intends to remove the call for Israel’s destruction from a new policy document have sceptics suggesting it is merely a ploy to improve relations with Egypt and the Gulf states.

4 Richard Kemp is a retired British Army officer, best-selling author and fervent supporter of Israel. Alex Jacob is CEO of the Church’s Ministry among the Jewish people (CMJ).

5 Phillips, M. As I see it: The British Foreign Office remains true to type. Jerusalem Post, 27 April 2017.

A call to prayer.

In two days' time, on Sunday 15 January, representatives from 70 nations will gather in Paris for a conference aimed at resurrecting the Israel/Palestine peace process.

Last week we commented on the passing of anti-Israel UNSC Resolution 2334 and John Kerry's speech setting out parameters for a 'two-state solution' (both December 2016). The next stage in Obama's swansong would appear to be a last-minute attempt to force through some kind of international agreement along these lines, using this Paris summit.

We do not yet know the form this agreement might take - whether further pressure on Israel to declare their West Bank settlements illegal, or even a global 'roadmap' for establishing a Palestinian state.¹ Its outcome may quickly be overturned when President-Elect Trump assumes office next Friday (20 January) – nevertheless, its clear follow-on from Resolution 2334 and its rushed placement just before Trump's inauguration are causing concern amongst Israelis and friends of Israel.

The Nations Gather

70 nations will be present at the summit (though some news outlets have reported that the eventual number might be 72 or 77), which has been instigated by the French and will be chaired by French President Francois Hollande.

This is prompting some biblical speculation. One Rabbinic commentator has noted that in Torah terms, '70 nations' signifies all nations – prompting connections to be made to Bible prophecies about all the nations of the world gathering against Israel during the end times.²

70 Nations Deciding the Fate of One

What is certain is that this is no gathering for the sake of peace – however it might be billed. We do not see similar conferences happening to solve the Syrian civil war, or to combat the spread of ISIS, for instance. Israel is being singled out in yet another international attempt to carve up her God-given land and further undermine support for her very existence – as Charles Gardner eloquently expounds in his article this week .

Though Israeli PM Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas have been invited to attend the conference's conclusion, Netanyahu has refused this invitation on principle, stating: "This conference is a fraud, a Palestinian scam under French auspices, whose goal is to lead to the adoption of additional anti-Israeli positions".³ Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has called the summit "a modern-day Dreyfus trial".⁴

70 nations will be present at the summit, prompting some biblical speculation.

The present American embassy in Israel, Tel Aviv. See Photo Credits.American Betrayal

Earlier this week, Washington confirmed that John Kerry will be in attendance, as part of his last foreign trip as Secretary of State.⁵ Relations between Israel and the US have been at an all-time low since UNSC Resolution 2334 was passed last month. Obama's clear involvement in this surfaced soon after, in what many are calling a deep betrayal of the long-standing friendship between the US and Israel.

These diplomatic tensions are being worsened by the current outcry against Donald Trump both within and outside of the USA, as he has so far refused to rescind his promise to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Indeed, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday, the day before the Paris conference, as part of a campaign to stop Trump's 'explosive' plan.⁶

Israel's Last Chance?

All this is coming at a particularly vulnerable time for Israelis, who are still recovering from the terror attack last week in Jerusalem, when a lorry was driven deliberately into a group of IDF soldiers.

Israeli officials have predicted that the chain of international events currently unfolding will undermine Netanyahu's leadership and incite further Palestinian violence, whilst removing all hope of a 'two-state solution'.

As if to confirm this, a top adviser to the Palestinian President has told The Jerusalem Post that the Paris conference is Israel's 'last chance' to accept such a 'solution'.⁷ In a veiled threat, he implied that if Israel does not bow to the pressure being loaded upon them by the world, they will be solely responsible for the breakdown of the peace process and any violence that might ensue.

This will be no gathering for the sake of peace - no matter how it might be billed.

Unfolding Rapidly

Events are moving quickly. The week ahead looks set to be momentous – with the Sunday summit feeding into a further convening of the UN on Israel/Palestine matters on Tuesday 17 January.

The World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, where global leaders meet annually to discuss the world's future in both open and closed meetings, also begins on Tuesday, whilst Trump's inauguration is set for Friday 20 January.

There is certainly no time like the present for Christians to turn to the word of God for guidance, hope and encouragement in prayer! But what are we to expect – and how are we to pray?

Watch and Pray – But How?

We know that in general terms, those who seek to harm Israel do so at their peril – for they risk bringing Divine retribution upon themselves. This is an eternal principle set out in Scripture (e.g. Gen 12:3), the grim reality of which has been confirmed time and again through history.

The Bible is also very clear that at the end of days there will be a special, global revolt against Israel (e.g. Zech 12-14, Rev 16, Jer 25), with many nations assembling together to attack Jerusalem. This will be part of the Lord's judgment - and part of an inevitable chain of events foretold in Scripture that lead directly to the return of Jesus Messiah.

Joel 3:1-2 specifies that these nations will historically have had a hand in scattering Jews into exile and dividing up the Lord's land. However, the siege will be directed against Zion (Jerusalem), implying that the City at the centre of it all will remain under (or eventually be restored to) Israeli control: "On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves" (Zech 12:2-3).

The eternal principle set out in Scripture is that those who seek to harm Israel do so at their peril.

Though the nations conspire together, however, the timings of this final onslaught are completely in the hands of the Lord God. Psalm 2 is a wonderful psalm for regaining this heavenly perspective ("Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?...The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them...").

As Christians watching keenly the events currently happening on the world stage, we must pray that the Lord will accomplish his purposes fully at this time, using the instability and the great evil abroad in the world to bring as many into the Kingdom as possible. We should pray blessing on the people of Israel – and seek to support them in more tangible ways. And we might pray that Britain will work for Israel's best interests in all our diplomatic endeavours, instead of paying lip service to her one day and betraying her the next.

A Final Warning – and a Hope

Finally, we can all take heed of the warning in Zephaniah 2, given to those nations that would come against Israel. This is the very same chapter that prophesies the emptying of Gaza and the final destruction of Canaan, the land of the Philistines (from whence we get our modern terms 'Palestine' and 'Palestinian'). The warning is this:

Gather yourselves together...Before the decree is issued, before the day passes like chaff, before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon you! Seek the Lord, all you meek of the Earth who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger.

References

1 A draft closing statement for the conference was leaked by Haaretz earlier this week. Full text available here.

2 Berkowitz, Biblical Origins of the 70-Nation Anti-Israel Paris Conference. Breaking Israel News, 5 January 2017.

3 Ravid, B. Netanyahu: Paris Peace Conference Is Rigged by Palestinians Under French Auspices. Haaretz, 12 January 2017.

4 Ynet News, Associated Press. Abbas hopes Paris summit ends settlements. 27 December 2016.

5 AFP, Kerry to attend Mideast peace conference in Paris. Times of Israel, 11 January 2017.

6 Lazaroff, T. Abbas to meet Pope Francis in advance of Paris parley. The Jerusalem Post, 11 January 2017.

7 Rasgon, A. Palestinians put hope in Paris conference as possible 'last chance' for two-states. The Jerusalem Post, 3 January 2017.

No peace in Paris: Middle East conference more likely to be a powder keg.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a problem that is going to disappear with a wave of a magic wand from the world's politicians. It's an age-old dilemma that has spiritual roots and a spiritual solution.

Representatives of 70 nations will descend on Paris on Sunday for a global conference to promote a "two-state solution" as the way to lasting peace in the Middle East. It's a 'peace' they plan to impose on Israel, who will not even be there!

And the fear among Jews is that whatever is agreed in France will be used as the basis for a UN Security Council resolution that would permanently divide Israel and create an Islamic Palestinian state.

Denying Reality

But the nations are merely engaging in another distraction – a denial of reality – that does not begin to address the issue. Just three weeks ago the UN passed a resolution declaring that Israel is illegally 'occupying' much of the land to which it is historically, and biblically, entitled – including the Temple Mount, Western Wall and the Old City itself (every inch of east Jerusalem, in fact), which have been part of Judaism for thousands of years. And Britain, to its shame, voted for this!

In re-writing history and making a mockery of justice and fairness, the United Nations has become a sick joke as it brazenly continues to back the Palestinian narrative that would drive Israel into the sea. Their spokesmen have been quoted over and over again saying that they only want such a state as a launch pad for ridding the region of Jews altogether.¹

The nations are merely engaging in another distraction - a denial of reality.

Roots in Anti-Semitism

The response to the truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem which killed four Israeli Defence Force soldiers² says it all. Arab Palestinians took to the streets and social media to celebrate and, in Gaza, the ruling Hamas terrorist group praised the attack as a "natural response to the Israeli occupier's crimes". People in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority-controlled 'West Bank' were seen festively handing out sweets to mark the occasion.

According to the PA, the murder of Israeli youths is sanctioned by Islam! The official PA daily said the killer "died as a Shahid" (that is, a martyr for Allah). And the Authority will now reward the terrorist's wife with a lifetime monthly allowance of £627 ($760 or 2,900 shekels). And this in a territory led by Mahmoud Abbas – a so-called 'moderate'.

No, the problem is not the settlements, or Jewish communities, built on disputed land claimed by the Palestinians. The root of this enduring conflict is anti-Semitism, currently in the shape of Islamic fundamentalism. Actually, Israel is entitled under international law to Judea and Samaria (currently known as the West Bank), courtesy of the San Remo Conference of 1922 in the aftermath of World War I.

In fact, it was around this time that a 'two-state solution' was first tried when, with the stroke of a pen, the British Government handed over a major portion of the territory originally earmarked for Israel to the Arabs – the country now known as Jordan. So why is there a need for further division?

The root of this enduring conflict is anti-Semitism, currently in the shape of Islamic fundamentalism.

The Trump Card...

The Paris Conference, like the recent UN resolution, could well make things worse for Israel and render peace even less likely by encouraging terror groups to believe they have the backing of world powers.

This would be a profound tragedy, however, especially for the nations involved. There will undoubtedly be further battles for Israel, but in the end they hold the 'trump' card – and I am not referring to the incoming US President.

Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, will return to his beloved Land – and the nations who scattered his people and divided up his Land will be put on trial. But the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem will be restored (see Joel 3:1f).

Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and will be king over the whole earth (Zech 14:1-9).

Come, Lord Jesus!

Notes

1 For this and other information in this article, I am indebted to David Soakell's 12 January 2017 newsletter, Watching Over Zion, produced weekly for Christian Friends of Israel (CFI), as well as to official PA TV, 8 January 2017.

2 This included three young women aged 20-22, one of whom, Yael Yekutiel, was a Facebook friend of my CFI colleague David Soakell, who described the 20-year-old officer as "full of light and life" who "seemed to love everyone and everyone loved her." David himself narrowly missed being a victim of a suicide bomb back in 2002.

Despite today's handshake between Abbas and Netanyahu, the Palestinians continue to make land claims that defy international law.

Amidst the ongoing conflict over land allegedly occupied by Israel, what is the truth and why is there so much confusion? The Bible is quite clear about it: the Jews were promised this land (significantly more than they presently occupy) thousands of years ago (Gen 17:8). But even on a political level, Israel has every right to this much fought-over real estate. It's just that politicians have agendas, along with short memories.

The Two-State 'Solution'

PA president Mahmoud Abbas, at the United Nations, has called for a Palestinian state based on the borders proposed in the 1947 UN Partition Plan¹ – borders the Arabs rejected outright at the time. So how likely is it to satisfy them now? Their real problem – then and now – is the existence of a Jewish state.

The 1947 UN plan recommended the land being divided to create independent Jewish and Arab states existing alongside one another. Even this was a betrayal of Jewish aspirations, for they had originally (through the 1920 Treaty of San Remo, which has never been superseded) been promised a much larger area including the land now known as Jordan.

The real problem the Palestinians have is not borders - but the very existence of a Jewish state.

But in a compromise designed to appease the wrath of dissenting Arabs, Britain imposed a 'two-state solution' by granting the region east of the Jordan River to the Arabs. It duly became known as Jordan. But memories are short, and there was soon talk of a further 'two-state solution'.

Nevertheless, the Jews accepted the UN offer despite the fact that it represented only a fraction of the territory originally promised them. Yet the Arabs rejected it, and are still seen by many as the victims.

Core Obstacles to Peace

Now Abbas calls on the UN to declare 2017 "the international year to end the Israeli occupation of our land and our people" [emphasis added]². But since when did it belong to the Palestinians, who did not exist as a people in 1947? In fact, Jews from the region were more likely to be known as Palestinians then.

Following the War of Independence in 1948, Jordan (not the PA) illegally took control of Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem. But when threatened with annihilation by surrounding Arab countries in 1967, Israel won an astounding victory in just six days and duly re-captured this disputed territory, which was certainly never 'Palestinian'. Now Abbas is claiming that Jewish settlements in these territories are an obstacle to peace.³

But as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu put it, the conflict is not about settlements. "If the Arabs had said yes to a Jewish state in 1947, there would be no war, no refugees, no conflict. And when they finally say yes to a Jewish state, we'll be able to end this conflict once and for all."⁴ Or as he told the UN, the core of the conflict is the "persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state within any boundary"⁵ [emphasis added].

As to the PA's demand that a Palestinian state be free of Jews, Mr Netanyahu described that as "ethnic cleansing", adding that "the concept of ethnic cleansing for peace is absurd".⁶

Even US President Barak Obama has got himself in a muddle over this, referring to Israel's persistence in occupying "Palestinian land", which is patently not the case, even in international law.⁷

Netanyahu has described the PA's demand that a Palestinian state be free of Jews as "ethnic cleansing".

Taking on Western Bias

Meanwhile the Israeli leader invited his PA counterpart to address the Knesset, Israel's parliament, and told him: "You have a choice to make. You can continue to stoke hatred, as you did today [at the UN], or you can confront hatred and work with me today."⁸ However, Bibi was uncharacteristically upbeat about the future. Citing growing relationships with countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and even among Arab nations, he predicted that delegates would soon get calls from their leaders with a short message: "The war against Israel at the UN has ended."⁹

But he was scathing about the General Assembly bias displayed last year when they passed 20 resolutions against his democratic state versus just three for the rest of the world where human rights violations abound.¹⁰

Britain was also taken to task by the PA president in his address at the UN for issuing the so-called Balfour Declaration in 1917, which promised to do all it could to create a homeland in Palestine (as the region was then known) for the Jewish people.¹¹ In fact, Abbas has threatened to sue Britain over this declaration, which he claimed had reaped catastrophe, misery and injustice for his people.

But Mr Netanyahu countered that if he went ahead with such an action, "he should also sue Cyrus the Great for letting the Jews come back to Israel to rebuild the Temple, and organize a class action suit against Abraham for buying a parcel of land in Hebron".¹²

Lessons from Ruth

We must pray for greater understanding – amongst politicians, writers and clergy – of the principle that blessing the Jews is the key to individual and national prosperity (Gen 12:3). Palestinians and other enemies of Israel would save their beleaguered peoples so much heartache, poverty and strife if only they would buy into this principle – so well understood and practised by the biblical Ruth.

As a Moabite, Ruth was seen as a 'foreigner', yet she blessed her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi in staying by her side for her return to Judah (not Palestine) after losing her husband and sons. As Boaz put it, she had left her father, mother and homeland to come and live with a people she did not know. And his prayer for her was: "May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge" (Ruth 1:11f).

Blessing the Jews is the key to individual and national prosperity.

As with Ruth, who came from present-day Jordan, most Palestinian leaders are also foreigners from various Arab lands in the region (for example, PLO founder Yasser Arafat was Egyptian). The idea of Palestinian nationality is a political invention of recent times to provide an excuse for driving out the Jews. But we praise God for the growing number of Arabs and Palestinians who are being reconciled with their Jewish brothers through the atoning death of Jesus on a cross just outside Jerusalem.

Pray that eyes will continue to be opened to the wondrous truth expounded by Paul in his letter to the Gentile Ephesians, reminding them that they were once "separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility..." (Eph 2:12-14).

References

1. Posselt, I. Abbas calls for Palestinian state based on 1947 borders. Bridges for Peace, 23 September 2016.
2. United with Israel, 23 September 2016.
3. JNN Newsletter, Arutz-7/Jerusalem News Network, 11 September 2016.
4. United with Israel, 25 September 2016.
5. United with Israel, 23 September 2016.
6. See note 3.
7. Obama told the UN: "Surely, Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land." Arutz-7/JNN Newsletter, 27 September 2016.
8. See note 1.
9. Jerusalem Post/JNN Newsletter, 24 September 2016.
10. JNN Newsletter Newsletter, 24 September 2016.
11. See note 1.
12. See note 9.