Charles Gardner reviews Whose Land? Part II – The Law of Occupation and the Status of Jerusalem, a film by Hugh Kitson

San Remo trumps all subsequent Middle East peace efforts

Official EU policy has been to sacrifice Israel for oil

The secret is out. Britain has been locked into an anti-Israel agreement ever since we first entered Europe in the early 1970s – a policy likely to consign us to the dust of history.

But a successful Brexit could allow us to repair the damage.

Writing for Heart newspaper,¹ which circulates in churches throughout the south of England, film-maker Hugh Kitson has revealed the real reason for the mess we’re in over Europe.

In a devastating article, he says that Britain, along with its European allies, has effectively sacrificed Israel on the altar of expedience and economic survival.

By signing up to the so-called Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD), we capitulated to the Arab political agenda in exchange for oil, literally allowing the rich Arab nations to hold us ‘over a barrel’.

Economic Blackmail

The historical background to this little-known arrangement was Arab frustration at Israel’s resilience in surviving a succession of wars against the odds. Having failed yet again to defeat Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, they dispensed with brute force in exchange for undermining the political will of the West by imposing an oil embargo.

This led to severe restrictions that brought Britain to its knees, as a result of which European countries led by France agreed to the EAD agenda which ensured that Israel – the Middle East’s only democracy (holding elections again on Tuesday) – would have her actions and borders constantly challenged.

Shockingly, we agreed further that Islam and its human rights abuses could not be criticised, while Muslim immigration into European society was to be welcomed.

The EAD has changed shape over the years, but has continued to meet to this day; its most recent gathering, in February, was attended by Theresa May.

By signing up to the so-called Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD), we capitulated to the Arab political agenda in exchange for oil.

Distortion and Deception

Hugh Kitson writes: “This explains the anti-Israel bias in the Western media, which leads to a completely distorted view of the Arab-Israeli conflict…”

See Photo Credits.And he adds: “This policy is obligatory on member states of the EU to this day if they are to have favourable economic relations with the Arab world. Basically, the European nations decided that there has to be a Palestinian state with ‘East Jerusalem’ as its capital, no matter what, even if it means the demise of the Jewish state.”

The push for a so-called ‘two-state solution’ has been part of this mantra for years. Yet it flies in the face of international acknowledgement of Israel’s right to the land, particularly through the San Remo Treaty of 1920, and brazenly provokes the judgment of God, who states in his word: “When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and…enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land” (Joel 3:2).

So it seems that our 45-year dalliance with Europe has been marked by deception – not only that the liaison was never intended to be more than a trade agreement, but also over Middle East foreign policy, which the electorate will have trusted the Government to enact in good faith and for the benefit of both parties.

But this has clearly never been the case with Israel, whom we have betrayed – not once, not twice, but three times. First, we reneged on our 1917 pledge to prepare a home for them in their ancient land; then we refused immigration to many who were desperately trying to flee Nazi-occupied Europe and now, we discover to our horror, we have been sacrificing them relentlessly to the god of oil.

Deliberate Policy

Such a policy has long been suspected, as it has effectively been our practice, but it has only now become more widely known that this had been the agreed course of action all along, to which our Government has been committed.

This disgraceful treatment of God’s chosen people has sent us sliding down the slippery slope of godlessness, hopelessness and despair amid the chaos and confusion surrounding Brexit – unless, of course, we see the error of our ways and act upon it.

Our 45-year dalliance with Europe has been marked by deception.

Speaking of the future glory of Zion, the word of God says: “For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined” (Isa 60:12).

Although seen as a means of our short-term economic survival, the reality of the policy we have pursued over Israel is that it will ultimately lead to our destruction. We have cursed rather than blessed them, and will be judged accordingly (see Gen 12:3).

We’ve Lost the Way

And the result is that much of what we see happening in the Middle East is being replicated here – the death of democracy, for instance, seen in the huge crowds descending on London calling for a second referendum because they didn’t like the outcome of the first. They were, of course, reflecting the views of their politicians, foolishly ignoring the will of 17.4 million people.

Another feature of Middle East politics is the blatant propaganda which seeks to portray Israel as the unwilling party in peace negotiations, whereas in reality neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas is interested in securing a peace deal that doesn’t involve driving the Jews into the sea. The fact is, they don’t want part of the land; they want all of it.

In Britain too we are being bombarded by propaganda. It’s not enough that homosexuals have been ‘normalised’ into society. No, the government’s Department of Education email signature line now embeds a large rainbow flag with the logo ‘I’m an LGBT+ Champion’.²

We now hear how the general populace has fallen out of love with our politicians, but they only reflect the selfish, sinful and confused state of the electorate.

In a passage about wisdom, the Book of Proverbs offers us the choice of life or death: “For whoever finds me finds life and receives favour from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death” (Prov 8:35f).

Jesus is the way, the truth and ‘the life’ spoken of here (John 14:6). We have lost our way as a nation; we need to find Jesus again!

References

1 Heart newspaper, April/May 2019.

2 Christian Concern, 29 March 2019.

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.