Indeed, war seems more and more likely as hopes for a diplomatic solution are dimming. Chances for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians suffered another blow yesterday, when Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo endorsed the right of Palestinian refugees to return their homes in Israel as a "sacred right." Prime Minister Barak responded by saying that Israel will never agree to the "right of return." Even leading members of the Israeli peace camp say flooding Israel with Palestinian refugees would be national suicide. "It has only one meaning: the destruction of Israel," said author A.B. Yehoshua, one of the leading Israeli advocates of the Palestinian cause. The Clinton peace plan calls on Palestinians to give up the "right of return" in exchange for Israeli concessions on Jerusalem.
Another major stumbling block is sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. The Palestinians have rejected President Clinton’s proposal for joint sovereignty over the compound. Today, Israel's Council of Chief Rabbis ruled that giving up sovereignty over the Temple Mount is sacrilegious, and that even negotiating over the area is not permitted. Because of sharp opposition across the political spectrum, Barak has backed away from plans to relinquish the Mount. ""We will not do it at any price," he said.
Adding further to pessimism on both sides is more violence. During overnight clashes, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian at the Erez Crossing near the Israel-Gaza border. The army said he was trying to cross a security fence to attack a military post. An army spokesman said Israeli patrols and military posts came under Palestinian fire in 10 locations in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. The death, the first in three days, brought the toll from 14 weeks of violence to at least 300 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 43 Israelis Jews killed. In the Palestinian-ruled city of Ramallah north of Jerusalem, hundreds of Arabs marched in protest against the Clinton peace plan, hurling stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded with rubber bullets. At one point, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the soldiers; they returned fire. In Nablus, around 1,000 Palestinians called on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to reject Clinton's proposals out of hand. Waving flags from factions opposed to peacemaking with Israel, the crowd called for the intifada to continue and urged Arafat not to "surrender" their rights.
01/04/2001 -Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has given a conditional "yes" to the US peace proposal, giving peace one last chance before President Clinton leaves office on January 20th. After Arafat`s surprise response, Israel`s cabinet reluctantly decided to send negotiator Gilead Sher to Washington to discuss the possibility of resuming peace talks with the Palestinians. It now seems certain that the parties will embark on an intensive round of peace talks aimed at reaching some kind of framework agreement before Clinton finishes his term. However, Israel says it will not resume negotiations until Arafat sharply curbs violence and terrorism. "Following President Clinton`s recent meeting with Arafat, we understand they agreed that a systematic struggle against violence will be waged in the coming days. In the wake of that, we will reconsider continuation of the negotiations," Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told Israel Radio today. Ben Ami added that the Palestinians have wasted a lot of time and it would take a "miracle" to reach an agreement before Clinton leaves office. "It is almost beyond human capability to end the negotiations in this short period," he said.
01/03/2001 -
President Clinton held two rounds of talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the White House, but as expected, failed to achieve a breakthrough. It now seems highly unlikely that a peace agreement will be signed before Clinton leaves office on January 20th. White House spokesman Jake Siewert said the talks were "productive" and "useful," particularly with regard to persuading Arafat to crack down on violence. Siewert said Arafat told Clinton he is "prepared to immediately resume cooperation on terrorism, to intensify efforts to stop the shootings, and to arrest those responsible for the violence." Siewert said a peace agreement will be difficult "while there is an atmosphere of violence, and I think everyone understands that." The White House said Clinton would decide his next step after talking by telephone today with Barak and Arafat. Arafat expressed strong reservations to Clinton`s peace plan. The key sticking points are sovereignty over the Temple Mount, and the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees to their former homes in Israel. "The ball is now in the American and Israeli court," said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Hassan Asfour. "Israel now has to decide whether it wants peace based on international laws, which give the Palestinians their minimum rights, or wants to pursue its aggression and war against the Palestinian people."
There is a growing pessimism among Israeli officials following the failure of the Washington talks, and skepticism with regard to Arafat`s promises to curb the violence. "The question is the degree of seriousness and to what extent [the Palestinians] intend to approach the task with clean hands," Cabinet Minister Amnon Lipkin Shahak told Army Radio. Earlier, Prime Minister Ehud Barak even accused the Palestinian Authority of direct involvement in recent terrorist attacks. "We need to concentrate on reducing the terror," Barak told Israel Television. "There is no real way to carry out contacts and negotiations with the Palestinians under these conditions." Barak also raised war jitters here, saying he told the military brass at the start of the Palestinian uprising to prepare for the possibility of a full-scale regional confrontation.
Indeed, the volatile Lebanese border is already heating up, as predicted by Israeli generals. This morning, Hizbollah guerillas fired mortar shells which landed near an Israeli army post, causing no damage or casualties. The army said Israeli artillery returned fire. The attack occurred at the disputed Chebaa Farms, an area still claimed by Lebanon despite UN verification of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Hizbollah has used the Chebaa Farms as an excuse to continue its "jihad" (holy war) against Israel. On the Palestinian front, shooting attacks are continuing. Two Israelis were wounded, one critically, when Palestinian gunmen opened fire at their car near an army checkpoint just outside of Jerusalem. The Israeli army said it fired tank rounds at a Palestinian police post near the Arab town of Ramallah north of Jerusalem, during a fierce gun battle last night. Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen also exchanged heavy fire in several parts of the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Barak is heating up the election campaign with a sharp attack on his challenger, Likud leader Ariel Sharon. As expected, Barak attacked Sharon in the place he is most vulnerable—the unpopular war in Lebanon which Sharon engineered as defense minister in 1982. Barak also blamed Sharon for sparking the Palestinian uprising by his visit to the Temple Mount. He said voters should not be fooled by Sharon`s new image as a benevolent elder statesman. Sharon, he said, is like the wolf in the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale, "lying under the bedcovers, with big teeth and wearing a head scarf." The public knows he is hiding his sharp teeth, Barak said. Comparing Sharon to the "Big Bad Wolf" could be a sign of desperation; Barak trails Sharon by about 20 percentage points in the polls, and each shooting and bombing costs him more votes.
Over 40 Israelis were wounded last night when a powerful car bomb exploded in the coastal town of Netanya, about 20 miles north of Tel Aviv. There were three powerful explosions, one after the other. It happened when the streets were packed on a balmy evening. The explosions shattered windows in nearby shops and apartments and blew apart vehicles on one of the busiest streets in the city. Police believe the bomb was detonated in a parked car. Ambulances, firefighters and police rushed to the scene and cared for the injured. Only one person was seriously wounded, and police believe he was the bomber. The attack put further strain on a peace process already on the verge of collapse. But many here are breathing a sigh of relief. One police official said the fact that no Israelis were killed is "a miracle."
Shortly, after the bombing, Yasser Arafat`s office announced that he was traveling to Washington to discuss the US peace plan with President Clinton. The surprise meeting will take place today at the White House. It`s "a decisive visit at which the future of the peace process will be determined," said Arafat spokesman Nabil Aburdeneh. Israel has accepted the US plan in principle, but the Palestinians have expressed deep reservations even though it would give them half of Jerusalem and 95 percent of the West Bank. The Palestinians oppose any Jewish presence on the Temple Mount—even a symbolic one—and they refuse to compromise on the "right of return" which would allow millions of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel. Therefore, Israel is deeply skeptical about the meeting. "President Clinton has three weeks left, and it`s unlikely an agreement will be reached in the last three days or week of his term," Prime Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio. "Since Arafat has wasted most of this time in dragging his feet...we have very serious doubts about the seriousness of his intentions to reach an agreement."
Sporadic violence continued today in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians detonated roadside bombs close to Israeli army positions near the Jewish settlements of Dugit and Kfar Darom. Two soldiers were wounded, one lightly and one moderately. Near Dugit, Israeli troops fired at a Palestinian area in response to the explosion, killing a 52-year-old Palestinian farmer who was working in his fields. The daily shootings, roadside bombs and terrorist attacks have further eroded support among Israelis for the peace process. Many people are appalled that Barak is willing to offer the Palestinians far-reaching, unprecedented concessions while Palestinian terror rages out of control. Yasser Arafat left little doubt about his intentions. "I say that our people are very strong and will continue their struggles and confrontations," Arafat said in Gaza before departing for Washington.
Israeli newspapers reported today that Prime Minister Barak has instructed the military brass to prepare for war. Barak told his generals that the situation could deteriorate and lead the entire Middle East into a bloody conflict. Army Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz and other top generals have repeatedly warned over the past couple of months that the conflict with the Palestinians could escalate into a regional war. The generals envision a scenario where the conflict with the Palestinians could deteriorate, prompting Hizbollah guerillas to heat up the border with Lebanon. Harsh Israeli retaliation could then draw Syria into the conflict. Iran and Iraq have been saying that they are ready to fight Israel on behalf of the Palestinians. While Israeli has hi-tech weapons and a far superior air force and armor to that of the Arabs, the Arab states could do a lot of damage. They have invested in surface-to-surface missiles and chemical and biological weapons.
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Editorial Comment by To His Glory Ministries:
Things are heating up for Israel. She is surrounded by radical Muslim nations dedicated to her destruction. Russia is arming and preparing these troops exactly as the Bible predicted. And the peace process -- though fraught with problems, is continuing forward. When it eventually reaches conclusion, it may produce a false sense of security for Israel and may perhaps be the time that "Russia thinks an evil thought", and leads the radical Muslim nations in their ill-fated invasion of Israel. Or, perhaps, it is in the aftermath of the invasion that peace is achieved only to later usher in destruction as Israel cries out, Peace, Peace!
What Israel's enemies will not anticipate is God's intervention in the course of human history. The result is catastrophic for the invaders, but will change life for all mankind, as well. These events include nuclear weapons and an earthquake so large that it shakes the entire earth. But most important is that, during this time in history, God once again pours out His Spirit on the House of Israel, showing His greatness and holiness, and making Himself known in the sight of many nations. "Then they will know that I am the LORD". (Eze 38:23) God will "once again, in a little while, shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts."(Haggai 2:6-7) "And the desired of the nations shall come.''
``It is now the hour to awake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith.'' (Rom 13:11)
God's righteous judgements are always redemptive. He does not desire that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance and everlasting life.
This invasion could now take place at almost any time. To prepare for it, stay close to the Lord by purifying your heart and thoughts through the daily washing of the Word. Be careful not to forsake the Holy One of Israel. Soon the culmination of all things shall begin.
Purify yourselves daily by the reading of the Word. Jesus is returning for a Holy and Spotless Church. ``Today is the day of salvation for many who are perishing; their tomorrow shall not see my return in glory to judge the living and the dead. Today is the day of their salvation." Don't delay. Time is short. You have no guarantee that you will even see tomorrow. If you die without receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your eternal destiny is fixed.
As we see the signs of His return drawing close, what manner of holy life should we be living? Remember that Jesus is returning for a Holy and Spotless Bride. Whether His return is today or 10 years from now is irrelevant since eternity is only a heart beat away for any of us. So choose this day whom you will serve, ask the Holy Spirit to search you to see if there be any iniquity in you, and then call upon Jesus your Deliverer. He is faithful for forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unfaithfulness.
"Watch and pray, therefore, that you would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
Maranatha!
Blessings on you all as we all wait for the return of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Maranatha!
How to Be Saved Through Jesus
DAVID DOLAN is a Jerusalem-based author and journalist. He has written the monthly Israel News Digest for CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL since 1986. His just-released new book, ISRAEL IN CRISIS: WHAT LIES AHEAD? may be ordered in North America by phoning 888-890-6938 or by e mail at: resources@yourisraelconnection.org