Prophecy and Current Events

The dizzying dance of violence amid renewed talk of peace and political intrigue continues here in the Lord’s troubled land today. A funeral is taking place in Jerusalem for 30 year-old Eli Cohen, another Israeli uprising victim shot dead last night while driving his car just northwest of Jerusalem. His Arab attackers fled for safety into the nearby Palestinian enclave of Ramallah, unsuccessfully chased by Israeli soldiers. Police forces conducted heavy security checks around the Old City today as some 300,000 Muslims gathered to mark the last Friday of Ramadan. Palestinian youths threw stones and bottles at police forces after the Muslim service ended. In Washington, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are possibly deciding the fate of the holy city today while reports from the Gaza Strip say Yasser Arafat is ill and may be dying.

Palestinian uprising leaders called for another "day of rage" today to protest the peace negotiations taking place in the USA. Various uprising leaders have come out in opposition to the talks, expressing anger over reports that the Palestinians are being asked to modify their so-called "right of return" demand in exchange for being granted sovereignty over most Arab parts of Jerusalem, including almost all of the Old City and the Temple Mount. Fatah militia leader Marwan Barghouti warned that his armed forces would not accept anything less than a complete Israeli evacuation of all land captured by Israel from Jordan and Egypt in 1967, including all of eastern Jerusalem. US President Bill Clinton has reportedly proposed that Israel hand over Arab neighborhoods to the Palestinians in exchange for refugee concessions. He is scheduled to meet with Palestinian and Israeli negotiators for a second time later today.

Israeli newspapers report today that PM Ehud Barak is offering Arafat around 95% of the disputed territories, about 6% more than at the failed Camp David summit last July. Expert’s say this would mean the dismantling of most Jewish settlements—a proposal that is already being fiercely condemned by settlement leaders and their allies. Barak would make up for the 5% difference by ceding Israeli territory to the Palestinians adjacent to the Gaza Strip and other areas. Arafat is reportedly interested in the idea, but is also aware of widespread
Arab opposition to any concessions on the emotional refugee issue. Writing in today’s newspapers, Israeli analysts say the PLO leader—said to have begun a series of medical tests on Wednesday after fainting at a funeral that day—is unlikely to agree to any controversial concessions in light of the temporary nature of Clinton’s presidency and the unstable Israeli political scene. The current round of peace talks in Washington is expected to end by tonight or early tomorrow. Clinton has reportedly given both sides a negotiating deadline of January 10 since he must attend to transition duties after that.

Israeli opposition legislators are trying to pass a bill that would forbid Barak, a caretaker leader heading a minority coalition government, from continuing the negotiations during the election campaign. They say a majority of 61 Knesset members have signed on to the bill, enough for its approval. They charge that Labor and Meretz party committee chairmen are holding up the legislation, which passed an initial hurdle in the Knesset Law Committee last week.

Meanwhile the 10 Meretz legislators have dealt a fatal blow to Shimon Peres’ hopes of running for prime minister. The dovish legislators decided last night not to back Peres as an alternative left-wing candidate to Barak. Without at least 10 Knesset members publicly supporting him, Peres cannot legally run. Many said Meretz politicians feared that a Peres candidacy would only split the "peace camp" down the middle and hand victory to right-wing Likud party leader Ariel Sharon. Opinion polls published in two Israeli papers this morning show that Peres would have a better chance of beating Sharon in a runoff race to be held on February 20 if no candidate gets at least 50% of the overall vote on February 6. One poll has Sharon beating Peres by a thin margin, but trouncing Barak by a whopping 18% (an increase of 7% from last week, possibly reflecting widespread outrage that Barak has broken his pledge to stay away from the peace table until violent Palestinian attacks cease). The other poll projects that Sharon would defeat Barak by around 11%. However many voters remain undecided.

Fresh clashes are reported today in Nablus and other areas.  Uprising violence continued overnight in several places. Shots were fired at an Israeli civilian bus near the town of Jericho. A roadside bomb was detonated near an army jeep in Samaria. No casualties were reported in either incident. Earlier, four IDF soldiers were wounded when a Palestinian drove his truck into them at a road intersection north of Jerusalem. The soldiers opened fire on the driver, wounding him in the arm. The driver attempted to flee, running toward a nearby Palestinian ambulance, but was apprehended and taken to Hadassah hospital for treatment. Two Palestinian gunmen were earlier shot dead in clashes with IDF forces at the Karni border crossing just inside the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile a senior IDF army commander told Israel radio that troops have deliberately targeted 19 Palestinian uprising militiamen who were known to have planned and/or executed armed attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians. He said the action was an attempt to halt the shooting attacks, and has indeed made an impact on reducing the number of armed assaults in recent days. Palestinian leaders have denounced the actions as "assassinations" and "acts of war."

The head of Israeli Military Intelligence, General Amos Malka, told an international conference in Herzliya on Thursday that a regional war is a growing possibility. He confirmed US intelligence reports that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has deployed two armored divisions on his western border with Syria. He said their presence is another sign of a rapidly developing alliance between Iraq and Syria, which is already closely linked to Iran. Gen. Malka said he did not think a ground war was likely to break out with Syria and its allies, but added that there is a substantial threat that long-range missiles could be fired from one or all three countries. He said both Syria and Iran, and possibly Iraq, possess deadly chemical warheads and are working on acquiring nuclear weapons. He said Islamic Hizbullah forces in south Lebanon are continuing to threaten more attacks along the border, and warned that the probability of renewed fighting "is not low." Gen. Malka revealed that Hizbullah and radical Palestinian groups are planning to launch cross-border hang glider attacks on Israeli civilian centers, adding ominously that Hizbullah’s main backer, Iran, is "marching toward a confrontation with us by leading a guerrilla and terror war against us."

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: Article Credits listed below