Watch and Pray Matt. 24:42 and Mark 13:33 The Israeli Arab Crisis- The Two State Solution
In the Olivet prophecy of Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 Jesus specifically told the disciples to “watch and pray”. It was his warning to them about the signs of the times and to us to watch and pray as the time of the end of this world’s kingdoms loom.
Daily we see on the news about the Arab and Israeli conflict. Who is right? Who is wrong? Who started the wars? Who uses terrorism? There are many “facts” on both sides of the issue but today we will concentrate on this historical fact: The “two state solution” has been fully rejected by the Arab/Muslim side on five separate occasions. We hear in the news that if only Israel would give up land for peace that all would be peaceful. Israel and the Jews have agreed five times to give up land for peace. By giving “land for peace” the Palestinians could return and all would live in peace and harmony. Factual history paints a very different story. Looking at this conflict through the eyes of history should enlighten us to a better understanding of current events in the Middle East.
There have been many news reports where the Palestinian slogan, “From the river to the sea” has been chanted. The slogan means from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea should be all for Palestinians and all Jews should be removed. Khaled Mashaal, a Gaza leader says, “There will be no concession on any inch of the land.”1
Judea was the sovereign home of the Jews until 135 C.E. There were no Palestinians living in Judea at this time- as this was the Jewish state. After the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132-135 C.E. the Roman Emperor Hadrian destroyed Jerusalem then built a new Roman city on top of it and renamed it Aelia Capitolina. Over 580,000 Jews were killed in this war of genocide, they were sold into slavery and scattered around the world into the diaspora and Hadrian renamed the area Syria Palaestina. This is where the term Palestine and the Palestinians comes from. The Jews did not have their own country again until May 14, 1948.
The area of “Palestine” (Ancient Judea) was ruled by the Muslim Turkish Ottoman Empire from 1516-1918. The Ottomans sided with the Germans in World War I and lost the war and their empire. As the losers their territory was given to England and France by the League of Nations to administer. Even though there have always been some Jews living in “Palestine” it was the late 1800’s when the Jews of the diaspora started to slowly return to Palestine, buy land and flee the pogroms of Russia and European powers. Conflict between Arab and Jew began to rise thus England issued with the approval of the League of Nations and American President Woodrow Wilson what we know of as the Balfour Declaration in 1917. With no Ottoman government present, England and France divided up the area and created territories and countries most importantly Trans-Jordan. From this point on there have been five separate attempts to divide Palestine/Judea into two separate states, one for Jews and one for Palestinians. All five of these two state solutions have been accepted by the Jews and Israel and all five have been rejected by the Arabs and Palestinians. Thus, today there is no peace in the Middle East and there will be no peace in the Middle East as the Palestinians and Arabs have made it clear they only want to commit genocide against ALL Jews in “Palestine” and throw them into the sea. “Kill the Jews wherever you find them-this pleases God, history and religion.” Jerusalem Grand Mufti Husseini in 1948.2
The five two state solution rejections as recorded in history are: 1) Balfour Declaration of 1917.3 2) The Peel Commission report of 1937 which was rejected by the Arabs.4 During World War II the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Arab league not only sided with Hitler’s Germany but actively assisted the Nazis in their Jewish holocaust of genocide. 3) The United Nations in 1947 legally partitioned Palestine into two states and Israel became a country on May 14, 1948. On May 17, 1948 six Arab nations attacked and invaded Israel with the thought of pure genocide and the murder of all Jews. Israel won the war, captured some territory (Jordan captured and kept the entire west bank until beaten by Israel in 1967).5 4) In January 2001 at Camp David, Maryland at very end of President Clinton’s administration. Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack met at Camp David with President Clinton. The Palestinians were offered everything they had ever asked for and Yasser Arafat rejected it and instead called on suicide bombers to attack Israel.6 Arafat had again rejected the two-state solution. 5) Jan. 5, 2017 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry put forth a plan for a two-state solution and the Palestinians again rejected the offer. Five historical offers of two state solution for peace and five rejections by the Palestinians.
There will be NO peace in Jerusalem until the return of Jesus Christ to set up his wonderful Kingdom of God (Matt. 24; Luke 21; Mark 13; Isa.9:6-7; 11:1-9; 65:17-25; Joel 2:1-11; Micah 4:1-3; Zech. 14:1-9; Rev. 19:1-16).
Much information for this article was gathered from the book: The Case for Israel by Prof. Alan Dershowitz, pub. 2003.
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1.Laurie Kellman, “’Form the river to the sea,’: Why these 6 words spark fury and passion over the Israel-Hamas War.”, AP, World News, Nov. 10, 2023, Accessed May 5, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/river-sea-israel-gaza-hamas-protests-d7abbd756f481fe50b6fa5c0b907cd49
2. Alan Dershowitz, The Case for Israel, (Hoboken, John Willey and Sons Publishing, 2003), 56.
3. Dershowitz, 32.
4. Dershowitz, 46-47.
5. Dershowitz, 76.
6. Dershowitz, 110.
