Scripture for Today, 8-31-18: No Peace

Why There Will Never Be Peace in Israel 
until Messiah Jesus Christ Returns

8-31-18, * -- In 1897 the Jewish newspaper correspondent in France, Theodore Herzl became aware of the dangers in Europe realizing that Jews must leave creating their own state. He became a leading spokesman for the Zionist movement and in 1897 convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Since then there has been violence and wars with the Muslims in the Jewish land.
 
God promised one day to bring the Jews back to their land nevermore to be forced to leave it. He told Moses to tell the Israelites that if they obey Him they will be blessed in the land of Israel; warning that if they disobey Him, He will remove them from the land. (Deuteronomy 28:1-3, 63-65) Clearly it’s the LORD who scattered the Jews from the land because of their disobedience. He used the Babylonian Empire to perform His judgment. However, He promised that, after seventy years they would be returned to the land [appx 1312 BC**] and that He was always watching over them although they suffered many attacks and most were dispersed from the land. (Jeremiah 29:4, 10-11; Amos 9:13-15; Deuteronomy 11:11-12)  
 
On May 14, 1948 God fulfilled His promise to bring the Jews back to the land forever. Although the Jewish state of Israel was reborn, the Lord God has permitted the devil to harass and persecute her life; the timeline follows:

1. In 1917, during WW1, the British defeated the Turkish Ottoman Empire taking control of the Jewish homeland they called ‘Palestine.’
2. In 1947 the United Nations implemented a two-state partition plan which would create a Jewish state and an Arab state side by side.
3. On May 14, 1948 the Jewish state of Israel was recognized by United Nations.
4. On May 15, 1948 the Islamic armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq attacked Israel. Israel won the battles.
5. In July of 1949 an armistice was signed ending the fighting. Israel maintained control of her land yet Jerusalem remained under Arab [Islamic] control.
6. In 1964 The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed; the Muslims controlled the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
7. In 1967, Nasser of Egypt along with the Syrians and Jordanians were poised to attack Israel; but Israel didn’t wait doing a preemptive strike. Within six days had captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip on the Egyptian border, the Golan Heights on the Syrian border and all of Jerusalem.
8. In 1972 Palestinian terrorists abducted and killed 11 Israelis at the Munich Olympics.
9. In 1973 on the holiest Jewish day of the year, Yom Kippur, the Egyptians under President Anwar Sadat attacked Israel. They caught Israel by surprise and had significant victories in the early part of the war. After three weeks the Israelis had successfully repelled the attack
10. On June 27, 1976, a group of Palestinian terrorists hijacked a French commercial jet and rerouted it to a Ugandan airport called Entebbe. Non-Jewish passengers were released; 105 Jewish passengers were kept hostage at the airport. The Israelis launched an commando raid on July 4, 1976 and rescued all but 3 Jews, 245 attackers were killed by the Israelis.
11. In 1978 US Pres Carter’s Camp David Peace Accords took place; when Egypt & Pres Sadat became the first Arab country to recognize the state of Israel. President Sadat was assassinated by his own army in 1981.
12. In 1982 the terrorist group called the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was based in southern Lebanon. Violence erupted between the PLO and Israeli forces; Israel invaded with the goal to drive the PLO out of Lebanon. By September of 1982 the PLO had withdrawn most of its forces from Lebanon, but Israel didn’t withdraw until 3 years later.
13. In 1987, Arabs PLO under Yasser Arafat's control in Israel started the first intifada or uprising against Israel in the West Bank [Judea & Samaria], Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. The unrest lasted five years when thousands of Molotov cocktails and hundreds of grenades were hurled at the Israeli army.
14. In 2000 Arafat rejected a peace agreement that would have led to Israeli withdrawal from parts of Israel, settlement evacuation, sharing of Jerusalem and establishment of a Palestinian state. Several weeks later the second intifada began claiming appx 5000 Palestinians and 1000 Israelis lives.
15. In 2005 Israel’s army under the leadership of PM Ariel Sharon forcibly removed all Jews from the Gaza Strip leaving it in the control of the Palestinian Authority.
16. In 2006 the Palestinian people elected members of the Muslim terrorist group Hamas to govern Gaza.
17. In 2007 fighting broke out between Hamas and its fellow governing party Fatah led by Mahmoud Abbas. President Mahmoud Abbas removed himself to the West Bank [Judea & Samaria Israel]. This led to the launching of Qassam rockets into Israel by Hamas.
18. In late 2008 Israeli troops moved into Gaza trying to end the rocket attacks.
19. Since 2008 to the current 2018 year, there have been constant rocket, fire and other attacks on the Israeli Jews by the militant Islamic radicals from Gaza.

---

Islamic extremists will never allow peace between Muslims and Jews claiming the Jews are living on land that their god, Allah gave them; although no mentions of it in their book the Koran and no physical evidence proves it. However, there is much in the Bible about the land belonging to the Jews with thousands of pieces of physical evidence as well. Regardless of the number of moderate Muslims who may want peace with Israel, the Islamic radical hardliners can never allow Israel to exist; treaties and truces may be made, but only with the goal of the Muslims eventually taking the ALL the land.
 
The Jews in Israel have one fundamental requirement for any peace treaty with the Muslims; the Islamic people [aka Palestinians] must acknowledge and recognize that the Jews and the state of Israel has a right to exist on their own land. That’s an unacceptable condition for them. Muslim extremists will never be able to truly recognize Israel even if they return to the pre-1967 borders; they want ALL the land and disallow ANY Jews on it.
 
Is it futile and wrong to attempt peace? No. Jesus said "blessed are the peacemakers". (Matthew 5:9) However, peaceful efforts will not always result in peaceful coexistence; especially with those outside the faith. The fact that there’ll be no peace between Israel and the Muslim extremists doesn’t mean that peacemakers shouldn't try to at least reduce the violence. We must however not have unrealistic expectations that true and lasting peace can ever occur before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Psalm 35:20; Isaiah 48:22; Ezekiel 13:10, 16; Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11
​***
*Excerpted and adapted full original message here
** Exodus here

---