The Israeli-Arab
Peace Process and
Bible Prophecy
An open letter from Christians to Christians
Chapter 3
The Nations Partitioned His Land and the Lord was Angry
"When I bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I
will also gather all nations. . .I will plead with them there for
my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered
among the nations, and parted my land." Joel 3:1,2
With the ending of God's "double" of disfavor and punishment, God
takes issue with the nations responsible for hounding and scattering
"my people." Now during God's regathering of the Jews by Divine
Providence since 1878 to "my Land," He also takes issue with the
nations who have "parted My Land"—His Land. How have the nations
"partitioned" His Land?
World War I was the second significant event in end-time prophecy
regarding the regathering of Israel. Turkey, with an expansive
empire that compassed the Middle East (including Palestine) and
North Africa, fought with Germany and the Central Powers against the
Allies. At the breaking up of the Turkish Empire by the victorious
Allies, both Jews and Arabs requested independent states. The world
powers were generous in the extreme to the Arabs by granting them
twenty-two independent Arabs states—encompassing 5,414,000 square
miles. The Jews asked for less than one percent of that vast
territory. The Allies agreed to this request (which included both
sides of the Jordan) in the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1920
San Remo Conference of World Powers (See Map I).
For imperialistic interests, however, in 1921 Great Britain
reneged on the Balfour Declaration, lopped off 77 percent of the
Land promised in the Balfour Declaration and set up the Arab Emirate
of Transjordan (See Map II). Then in 1922 the League of Nations gave
Great Britain a Mandate to prepare the remaining 23 percent of
Palestine (including Samaria, Judea, Gaza, Golan Heights and Eastern
Jerusalem) for a Jewish National Home. But under French pressure, in
1923 the Golan Heights was ceded by the British to the French
mandate of Syria.
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They partitioned His Land and the Lord was angry.
Oil Diplomacy
Oil was then discovered in the Arab countries. Consequently, "oil
diplomacy" was instituted. British foreign policy simply appeased
the Arabs. In 1939 the British White Paper banned further
immigration to Palestine. Also, with brutal callousness, the United
Sates and most nations refused to accept the beleaguered Jews of
Europe. Consequently, 6 million Jews were slaughtered in the
Holocaust.
How many millions of these hapless victims would have found a
haven in Palestine if Britain had not reneged—with the silent
consent of the other nations of the world—on its own mandate
obligations by banning Jewish immigration? What a heinous,
collective crime of history! Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of
Great Britain when the Balfour Declaration was issued, went on
national radio to call the British 1939 White Paper, "an act of
national perfidy which will dishonor the name of Britain."
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This time the nations actually denied the Jews any of God's Land
and the Lord was angry. Finally, the gentile nations, guilt-ridden
after defaulting on their promise since 1922, felt a moral
obligation to grant the Jews an independent state. But,
unfortunately, the UN Partition Plan of 1947 further reduced the
size of the new Israeli State (See Map III). They partitioned "My
Land" and the Lord was angry. . .
When Israel became an independent State in 1948, armies from six
Arab nations invaded the newborn State. Outnumbered 100 to one,
Israel's ragtag army pushed back the invaders and took more of its
rightful Land. Divine Providence was telling the world something
about whose Land it is.
Jordan Occupied East Jerusalem
However, the Arab State of Transjordan captured East Jerusalem,
expelled all Jews and destroyed or desecrated all Jewish holy sites.
This is the time when Jerusalem became "occupied territory." In
addition to defying the U.N. Mandate, Transjordan also occupied the
west bank of the River Jordan. No longer limited to being "Trans"
(across) Jordan (the east bank), Transjordan reduced its name to
simply Jordan, now ruling over both the occupied west bank and the
original east bank of Jordan (See Map IV).
But this annexation of the "West Bank" by Jordan was not
recognized by any nation of the world—except Great Britain and
Pakistan. Jordan was even denounced by its Arab allies, Syria,
Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who wanted to expel Jordan from the
Arab League!
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It is claimed that 600,000 Arabs fled "temporarily," but temporarily
became permanently when the Arab invaders failed to destroy the new
State of Israel. David Ben-Gurion adamantly argued that the 600,000
figure was a lie. "The refugee issue is one of the biggest lies,
even among our own people…I have all the figures. From the area of
the State of Israel, only 180,000 Arabs left in 1948. There were
300,000 Arabs altogether in Israel and 120,000 remain."
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In the 1967 Six Day War, under the threat of being "pushed into
the sea" by Egypt, Syria and Jordan, Israel actually liberated the
"occupied territory" of Jerusalem and granted free access to Jews,
Christians and Moslems to worship at their respective holy sites.
Israel also liberated the "West Bank" and Gaza. How easily recent
history is forgotten. By comparison, Israel's administration,
despite its faults, has been much more humane. The realities of the
Jordanian and Egyptian occupation are conveyed in the following
quote from HARSH REALITIES:
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For 19 years, until 1967, Jordan brutally occupied the renamed
"West Bank" with its 20 UNWRA refugee camps…. And when western
Palestinians rioted in December '55, April '57, April '63, Nov.
'66 and April '67, King Hussein sent in tanks which shelled city
streets and machine gunned people at random, killing hundreds of
men, women and children.
The Gaza Strip, as it was known for the 19 years of harsh
Egyptian occupation, had 8 UNWRA refugee camps in which the
Palestinians were forced to live in overcrowded squalor. Egypt
refused to absorb any refugees; kept them stateless, denied
passports, and forbade them to travel or work in Egypt. [On the
other hand, Palestinians were permitted to work in Israel after
1967.]
For 19 years of brutal occupation of their fellow Arabs, Jordan
and Egypt kept these areas in a deliberate state of economic
stagnation and severe unemployment. Average unemployment in the
early Sixties ran between 35-45%, and refugee unemployment hit a
high of 83%. Yet during this entire period, the world was silent.
Only after Israel's seizure of these territories in a defensive
war in 1967, did anyone discover the "legitimate rights and
national aspirations" of the Palestinian Arabs.
From a humanitarian viewpoint, their situation improved
immeasurably under Israeli administration. Unemployment hovers
around a mere 1% (1989) and per capita gross income tripled in
less than 20 years; infant mortality rates dropped from the
pre-1967 140 per 1,000 to only 30 per 1,000 today—at a time when
the rest of the Arab world is still at 80 per 1,000; 7 Arab
colleges and universities were established under Israel
"occupation," where none existed before 1967. Yet it is Israel
that is now being attacked.
Had the Arab countries any true intentions of helping their
beleaguered brethren from western Palestine, they would and could
have absorbed them easily 4 decades ago, as the Israelites did of
an even greater number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands. The
Palestinian Arabs share the same language, religion and culture,
and for 70% of them, the same countries of origin just 3
generations before when their grandfathers emigrated for economic
reasons to Palestine from surrounding Arab lands. But the 22 Arab
countries, uninterested in aiding in Palestinian brothers,
preferred to use them as a political weapon to wield against
Israel, and the U.N. supported this heartless human manipulation.
In the mid-1970's Israel attempted to give the Palestinian Arab
refugees in Gaza new and better housing. The U.N. General
Assembly, at the urging of the Arab states, passed Resolution
32/90 condemning Israel for trying to relocate these refugees and
demanded they be returned "to the camps in which they were
removed." And yet, a senior U.N. official came to Gaza in January
1988 accompanied by 10 TV crews on a fact-finding visit and laid
the entire blame for the situation at Israel's feet. As if the
U.N.'s own complicity in the matter didn't exist!
The Refugee Problem
When the six Arab nations invaded Israel at Israel's birth, many
claim 600,000 Arabs were displaced in that war. What is not well
known is that approximately 800,000 Jews, who were living in those
six Arab nations, had to flee for their lives because of Arab
hatred. The solution to this refugee problem was simple—a fair
exchange.
Israel, at a terrible economic cost, absorbed the 800,000 Jewish
refugees But the Arab nations refused to accept these Arab
refugees—their Arab brethren. Rather, they placed them in refugee
camps, which became dark holes of hate and misery, models for
propaganda to turn world opinion against Israel. They succeeded. How
well they succeeded….
Refugee Camps
When Israel inherited Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") and
Gaza in the 1967 War, Israel also inherited the Palestinian refugee
camps that were administered by a United Nations agency. Israel
wanted to negotiate both the refugee problem and a peace settlement,
but the Arabs refused. One cannot help but agonize for the poor
refugee pawns in this ploy. The deplorable condition of the
Palestinian refugees is especially pitiful because the situation was
designed and perpetuated by their own Arab brothers. No wonder the
"intifada" erupted. Many claim the Arab nations refused to alleviate
the refugee problem both in 1948 and in 1967.
Among many who have made this observation is Col. Richard Henry
Meinertzhagen, a British Middle East expert. He asked a fellow
dinner guest at the home of a British diplomat, "Why do not you
Arabs, with all your resources from oil, do something for those
wretched refugees from Palestine?" The Lebanese replied, "Good God,
do you really think we are going to destroy the finest propaganda we
possess? It's a gold mine!" When Meinertzhagen observed that this
view was unkind and immoral, the Lebanese replied, "They are just
human rubbish, but a political gold mine!" In slightly different
language referring to the same attitude about the usefulness of
Palestinian refugee camps, Meinertzhagen notes in his book, "I
received identical views from other Arabs."
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The Palestinians who have taken to the streets, spoiling for
trouble, are the new generation-spawned in the refugee camps. From
earliest childhood, they have been taught hate.
The U.N. has now had the audacity to call Jerusalem and the "West
Bank" "occupied territories" only after Israel regained them in the
1967 War. In 1922 the League of Nations had recognized the legal,
moral and historic right of the Jewish people to a national homeland
in Palestine—including Jerusalem. If the Jews had a right to
Jerusalem recognized by the world community in 1922, that right is
still valid today. But since then, the vast oil reserves were
discovered in Arab lands. The nations are compromising Israel's
rights for their own oil interests! Consequently, today the U.S.
administration and the U.N. define East Jerusalem as "occupied
territory." But when Jordan occupied East Jerusalem, it became
"occupied territory." Now, in fact, no part of Jerusalem is
"occupied territory."
Jerusalem—indivisible—belongs to Israel. The same logic applies
to the "West Bank." Unfortunately, Israel's government presently is
too intimidated by tremendous pressure from the U.S. and other world
powers to insist on its historic right to Judea-Samaria, the
so-called "West Bank."
"They Partitioned My Land"
What is the Lord's perspective of all of these events? He is
angry at the nations. Whose Land is it that the world powers are now
pressuring Israel to give to the Arabs? During the current
regathering of the Jews to Israel, even before God's Kingdom is set
up in Jerusalem, God refers to Israel as "My people" and their Land
as "My Land" (Ezekiel 38:16; Isaiah 11:11). Because the LORD is
angry with the nations during Israel's regathering, He will bring
them down to the "Valley of Jehoshaphat" (symbolic of the great time
of trouble in Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:21), to be punished because
of their sins against Israel (Joel 3:1-2). The first sin is "they
have scattered" "My people" among the nations and then during the
regathering, "they parted [partitioned] My land." To whom does the
Land belong? The Arabs? No! The Land belongs to God and He gave it
to the children of Israel. But the nations have the arrogance to
partition God's Land. They took 77 percent of it away from Israel,
"My people," and gave it to the Arabs, and now the United States and
the nations of the world are pressuring Israel to surrender even
more of their God-given Land to the Arabs (See Map inside front
cover).
What is God's evaluation of the actions of Israel in contrast to
the actions of all other governments including the Arabs? What is
His respective judgment of each? His intentions are revealed by the
Prophet Jeremiah (30:11):
For I am with thee (Israel) saith the Lord, to save thee;
though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered
thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct
thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
After the destruction of their governments, the people of these
nations will "seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem" which will become
the capital of God's Kingdom (Zechariah 8:20-23). Instead of
converging on Israel and Jerusalem to partition the Land or take it,
the nations will come to Jerusalem to learn of the God of Israel so
that they may walk in His ways. Instead of coming to dissect Israel,
they will come to be taught (Isaiah 2:1-4).
