Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The Mid-East tinderbox has continually been in the news, and a diplomatic battle of several years duration has recently heated up between the United States and the Israeli state. We are now witnessing what the mainstream media are calling the "worst diplomatic standoff with the U.S. in decades." (Wall Street journal, 3-23-10, A14) What is this all about?

The land of the Mid-East has long been claimed by both the Jews and the Palestinian Muslims. Even after the creation of the Israeli state in 1948 the battle has raged continuously for control. What the Palestinians have been unable to obtain by military force they are attempting to achieve by other means.

Four solutions have been advanced in response to this Mid-East unrest. The FIRST is to do nothing, and continue to postpone any decision on Palestinian demands. This course has been taken up to this point because the Israeli government and public are so divided on all other options. The United States government is strongly pushing for the land to be divided into two separate states: a Palestinian state comprising the "West Bank" and areas comprising the ancient Biblical House of Israel as well as a major part of Jerusalem and Biblical Judea. In support of this, U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have strongly condemned the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the proposed future home of a Palestinian state.

Their voices have been joined by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who on March 20, 2010 declared the Israeli West Bank settlements "illegal." Succumbing to the power of the purse (American billions in foreign aid), the Israeli government agreed on November 25, 2009 to a ten month freeze on new construction in the West Bank. However, construction already begun has continued.

Therefore the SECOND option available to the Israelis is a Two-State solution in which a majority of the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem would be given to the Palestinians for their own sovereign state. This would reduce the Jewish nation to a small area -- at points a mere eight miles wide -- mostly comprising land which was not the ancestral homeland of the Biblical Hebrews. Instead, the Jews would be obtaining sections of the land of the ancient Philistines and Phoenicians. Would the Jews be able to claim an historic right to this land based on inheritance?

Another serious issue exists with this second option. The Palestinian problem with the Jews is not geographical but existential -- many of their leaders have sworn to annihilate the Jews and remove them completely from the Mid-East! At least twice -- in 1948 and 1967 -- the West Bank served as the staging ground for rocket and mortar attacks on the Jews. It seems likely that this would happen again if the Palestinians were given the land outright.

The THIRD option is a one-state solution, where Jews and Muslims would be equal citizens with equal voting rights. However, the Jewish people have a low birthrate continuously below the replacement level, while the Muslim birthrate is currently over 11 children per family -- high, although considerably down from almost 18 per family a few decades ago. Experts predict that the 5.3 million Jews in the Mid-East will be outnumbered by the Palestinians (currently numbering about 3.8 million) by the year 2018. The danger is that when the Muslims obtain a majority of the population in the Israeli state they could use the power of the ballot to completely outlaw Jews and Judaism from the entire region. Many commentators see this as the death-knell for Judaism in the Mid-East. What would prevent a Muslim takeover? A tremendous outcry of "apartheid" would be heard world-wide if a minority Jewish population did not cede power to the majority Palestinians.

Already a yearly event called "Israel Apartheid Week" is celebrated at college campuses in a growing number of countries. This year the event was held on March 1-14, the exact dates determined by each local sponsor. In addition, a "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" (BDS) global movement has had growing influence and success. Clearly, there would be considerable problems with the continued existence of a Jewish Apartheid state.

In response to the above three options, a number of Israelis and their supporters are now proposing a FOURTH solution, which has become known as "the Samson option." This refers to the Biblical judge, Samson, who acted decisively in ancient times to a threat to Israel's existence. We read about this in Judges 16:25-30:

"And they [the Philistines] called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life."

The late General Moshe Dayan said, "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that will happen, before Israel goes under alone." Is this a nuclear threat? According to the Wall Street Journal, "Israel has a formal position of neither confirming nor denying its possession of atomic weapons." (10-23-09, A13) However, most Mid-East experts believe that the Jewish state does indeed possess nuclear capability. Would they use it?

It is difficult to predict specific future world events or to isolate particular Biblical prophecies which could be fulfilled in the very near future. Nevertheless, many Bible students believe that we may be nearing the end of the present age. We are reminded of Peter's graphic prophecy that "...elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 Pet. 3:10) The Apostle John warned of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, in which the fourth was "...a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death." (Rev. 6:8) Others would point to the coming of Armageddon (Rev. 16:16).

An article on the Wall Street Journal editorial page speaks of the danger of "a broad conflagration in the Middle East ...The world is getting more dangerous by the day..." (9-23-09, A24) The coming decade may witness a tremendous upheaval in the Mid-East, which would almost certainly produce severe aftershocks to the economic, political, and religious community world-wide. Will we witness momentous Bible prophecies come to pass in the next few years? Only time will tell.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Proclaiming the Good News of the Soon-Coming Kingdom of YEHOVAH God!

Hope of Israel Ministries P.O. Box 853 Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. www.hope-of-israel.org

Scan with your Smartphone for more information