The Navel of the Earth
Suddenly with the death of Arafat, Israel’s conflicts come into fresh focus.
What really are the rights and wrongs? Are the Palestinians backed by surrounding nations bent on destroying Israel? Are their suicide bombs just the last struggle of a helpless oppressed people? What is sober fact and what is propaganda? And do we have any responsibility in all this? Certainly over the year, many nations have been involved, and not just neighbours, - America, Russia, UK, to name the most obvious. Obviously both sides have suffered from the violence of hardliners - Hamas and extreme Zionists, and the present situation is perilously vulnerable. And none of us is entirely blameless. But one thing is clear; the Jews have a special place in this. Israel is a Jewish state, and it is a unique phenomenon. No other nation in history has survived through almost two millennium, without land or government or national institutions or titular head, to reappear as a nation-state. What is more, there are ancient prophecies that foretold it (e. g. Isaiah 19:23f etc.),
There are many Christians, especially in the US, which see this as a sign of the imminent end of human history, and support Israel accordingly. as God’s chosen people being brought back to God’s promised Land, and to oppose or even criticise Israel is to fight against God and His purposes. I have to confess that I cannot ignore those prophecies in the Bible that do foretell this. But there are other things, in the bible too, The Jews lost the land in the first place because they violated God’s Law. For instance, it denounces theft; but many Jewish settlements and the recently built defensive Wall occupy Palestinian territory! The Bible limits criminal penalties to ‘an eye for an eye’ and so a life for a life; but for lives life lost by suicide bombers Israel has exacted three times as many. There are special provisions for the poor, the weak and the resident alien, but Israel’s ‘apartheid’ policies deprive many Palestinians of even the ability to work for a living. I love the Jews; I am enamoured of their history, language, and culture. And I fear what Israel has been doing will not hasten that glorious promised End, but rather delay it. So, if you can pray at all, please, as that Bible bids us, ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem’
John Peck