Dear friends:On May 30 I forwarded a message from Jan Markell titled "Dividing the Land: Dangerous Diplomacy." In it, I stated, "The U.S. administration's increasing deference to the Palestinians is inexplicable."
In the below article, Hal Lindsey gives his take on the situation. It is chilling.
What we have seen in the last week is a sea change in U.S. foreign policy, without prior notice, suddenly tilting strongly away from Israel to the Palestinians.
The change is so drastic, so sudden, and so irrational, I wonder if it can be real.
It seems so unreal, is it possible that this is a sleight of hand by President Bush? Could it be? Remember, we citizens rarely know what is really going on in government. Most important plans and negotiations are hidden from us, wisely so. The media do not even know, even though they like to think they do. Most of our judgments are based only on surface matters and contrived news management.
Could President Bush possibly have said privately and secretly to Ariel Sharon, "Look Ariel, you and I know the Palestinians will never stop their violence. It is not in them. They are crazy. You and I know you can never have peace with them. So don't pay any attention to what I am about to say publicly. I have to look out after the interests of our $10+ trillion economy and our 100+ million jobs. I have to look after our American workers. To do this, even though I don't like to, I have to placate the Arabs. Let's buy some time. I don't know how much time, but let's see what we can do, hoping against hope for revolutionary change among the Palestinians."
Or more likely, could this inexplicable development just be the next step in God's last-days plan for Israel and the nations, irrational to the natural mind? In response to my last message above, one lady wisely responded with this godly word: "I know this is inexplicable, but God is STILL in control. President Bush is STILL in His hands and is an instrument to bring in the last days’ dramas. My prayers for Pres. Bush have only increased, but my prayers are simply 'Lord, THY WILL BE DONE here in earth and in President Bush AS IT IS (already accomplished) in heaven.'”
We shall see. Let us continue to pray for our leaders as the Scriptures exhort, and trust the outcome to God.
See message below.
Jim
_____________________________
Bush's 3 little words, 1 big betrayal
Posted: June 2, 2005
1:00 a.m. EasternBy Hal Lindsey
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
The Israelis are reeling from the body blow delivered them by President Bush following his meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. In one pronouncement, Bush totally scuttled all the hard-fought, blood-bought gains Israel has made in the three wars forced upon her.
All peace negotiations and concessions by Israel in the pursuit of peace with the Muslim Nations and Palestinians since 1949 have been rendered null and void.
President Bush's astonishing and unexpected statement reversed long standing American policy. In his joint statement with Abbas, he declared that any final status changes in the peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians must be mutually agreed to on the basis of the 1949 armistice lines.
To my horror, this statement is the greatest betrayal of Israel committed by any American president in history.
It nearly knocked me out of my chair when I considered the implications of Bush's statement. After considering them, I waited for a clarification. I thought, "Surely this president could not have meant what he said. It has to be a mistake."
I am still waiting, slack-jawed, for a retraction that evidently isn't forthcoming.
Imposing the condition of mutual agreement and setting the benchmark at the 1949 armistice lines starts the whole process at the beginning. This in effect gives all of the advantages to the Muslims without even sitting down at the bargaining table. Palestinians hold every casual word made by an American president that is to their advantage as the "Law of the Medes and Persians which changeth not."
It is a dead certainty that the Palestinian side isn't going to agree to a united Jerusalem with Israel. East Jerusalem was in Arab hands in 1949. A return to the 1949 armistice lines puts it in Arab hands again.
The Western Wall was in Arab hands in 1949. So was the Temple Mount. Making the 1949 armistice lines the basis for mutual agreement means Israel must negotiate with the Palestinians until they agree to give up their claim to the Dome of the Rock or until Israel agrees to give up its claim to the Temple Mount and all of Biblical Jerusalem.
Neither will happen. What is Bush thinking?
Based on this new equation, there is nothing left for Israel to negotiate. Victory: Palestinians. Method: Terrorism. Is it possible that President Bush didn't consider the implications?
President Bush gave his support to all key Palestinian demands without Abbas having to do a single thing to get it.
After resetting the negotiations to the 1949 lines, Bush added salt to the cuts:
Connecting the West Bank and Gaza effectively cuts Israel in half, making Israel a "state of scattered territories" instead. Such a border arrangement renders Israel totally indefensible. Could the president have misspoken? How could he do such a thing? Especially since it is not Israel that threatens to destroy Palestine, but the Palestinians who – along with the Muslim world – vow to destroy Israel.
- A viable two-state solution must ensure contiguity of the West Bank, and a state of scattered territories will not work. There must also be meaningful linkages between the West Bank and Gaza. This is the position of the United States today, it will be the position of the United States at the time of final status negotiations.
Everything about the Israeli-Arab conflict is unique, just as the Hebrew prophets said it would be. When it comes to Israel, the world becomes irrational.
For example, it is the only instance in modern history in which ethnic cleansing is a precondition to peaceful negotiations.
Israeli Foreign Service official and writer Yossi Ben-Aharond noted, "Every time an Arab or Palestinian leader arrives in the United States, his emphasis is on criticism of Israel – Israel's conquest, their arrests, demolition of houses, et al. But when an Israeli leader arrives, what does he have to say? "We offer our hand in peace, the Palestinians are suffering, we have done so much for them, we ask the administration to provide them with aid, etc. – and he barely says anything about the PA's violations, the terrorism, the incitement, etc."
Only hours after President Bush gave Abbas the green light to claim most of Israel as Palestinian territory, Abbas was warning that if PA demands were not met, "despair and loss of hope will come back and a return to the old ideas" – of "armed resistance."
The message, "Terrorism pays, negotiation doesn't" was delivered personally to the Palestinians and the rest of the Islamic world by George W. Bush. President Bush did all of this when he uttered those three little words, "1949 Armistice Lines." It might be time for Israel to start looking around for a new peace broker. This one appears to have taken on a new client.
But there is an even graver consequence for the USA. I have believed for decades that God has protected America despite our growing sin. He has done so because the USA has been a base for world evangelism and we have supported Israel's right to exist in the land God promised them. This betrayal, if followed through, will effectively remove God's protective shield. May God help us.
_____________________________Hal Lindsey is the best-selling author of 20 books, including "Late Great Planet Earth." He writes this weekly column exclusively for WorldNetDaily.
Be sure to visit his website where he provides up-to-the-minute analysis of today's world events in the light of ancient prophecies.
__________________________________________________________________________
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Zec 12:2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
Zec 12:3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
Zec 12:9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.