Our Changing World (Part Six) Israel: Tiny Land, Huge Impact

by pastor Jim Walters

How can one tiny piece of land in the Middle East, a piece of land about the size of Massachusetts, be so much in the news and play such a big part in our changing world?

The nation of Israel is small geographically but huge politically. It is also the only “miracle” nation on earth. By that I mean they were wiped off the map in 71 A.D. and stayed off the map for more than 1,800 years, but suddenly they are BACK! After almost two millennia living as exiles, in 1948 the Jewish people once again took ownership of their ancient and biblical land.

What chance would you give, for example, the Anasazi people who built Mesa Verde to rise up and make a new nation out of the “four corners” area of Colorado? Could the Arapahoe people reclaim Arapahoe County and turn it into a separate nation? If I told you the Mayans will soon rise up out of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and re-birth their sovereign empire, you’d think I was nuts! But Israel came back into existence after an absence longer than any of those empires. This is the only time in history such a thing has actually happened.

The modern state of Israel is in fact a re-birth of the nation of the Old Testament:
1) The location is the same.
2) The archeologists continue to dig up artifacts from ancient Israeli towns.
3) The population contains many who are direct descendents of Jews from antiquity.
4) The major religion, Judaism, still operates under the tenets of the Old Testament.
5) The language, while modernized, is the same language as ancient Hebrew.

So how did Israel come back to life? The Zionist movement (to create a modern political state of Israel) began shortly after the American Civil War. Jews from Europe slowly migrated back to the land. They didn’t have visas, so they were essentially “illegal aliens.” Nonetheless, they came and opened tiny farming settlements. The Ottoman Turkish Empire had been in control for centuries, but during World War I, the British army, under General Allenby, pushed the Turkish forces out and seized the land as part of the Allied victory in Europe. By 1922 the League of Nations had authorized the “British Mandate” over the region of Palestine.

It is important to note that the term “Palestine” historically referred to a region and not a political state. Sort of like how we talk about “the front range” of the Rockies. There’s no boundary for that, no post office zip code, no one has a driver’s license issued by the “front range.” It was never a country, never a political state.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Adolf Hitler was rising to power, with vast and ghastly consequences. By the end of World War II, the Nazi regime had murdered more than four million Jews (and more than a few other people) in the Holocaust. When the war ended, there was global empathy for the surviving Jews, and the newly established United Nations took action. In 1947, they “partitioned” the land into two areas that were to become two new states: Israel and Palestine. One nation would be Jewish controlled; the other Arab (or Muslim) controlled. The one existing (and very historical) city, Jerusalem, was to become an “international” city. The Jewish community accepted the plan immediately, but the Arab League and other Arab leaders rejected it – they couldn’t abide ANY land being given back to Israel. Nonetheless, on May 14, 1948, Israel became a state – to the jubilation of Jewish people worldwide. The United States was the first nation to recognize the new state diplomatically, and not many nations followed. Five Arab states built up an army and attacked Israel, intending to drive the Jewish residents into the sea. Right before the attack, Arab leaders advised all Arab peoples to flee the country temporarily, so as to be out of harm’s way. About 700,000 (or 80%) of the Arabs fled Israel.

But the war went badly for the Arabs – in what military experts say was a miraculous victory, the brand-new and barely organized Israeli army defended their land and pushed out the invaders.
When the dust settled, Jordan claimed the land on the West Bank of the Jordan river, and Egypt was in control of the Gaza Strip on the southwest side of Israel. The 700,000 refugees were unable to return to Israel proper. They were people without a country and the genesis of what continues to be a major issue today: the Palestinian refugees, who have grown to more than 3 million over the last sixty years.

Arab states continued to harass Israel – Egypt’s President Abdul Nasser continued to call for the destruction of the state of Israel. In 1967, Egyptian and other Arab nations massed troops on the borders, but a preemptive strike by the new Israeli Air Force ended the Six Day war.

In 1973, another assault by Arab armies came on the Israeli holy day of Yom Kippur, but again the Arabs were defeated. Much of the “Palestinian” land was captured by the Israeli army, who continued to occupy it since then for security purposes. Honestly, the history and the scope of the Palestinian problem is much too complicated to explain fully in this short essay.

Here’s where we are in the year 2008:

a) Israel continues to thrive as a nation; it’s 6 million people are 75% Jewish, 25% Arab Muslim or other minority groups. Their economy is strong; their per-capita income is in the top quarter of the world ($23,000 per person).

b) The eastern area of Palestine, known as the West Bank, is run by the political party Fatah. This is the party of the late Yasser Arafat and is considered a bit more moderate than other groups. The southwestern area of Palestine, the Gaza Strip, recently elected leaders from the Hamas party, a violent sect that will not recognize the right of Israel to exist, even to this day.

c) The people of Palestine have still not been able to form themselves into a nation, in spite of the efforts of every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter. They enjoy total support of all the rich oil states in the Middle East, plus considerable support from the European Union. What’s the only country that has stood stalwartly in defense of Israel? That would be the United States.

d) No Arab country will allow any of the Palestinian refugees to immigrant permanently in to their country. Rather, they use the refugees as a wedge against Israel.

Why is this problem so intractable? Why is it in the news year after year after year?
I can count at least five challenges that the world has been unable to overcome:

#1 The Palestinians themselves can’t agree on how to form and operate their nation.

#2 Some Palestinians demand far more of Israel than it can ever concede. ( This would include the “right of return” as citizens of Israel, for all who fled Israel, turning the country into an instant majority-population of Arab Muslims. That’s not going to happen.)

#3 The Palestinians have no potential means of operating an economy. Israel spent a century building irrigation systems and farm communes, not to mention modern factories and computer-based services. The literally “made the desert bloom,” but such is not happening in Palestine.

#4 During all this time, Israeli settlements have encroached into land legally belonging to the Palestinian people. The settlers took over unused land and don’t want to give it back.

#5 Jerusalem, particularly East Jerusalem, is claimed by both Jews and Muslims as a Holy City. The Jews are willing to share access, if they can keep control. The Muslims want it all. Israel has declared Jerusalem to be their “eternal capital city,” even thought their political capital is in Tel Aviv. On this point, there is no backing down.

These are the challenges that we ALL face today. (Another reason to pray for President-Elect Obama, that he and all the new U.S. leaders will have wisdom to deal with this issue.)

Ironically, when Osama Bin-Laden listed the three reasons he authorized the attacks against the U.S. on September 11, 2001, he cited these issues:

#1. The presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia (ironically, few are still there)
#2 The sanctions against Saddam Hussein (curiously, he’s no longer in power)
#3 The inflexibility of the U.S. support for Israel regarding the Palestinian peoples.

So the problem is there – and it will always be there. Many biblical passages pit the sons of Isaac (the Jews) in perpetual conflict with the sons of Ishmael (the Arabs and others) although they are both sons of Abraham!

Some say there will never be “real peace” until Jesus returns and stands on the Mount of Olives, to herald in the 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ. Still, we are instructed in Psalm 122:6 to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” and that is what we shall do. Pray for peace, for blessing, for prosperity, for not only the Jews but also the Arabs (as well as the few Christians) who dwell in the region of the earth known as Palestine.

So What Do We Do Now?

So What Do We Do Now?
by Pastor Jim Walters

This morning I am thinking about the readers of this local church blog. Many of whom woke up today as members of a new political minority. Many of our readers, I suspect, have a sense of sadness over a perceived shift from conservative, traditional values, to ones that are liberal, perhaps extreme.
Others may feel fear as the White House goes through a makeover, from the very familiar feel of two presidents with the plain-sounding name of “George Bush,” to a new president, whose very name sounds more foreign than familiar. Still others may be more concerned about the dominance of a single political party in all branches of government, and what agendas they may advance into law.
But hey, not to despair. This is still America, and the people have spoken. Sixty million of them spoke for Senator Barack Obama and so he will become the President of all three hundred million of us. Let me say that he will be “my president” too and I will support him. I plan to speak kindly of him, and speak graciously to my friends who supported his election. These friends will be sure to visit me soon, I am sure, to “share their joy” with me. I will take my medicine, and try to follow the gracious example that Senator McCain so genuinely demonstrated last night.
Plus, some aspects of yesterday’s election can truly be celebrated by all Americans.
#1. The joy on the faces of every African-American can be shared by people of all races. We hold these truths to be self-evident: “that all men are created equal.” It’s straight from the Bible, you can look it up (Luke 20:21; Acts 10:34). This election ratifies that truth. This could be a giant step for bringing racial healing to our nation. This could encourage fathers to stay with their families, dropouts to stay in school, hopeless youth to stay out of gangs. It's a good thing for us to rejoice with those who are rejoicing.
#2. The rest of the world gets to see that we do in fact practice the democracy we preach. We know how to peacefully transfer the power from one party to the next. (And we apparently can count our ballots again, without the hanging chads and screaming lawyers.) Seriously, a lot of good American soldiers laid down their lives in combat so that Middle Eastern people might have a chance at this kind of freedom and democracy. Let’s honor their efforts by laying down our rancor and disappointment and showing the world how to respond when your side isn’t in power.
From the perspective of a conservative Christian, I personally am not too freaked out about us not being “in power.” Frankly, our faith is lived out more purely when we’re not in power! And when we were in power, perhaps we let our trust slip, ever so subtly, from God to government. With the right guys in DC, we may have thought, the “kingdom of God” in American will thrive. It didn’t happen.
So what do we do now? We keep praying. We pray for America and we pray for (not against) our new president. I will ask God to give him wisdom (as He did for Solomon) and protection (as He did for David) and courage (as He did for Gideon). Also, I will ask God for patience, and peace, and perseverance, for all of our leaders, plus, for you and for me!
A Blessing on Our New President Today,
Pastor Jim