UN takes giant step towards intervention

Saying the Palestinians had "inalienable rights, "The 55th Session of the UN General Assembly enthusiastically reaffirmed that Israel had no sovereignty or authority in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and called on Israel to pull back to its 1967 borders that existed before the Seven Day War.

On Friday, December 1, the UN took a major step in justifying a UN intervention into the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The UN General Assembly reconfirmed a number of past UN resolutions that strip Israel of any sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and provides the Palestinians with "inalienable rights." The actions were part of the UN General Assembly's agenda to "find solutions to the Mideast crisis."

In perhaps one of the most controversial actions taken, the UN General Assembly adopted by a vote of 145 in favor, 1 against (Israel), and 5 abstentions (including the US), the position that the decision of Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem was illegal and, therefore, null and void. In another vote, 96 voting in favor, 2 against (Israel, US), and 55 abstaining, the UN General Assembly declared that Israel had failed so far to comply with Security Council resolution 497 (1981) and that the Israeli 1981 decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan was null and void, and had no validity whatsoever. It also demanded that Israel withdraw from all the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967.

On the question of Palestine, the Assembly adopted a resolution on the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in a recorded vote of 106 in favor, 2 against (Israel, US), and 48 abstentions. The Assembly authorized the Committee to continue to exert all efforts to promote the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and to give special emphasis to the need to mobilize support and assistance for them. The UN Assembly also stressed the need for commitment to the principle of land for peace and the implementation of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and the need for the immediate and scrupulous implementation of the agreements reached between the parties, including the redeployment of Israeli forces from the West Bank.

First step in justifying UN intervention?

Although the UN resolutions cited in these General Assembly actions date back 20 to 30 years, the UN heretofore had not done anything with them. Now, suddenly, they are forming UN policy and will probably be used to justify a Kosovo-like UN intervention, just as Arafat has been wanting. Indeed, in summing up the year's activities on December 20, UN Secretary general Kofi Annan affirmed that "for the first time in decades, the United Nations has been drawn into the heart of the Palestinian conflict."

Arafat has been gradually ratcheting up the violence in hopes of precipitating an Israeli retaliation that will backfire and make Israel look like a pariah. The Jerusalem Post reported on December 4 that Arafat vowed that the Palestinian uprising will continue until his people's national goals are met. They hope that the International Fact-finding Commission, headed by former Senator George Mitchell, will help them in attaining the Kosovo-like settlement giving the Palestinians everything they want.

The commission arrived in the region December 11. The Palestinians have every reason to be hopeful. The commission includes Javier Solana, the principle architect of the fraudulent Kosovo strategy that justified the illegal intervention of NATO into the sovereign affairs of Yugoslavia. While Slobodan Milosevic is a despot, there still was no legal grounds for NATO to intervene. As detailed in the May, 1999 issue of Discerning the Times Digest, the reason for bombing Yugoslavia was not about "ethnic cleansing," but about Caspian Sea oil and demonstrating the right of the international community to intervene into the internal affairs of sovereign nations. Arafat is hoping for the same results in Israel.

Peace protest: Right-wing Jews mock both sides' peace initiatives

UN Security Council says no to Arafat

Nonetheless, the time is not yet right. While UN Secretary General Kofi Annan continues his analysis on how the UN might respond militarily to the civil war in Israel, the UN Security Council on December 19 rejected a Palestinian proposal to establish an international observer force in the West Bank and Gaza Strip according to the BBC.

Ironically, the Palestinian motion failed because the US, UK, France and Russia abstained from the vote. The reason given for the lack of support at this time is very revealing. "The moment is not the most suitable to send an observer force," said French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte. It should be noted that the abstentions comprise both sides of the increasingly embattled globalist factions: the Anglo-British faction and the Socialist European- Russian faction that seem to be dueling for power as the new world government takes form.

The UN as yet does not have the moral justification to intervene in Israel. The UN must wait until all out war, likely involving the adjoining Arab nations has either started or is inevitable (see below). That may not be long in coming.

US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk warned that Israel could soon be engulfed in a regional war with its Arab neighbors, according to another December 4 Jerusalem Post report. The US is reportedly deeply concerned about war rumblings from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Syria's apparent "green light" to Hizbullah to violate UN Resolution 425 and attack Israeli soldiers. "It would be a big mistake to underestimate Israel's willingness to defend its interests. There's a real danger (of a military confrontation) if Hizbullah is not restrained," Indyk told The Jerusalem Post. Indeed, Arafat would like nothing more than to see this happen and have a massive retaliation by Israel that proves to the world that the Palestinians are the underdogs in the ongoing violence. Every day the war continues brings him closer to an international intervention that he believes will benefit the Palestinians.

Palestinians/Hizbollah arming for all-out war

Philadelphia Inquirer

While Arafat paints the picture of a Palestinian underdog, he is also arming the Palestinians for an all-out war against Israel. In addition to small arms in excess of the 1993 Oslo peace agreement for police forces, they now possess anti-tank missiles and antiaircraft weapons, potentially neutralizing Israel's use of tanks and helicopter gunships. "Israeli intelligence officials say the new arsenal could be a stockpile for a bigger battle in the future. The Israeli fear is that the Palestinians will amass enough of an arsenal to develop a homegrown version of Hizbollah, the anti-Israeli guerrilla movement based in Lebanon and nurtured by Iran and Syria," reported the Philadelphia Inquirer on December 19.

Syria and Iran have invested huge sums of money into expanding the military might of the Hezbollah. The December 18 edition of the Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) estimates that the Hizbollah has more than doubled its military capability since the Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon last May. The threat from Hizbollah is so great, said one military source, that "Hizbullah could walk into northern Israel tomorrow."

Hizbullah has reportedly acquired anti-tank missiles and long-range Katyusha rockets from Iran, delivered via Syria. If the Hezbollah joined forces with Syria while the Palestinians launched an all-out attack against the Israelis, it would present Israel with their worst fears: Fighting a civil war and an external invasion by foreign forces. The only thing that could make it worse is if Egypt also launched a simultaneous attack against Israel. That is Israel's "nightmare scenario."

Syria, Iraq and Iran joining forces

This threat has taken on ominous overtones in recent weeks. On December 7, the World Tribune reported that, "For the first time, Iran and Iraq are shelving their differences and have launched military cooperation against Israel. Israeli military sources said the two longtime foes are now cooperating in ensuring that Iranian missiles, weapons and other supplies arrive to Teheran's ally Hizbullah." The Tribune also reported the breakthrough in the Iraqi-Syrian reconciliation effort — which began in 1997 — was achieved over the last two months by new President Bashar Assad.

The new Syrian-Iraq-Iran cooperation has raised the stakes to dizzying heights. NewsMax and the World Tribune reported on December 13 that "Iraq has allocated more than $890 million to win Palestinian support for a "mini-war" against Israel to be led by Saddam, Iraq's dictator, that would position him as the leader of the Arab world." In turn Arafat has given Saddam a free hand in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. So strong is Saddam's influence that the only portrait on display of a foreign leader at anti-Israel demonstrations there is Saddam's.

Is the war turning hot?

The growing collaboration of the three Arab nations with the Hizbollah and Palestinians has put the IDF on a state of alert status. According to the Sunday Times and Jerusalem Post on December 17 and 18, "Israel is bracing for war with Syria and has placed its three nuclear-armed submarines on high alert." The IDF also stated that the nuclear missiles would only be used in the "all-out regional war." Israel is also deploying troops to the Golan Heights to reinforce troops already based there to cope with a "worst-case scenario." Meanwhile, IDF troops are training to defend the Jordan Valley in the event of an attack by Iraqi tanks via Jordan.

Still, an all-out regional war is likely months away. None of the Arab nations are prepared for such a war and Egypt has so far said it will not collaborate in such an effort by the other Arab nations. Nonetheless, all the pieces of the Daniel prophecy are progressively coming together in a way that could possibly lead to the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27. Israel is weakening itself through vicious political infighting. A strong, but false hope of peace is clouding Israel's judgment, opening them to deception. The international investigating commission that is currently determining who caused the ongoing violence will probably find Israel guilty of war crimes against the Palestinians. Arafat has the means and the desire to continue to ratchet up the violence, progressively building the image of the underdog against a tyrannical Israeli behemoth. The Arab nations (minus Egypt) are putting their differences aside to once again join together to push Israel into the sea. The current last-ditch efforts by Clinton to find a solution has failed--probably by design. And, the UN is taking deliberate steps, but biding its time until the time is ripe, to intervene and establish a peace covenant with Israel.