All of the prophecies concerning Israel in the Seventy
Weeks of Years have been fulfilled in amazing detail except the last week.
Most Christian scholars believe these seven years are the same as those
detailed in the book of Revelation which leads to Armageddon in Revelation
16. Many call it the seven year tribulation.
In any event, the key in Daniel 9:27 is that the
covenant established will be promoted by the international community led
by a man who at the time is probably obscure, but will soon be known as
the Antichrist. For the first time in all the peace negotiations over the
past 50 years, the "international community" is now fully
involved. It includes not only the U.S., but the EU and Russia, all the
principle nations (besides the Arab nations) that will be involved in
fulfilling end-time prophecy. Getting the international community involved
is the second step in the series of steps that may lead to the fulfillment
of Daniel 9:27.
The first major step was undertaken by president Clinton
when he forced Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian chairman
Yasser Arafat into a "no win" Peace Summit at Camp David as
explained in the August issue of DTT Digest. If we are in the promised
"last days" of the Bible, the current violence in Israel will
grow until the international community forces a peace settlement on the
Israelites and the Palestinians, and Israel will have the first true peace
since its birth in 1948.
The Palestinians take action to force an international
solution
The Palestinians took action on November 20 that put
them on a course towards fulfilling the third step. They declared that
they refuse to return to the same peace negotiations they held with Israel
prior to the latest wave of violence. According to Palestinian Authority
Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, The Palestine Authority now blames
the Clinton Administration and America for the peace failure because the U.S.
is too pro-Israel. "The completely one-sided American position with
Israel is also one of the reasons why we don't want to get back to the
same rhythm of the previous negotiations," said Abed Rabbo.
Rabbo also burned the bridge to any past peace
negotiations by demanding that there be international guarantees to send a
UN peacekeeping force into Israel immediately following the start of new
peace negotiations. Further, these negotiations are to be based, according
to Rabbo, on UN Resolutions 242 and 338. "These guarantees must be
followed by sending international protection forces to the Palestinian
territories to guarantee accurate, honest implementation of the
international (U.N.) Resolutions 242 and 338," he said. Resolutions
242 and 338 demand that all the land conquered by the 1967 war, including
the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and all of East Jerusalem (including the
Temple Mount) be given to the Palestinians.
Earlier, on November 6, the White House announced for
the first time, according to the Jerusalem Post, that it wants Israel to
consider meeting the Palestinians half way by agreeing to the posting of
some kind of international force in the territories. With the U.S.
softening, Arafat officially demanded a 2,000 man UN force on November 20
to protect the Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza
Strip.
To force this international solution, Arafat continues
to ratchet up the stakes--even using children to create international
outrage.
Arafat's despicable use of young children as screens
Every evening Americans watch as young boys hurtle
rocks and firebombs at Israeli soldiers, engendering harsh criticism of
Israel by the media and the international community for shooting these
rock-throwing youths. There is growing evidence that these tactics are
staged by the Palestinians to create just this type of media reaction even
though the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) procedures call for the use of tear
gas and water hoses against rock throwers, rubber bullets against firebomb
throwers, and live fire against gunmen.
The Jerusalem Post reported on November 8 that these
young boys are not doing this on their own accord, but are trained to hate
and harass Israelis. "Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker said
the use of children in the violence constitutes no less than a ‘war
crime,’ and cites various international conventions to back up his
position," said the Post. Baker claims that a number of international
treaties set the age of 15 as minimum age for a child to be involved in
hostilities, whether directly - through combat - or through other means.
In a letter to the executive director of UNICEF,
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Yehuda Lancry wrote, "Chairman Yasser
Arafat... is ruthlessly encouraging the involvement of children in the
violence...[and] calls them 'the Generals of the rocks.' He would have the
world believe that Israel, with its guns and helicopters, is waging a war
against 10-year-olds with small stones," Lancry wrote. "In
truth, however, the children... are used as human shields for the gunmen,
bomb throwers, and lynch mobs whose faces have been totally obscured and
invisible to the media."
Palestinians demand everything
The Palestinians have recklessly gone back to square
one. They are not going to concede anything, but instead demand Israel give up
everything. Never mind that it was the Arabs and what are now the
Palestinians who mounted a bitter war of hatred to kill every last
Israelite in the 1950s-1970s. Never mind it was they that created the
enormous military effort to push the Israelites into the sea in 1967.
Never mind that it was God's intervention that miraculously caused the
Israelites to win the 1967 war, crushing the Arabs who vastly outnumbered
them.
It is ludicrous to think Israel will negotiate under
the terms Arafat is now demanding. To do so would once again put the Arab
gun to Israel’s heart. Arafat knows it. Arafat is playing a deadly game
to get a Kosovo-like settlement by keeping the violence on the edge of
disaster. He is succeeding.
On November 20 AP reported the Israeli Defense Forces
(IDF) blamed a terrorist attack on an Israeli school bus on Arafat's Fatah
faction. The following day the Jerusalem Post announced that the IDF was
ramping up their attacks on the Palestinians when violence occurs. The IDF
would no longer warn the Palestinians in advance of a major assault that
previously had allowed them to vacate targeted buildings. NewsMax also
reported on November 21 that the IDF is also now attacking Palestinian
strong points and targeting midlevel commanders within the Palestinian
command structure who order terror attacks.
Palestine Authority officials threw gasoline on the fire when they
announced they would declare a state on December 31, on the eve of the
launching of the Fatah movement loyal to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Of
course, the Palestinians have made such proclamations before in attempts
to get international backing. Like those efforts in the past, this one
might also fail if they cannot get international support. But this time
they have the direct ear of the United Nations.
Countdown to the international solution
On November 20, the UN News Centre announced that
Secretary-General Kofi Annan began consultations with the parties in the
Middle East on the deployment of an international presence in the conflict
area. On November 27 the UN reported that Annan met with the George
Mitchell Middle East Fact-finding Committee that includes European Union
High Representative, Javier Solana.
As discussed in depth in the October issue of
Discerning the Times Digest, Javier Solana was the architect of the Kosovo
strategy and seems to be supporting Arafat in his desire to have an
internationally enforced Kosovo-like settlement. Annan briefed the
committee members on the current situation on the ground, and offered
the support of the substantial United Nations presence in the region.
At the same time Russian President Vladimir Putin
became personally involved for the first time. He met with Arafat on
November 24 along with a two hour phone call with Barak, and on November
25 the BBC announced that a three phased plan had been put forth:
Phase 1: International observers would go to the
Palestinian territories to oversee a calming of the situation.
Phase 2: A waiting period until the results of the US
elections are known while calm is maintained.
Phase 3: "A return to the negotiations in a
different way and with a new mechanism and a new formula for the
sponsorship of the peace process."
Just like Pharaoh in Moses' day, the Arabs hearts are being hardened.
They intend to force Israel to ratchet up their military response to
increasing Palestinian violence until Israel makes a horrible mistake,
forcing the international community to send in peacekeeping forces. Once
the UN is involved, it is highly probable that there will eventually be a
forced peace treaty or covenant between those of the old Roman Empire
(Europe and perhaps the U.S.), Israel and the Arabs. If so, Daniel 9:27
will likely be fulfilled and the tribulation will begin. V
mc
