U.S., Israel prepare for war

After nearly a month of last minute arm-twisting and threats in December and early January, 2001, president William Jefferson Clinton finally gave up on achieving a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on January 7. The answer is simple to him--divide up and share the city of Jerusalem, shake hands and live happily ever after. But it is not that simple. "We've got a mess on our hands.... Sometimes you just have to do the right thing. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it does not," lamented Clinton. Indeed, by creating this "mess", Clinton had given the gift of war to the incoming president George W. Bush.

Mistake or planned?

As with all of Clinton's efforts to find peace, the only thing this final effort accomplished is solidifying the belief on both sides that a peaceful settlement is not possible and war is the only course of action. This has led both Israel and the U.S. to begin to prepare for war months ahead of what might have transpired if Clinton had not thrown gasoline on the Israeli-Palestinian smoldering fire.

Thousands of Israelis gathered at the Jaffa gate to Jerusalem's Old City to protest against handing parts of the city to the Palestinians as part of a peace settlement. The words 'I swear' were projected on the wall. BBC Photo

Even Clinton is not this naive. There was never any real hope for a peace settlement from the very start. Both sides claim Jerusalem, and especially the Temple Mount, as their most important city and site in their culture. Both demand Jerusalem as their capital. Until Clinton forced the two cultures to confront this insolvable dilemma, there remained a faint hope that some sort of solution was possible. Enough hope that there was an uneasy, semi-peaceful coexistence. Thanks to Clinton, however, the Israelites and Palestinians now know there can never be a settlement between them. War is now the only course of action--it is just a matter of when.

Clinton's most recent plan involved dividing the city into Israeli-Palestinian sovereign zones. Yet, all Clinton has managed to do is further inflame the already explosive situation. The Washington Times on January 26 reported that Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, called Clinton's proposal a "recipe for disaster" and "strategic insanity." Israelis passionately agreed with Gold. On January 8 the Jerusalem Post announced that over 300,000 irate Israelis vehemently protested Clinton's plan. They sent Clinton and all who would try to strip Israel of its sovereignty over Jerusalem and Temple Mount, a reverberating NO. Projected on the Wailing Wall that night were 20 foot Hebrew letters spelling "I SWEAR", meaning we will never give up Jerusalem or the Temple Mount.

Clinton had created more than a mess; he created a nightmare that looks more and more like it will inevitably lead to war. By blaming both sides Clinton has established the justification for international intervention. But that probably won't happen until there is either all-out war or the threat of all-out war by one or more of the surrounding Arab nations as well. Rather than assume the responsibility for touching-off this explosion, however, Clinton has deftly shifted the blame to the Israelites and the Palestinians. In what has been a hallmark of Clintonian arrogance, the president berated both sides on January 7 that the whole "mess" is their fault. "There is no choice but for you to divide this land into two states for two people," Clinton said. "Israel is a little country, and this will make it smaller," he added. Then, he condescendingly told them, "Make the best of it."

Prophecy being fulfilled?

Ironically, the powder keg touched off by Clinton may be the beginning of the fulfillment of an end-time prophecy of Zechariah 12:2, "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling...." Clinton has managed, deliberately or naively (and Clinton is not naive) to once again make Israel and Jerusalem the central focus of the world "sending all the surrounding peoples reeling."

Continuing in 12:2-3 Zechariah prophesies, "...Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves." If this is the day to which Zechariah is referring, before long all the nations of the earth will be involved, possibly starting with a UN military observer force that Secretary General Kofi Annan has been considering since November 17, according to the UN News Bureau.

Although the Arabs would move against Israel, Zechariah warns that they will only hurt themselves when they fail. But that is not all Zechariah says. "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place." (Zechariah 12:6) It is not yet clear if this means that the surrounding nations will be destroyed as is the case for the attack by Russia and the Arab nations in Ezekiel 38-39, or if it means that the Israelites will be like a firepot spreading the Gospel of Christ as they finally acknowledge and accept Christ as their Savior in verse 10. Verse 9 suggests the former since it is clear that it is God who destroys the nations that attack Israel--just as He claims in Ezekiel 38-39.

Iraq forces U.S., Britain and Israel to mobilize for war

If Clinton was attempting to create war in the Middle East just before leaving office, it appears to have worked. In one of the last acts as president before he left office, Clinton ordered the U.S. military threat condition from "Bravo" to "Charlie"--one step below "Delta," the highest military alert status possible. Both U.S. and British troops may be heading for Israel within the next few weeks, according to a January 18 report by WorldNetDaily (WND). "When you look at all the signals coming out of Iraq, for example," one source told WND, "they are significant." Saddam has deployed Republican Guard divisions "50 miles south of Baghdad and two divisions near the border with Syria...."

The U.S. sent a Patriot anti-missile battery to Israel in January to confront an increasing missile threat from Iraq that would likely carry weapons of mass destruction.

From all indicators, it looks like" the U.S. is making preparations for conflict in the Middle East to confront this threat. By January 26, the World Tribune reported that the U.S. had sent a Patriot anti-missile battery to Israel. The New York Times warned on January 22 that Iraq's Saddam Hussein has rebuilt his country's biological and chemical weapons factories and has produced warheads of mass destruction to attach to mid-range missiles. On January 29 the London Telegraph reported an Iraqi military engineer who had defected claimed Iraq has two fully functional nuclear bombs and is producing more.

The threat of a missile attack is very real. On January 15, Ha'aretz Breaking News said that Hussein had called for the annihilation of the state of Israel and for the establishment of a "Palestine state from the river to the sea", in a televised speech marking the Gulf War's 10th anniversary. Saddam reaffirmed his support of the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel and called on the Arab states to enable his army to pass through their land on its way to annihilate Israel.

The U.S. is not the only one preparing for war. On January 11, the Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli government officially raised the legal designation of the conflict from a "formal state of peace" to that of an "armed conflict"--one level short of all out war. The redefinition allows IDF soldiers to fire on any "combatant" as a legitimate target and absolves Israel of legal responsibility for damage and injuries.

On January 17, WorldNetDaily (WND) reported that Israel's Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz and members of the General Staff have urged Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is also defense minister, to order a major reserve call-up to ensure that the standing army is prepared for war this year. The military has termed 2001 as a "year of readiness" for regional war. The call-up of the reserves would mobilize reservists to carry out military responsibilities so as to allow the regular IDF to train for a regional war..

The IDF is rapidly becoming frustrated with Barak's endless and fruitless efforts to find peace. In the latest Barak attempt, Israel is participating in a "peace marathon" with the Palestinians that started on January 22. Arafat has historically used this kind of Israeli paralysis to continue to ratchet up the violence or undermine the process and this peace marathon was no different. Less than 24 hours after his negotiators said "they had never been closer to peace," Arafat asked for "international protection" from Israeli aggression at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 29. According to Arafat, Israel had conducted a "barbarian and cruel war, using fascist methods, against the Palestinians, and is continuing with its policy of economic strangulation."

Arafat's deception worked perfectly. Barak's gamble at peace blew up in his face and poll ratings plummeted. Barring a miracle, Sharon will win the election for Israeli Prime Minister. The London Telegraph reported on January 30 that Israeli crowds chant "Arik, King of Israel" when Ariel Sharon appears. They wave copies of Warrior, the memoirs of his military career. They proclaim: "Sharon knows how to deal with the Arabs. If they fire a bullet, he'll respond with a missile." But Israeli press has labeled Sharon a loose cannon whose extraordinary military talents and well-focused aggression were useful in war but dangerous in peace time. Just what will he do?

The effect of Sharon on the peace process

Arial Sharon leads Ehud Barak by 18 points in the race for Israeli Prime Minister.

Arial Sharon, the Likud party chairman running against Barak for prime minister, is building his campaign around the growing frustration by the military and Israeli citizens to stop the inane attempts by Barak to give Israel to the Palestinians in exchange for peace. Sharon has stated that if elected he would abandon the peace process and negotiate a non-belligerency arrangement with the Palestinians, according to the January 19 edition of the Scotsman.

Sharon, a militant Israeli nationalist, proposes not to give the Palestinians any more land than they now have, and not dismantle any of the 150 Jewish settlements established since 1967 in the West Bank under the direction of then Agriculture Secretary Sharon. Ironically, as Agriculture minister, Sharon established those settlements in an effort to make it very difficult to give the historical Biblical land back to the Palestinians in any treaty that might be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.

Sharon's position is diametrically opposite that of Barak, who announced the same day that he was now willing to give up 90 percent of the West Bank to have peace, according to a January 19 NewsMax report. But 90 percent is not enough for the Palestinians. On January 30, the Jerusalem Post reported that Arafat and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak said "that there will be no peace agreement without a 100 percent withdrawal to the 1967 borders." Arafat has never had any intention of negotiating for peace. He has always demanded that all land be given back to the Palestinians that was lost in the 1967 war when the Arab nations positioned their armies to drive Israel into the sea.

The Palestinians, of course, will never agree to Sharon's conditions when they know that the international community is now ready to intervene with a Kosovo-like solution that will give them much of what they want. If (when) Sharon wins the election, Arafat will continue to ratchet up the violence. Arafat's strategy would be enhanced by the much more militant Sharon, if he makes a tactical mistake and over-reacts to Palestinian violence and kills a high number of Palestinian civilians. Such an event would make Israel a pariah in the eyes of the international community and make it much easier to get a good settlement for the Palestinians.

However, Arafat's strategy may backfire with Sharon. Sharon will not be saddled with the peace image of Barak. He makes no apology for his belief that for Israel to achieve peace with the Palestinians, it may first have to endure violence. Stratfor Intelligence believes that Sharon’s challenge will be gauging his tough treatment of the Palestinians carefully so that the rest of the Arab world does not get involved. Egypt and Jordan, which both have peace agreements with Israel, unless something happens in the next few weeks, have made clear to Arafat that they are not prepared to go to war with Israel at this time. Arafat will have to deal with Sharon on his own.

According to Stratfor, "Sharon can negotiate with hard-line Palestinians because he will hold a carrot and a stick, where Barak was politically limited to the carrot. The resulting peace will come not in the form of a final status agreement but as a living arrangement. Both sides will agree to live relatively peacefully, knowing that if one side gets out of hand, the other will attack with force. Western standards do not apply. The peace that Sharon can bring is the most realistic peace for which the region can hope."

The international agenda

What Stratfor does not realize is that there is a much deeper agenda driving the Israeli conflict than what is apparent on the surface. As Clinton fades into the woodwork (if he does), European Union Secretary General of Foreign Affairs Javier Solana will likely be the lead negotiator in the peace process. If so, he will favor the Palestinians over Israel. It was Solana who designed and promoted the Kosovo "ethnic cleansing" facade to justify the NATO bombing and settlement favoring the Muslim Albanian Kosovars. Arafat and the Palestinians are counting on achieving the same settlement for themselves.

Before that happens, however, the internal violence in Israel must increase substantially until it becomes something the international community cannot ignore. An effort by the Palestinians on December 16 to have the UN Security Force send observers into Israel to report the abuses of Israel on the Palestinians failed because, as one security Council member stated, "it is not yet time." But, that does not mean the UN is not backing the Palestinians. On December 1, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel's violence and striped Israel of any sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and provides the Palestinians with "inalienable rights." The actions were part of the UN 55th General Assembly's agenda to "find solutions to the Mideast crisis."

Like clockwork, events in Israel seem to be following a path that will lead to the fulfillment of much Biblical prophecy. Only time will demonstrate whether prophetic fulfillment will, in fact, occur. In the meantime Jesus gives a very harsh warning in Luke 21:34-36. "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." TOP