6
"I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house
of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion
on them. They will be as though I had not rejected
them; for I am the Lord their God and I will answer
them. 9 Though I scatter them among the
peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me.
They and their children will survive, and they will
return. 10 I will bring them back from Egypt
and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to
Gilead and Lebanon, and there will not be room enough
for them.”
- Zechariah 10:6,9-10
In light of the fact that many in
the world are calling for the establishment of an
independent Palestinian Arab nation within the borders
of Israel, I felt it important to share some information
about Israeli "occupation". The truth is, the
Palestinian Arabs have no ancestral claim to any portion
of Israel. The Arabs living in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip are the same Arabs that live in Jordan, Syria,
Lebanon, etc. The claim that they are being
oppressed by "Zionist occupiers" is ludicrous on two
counts. First, Israel is land that God covenanted
to the Jews thousands of years ago, and Biblical
prophecy tells us that they get their home back.
We've been witnessing the fulfillment of that prophecy
since 1948, when Israel became an independent nation.
Furthermore, if you will simply look at the map and
statistics below, you will see that Israel can hardly be
called an "occupying force".
ISRAEL IN THE ARAB WORLD
Jewish Nations in Middle East:
Israel
Arab Nations in Middle East:
Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti,
Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania,
Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria,
Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
Geographical Area*
Israel including Gaza and West
Bank:
approx. 10,800 square miles
Arab nations:
approx. 5,368,500 square
miles
Population, Total*
Israel (including West Bank and
Gaza, both Arab and Jew):
approx. 5,700,000
Arab Nations:
approx. 203,393,000
Population Density*
Israel:
approx. 525 people per square mile
Arab Nations:
approx. 38 people per square mile
As
you can see, the area occupied by the Jews is a miniscule
fraction of the area of the Middle East. In fact, the
area of Israel is only two-tenths of one percent of the area
of the Arab nations. Yet Israel has a population
density FOURTEEN TIMES that of the Arab nations. If the Arab countries
want to help the Palestinian Arabs, why don't they
offer them some land?
If
you believe reports that the Palestinian Arabs only want
control over the West Bank, think again. In a
televised interview with a Hamas spokesman recently, the
reporter asked him if the suicide bombings against Israeli
citizens would stop if an independent Palestinian state were
created. He casually replied, "We cannot stop until we
have driven all Israelis into the sea." This is not a
conflict about a small piece of land. This is a
conflict in which the Arabs wish to drive all the Jews from
the Middle East. You'll notice the Palestinian Arabs
did not commit homicide bombings in the name of independence
when they were under the control of Jordan. The
following quote further illustrates this point.
"In Islam, if
your enemy occupies a small piece of your land, then you
have to declare jihad against the enemy. Jihad becomes a
must and a religious obligation on all Muslims to go and
fight the enemy…women must go for jihad without taking
permission from their husbands, slaves without taking
permission from their masters, boys without taking
permission from their fathers. Palestine is occupied by
the enemy. The occupation of Palestine shouldn't be dealt
with as a regional one but as an Islamic obligation,
because occupation of any Islamic land is a violation to
the Sovereignty of Islamic world." -- Ahmed al-Kufahi,
member of the Islamic Action Front(IAF), at the AIP
Conference in Chicago, Illinois in 1997.
As you can see,
the lofty goal of the Arabs - specifically the Muslims, is
the total annihilation of the Jews, and complete control of
the Middle East. The Bible has something else to say
about the fate of Israel though, and the fate of those that
align themselves against her.
This is
the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who
stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the
earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares:
2 "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends
all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged
as well as Jerusalem. 3 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. 4 On that day
I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with
madness," declares the Lord. "I will keep a watchful eye
over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of
the nations. 5 Then the leaders of Judah will say
in their hearts, 'The people of Jerusalem are strong,
because the Lord Almighty is their God.'
–
Zechariah 12:1-5
*
Geographical and population statistics are based on most
recent numbers available, some dating back to the 1970's
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