Middle East peace – “Let God Rule”

September 2000 Omega Times

The continuous saga of the Middle
East and the sovereignty of Jerusalem dominates our newspaper
headlines day by day. In this newspaper we endeavour to keep you
up to date with the latest details on the situation.

The prophet Zechariah 12:3 speaks
through the anointing of the Holy Ghost and tells us: “And
in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all
people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in
pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together
against it.”

I guess out of all the prophecies
that would be one the most powerful regarding detail. We have an
article sent to us recently from the New Zealand Herald, 18
August 2000, King Refuses To Give Up On Jerusalem

“Jordan’s King
Abdullah has told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that the
kingdom will never accept Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem,
Jordanian officials said…

Jordan lost Arab East Jerusalem
along with the West Bank in the 1967 Arab Israeli War…

The monarch told Barak that a
“just and single peace in the region” hinged on
Israel returning land captured during the 1967 war, said the
state news agency, Petra…

Jordan has a crucial stake in
peacemaking as host to more than 40 per cent of over 3.5 million
UN registered Palestinian refugees.

The king stressed that Jordanians
of Palestinian origin were entitled to return to their homes or
receive compensation for their loss.

A majority of the country’s
five million population are Palestinians who settled after
successive Arab-Israeli wars following the creation of Israel in
1948…” End Quote

As this article is being written
on the 13^th September 2000,we recognise that this was
the date when a comprehensive treaty was to have been signed
between Israel and the Arabs but now that has been out into
abeyance until the 15^th November 2000.

We quote from The Marlborough
Express, 11 September 2000, “The Palestinian
mini-parliament yesterday delayed a planned declaration of an
independent Palestinian state by at least two months to allow
more time for peace agreement to be reached within
Israel…

The 129 member Palestinian Central
Council said it would reconvene by November 15 to consider when
to declare the state, creating a breathing space to seek a deal
Israel to end 52 years of conflict…

“We have decided to give
peace a chance for five weeks…

But countries, including the US,
have demanded a delay because they fear unilateral declaration
made without a peace deal with Israel could trigger a
confrontation with the Jewish state and torpedo the peace
process.

In New York, Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak gave a grudging welcome to the Palestinian
decision saying it would be “a somehow positive
signal”.

But he coupled his remarks with a
warning that he would not sit idly by if the Palestinians
declared a state without negotiating it with Israel first.”
End Quote.

An interesting cutting from the
New Zealand Herald, 1 September 2000, “Israelis and Arabs
are looking at declaring God the sovereign over Jerusalem’s
holy sites…

Arafat demands full Palestinian
sovereignty over all of the traditionally Arab east Jerusalem,
including the Old City and its holy places…

Barak has said no Israeli prime
minister could ever give up the Temple Mount, the object of
Jewish longing through the ages.

If God is declared sovereign both
might save face and no longer fear being branded a traitor. Klein
said negotiators could then start working out the details of how
sovereignty was expressed…” End
Quote.

To you, the reader, I would say
this, that in making God sovereign they have made a very wise
choice, for we read in the book of Zechariah 14:4, “And his
feet (Jesus) shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of
Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and
toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley;
and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half
of it toward the south.”

Verse 9, “And the LORD shall
be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD,
and his name one.”