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The Middle East Quandary
By Al
Ruechel | 04-04-02
Let's face it, for the Christian
community the Middle East posses a huge quandary. On the one hand,
we want all the fighting to end and the Israeli's and Palestinians
to make peace. On the other hand, we know that if the world is going
end the way the book of Revelation seems to predict and Jesus is
going to return, this little skirmish is just kid's stuff, a prelude
to Armageddon.
Please don't think me a fatalist or a
total nut case. As a journalist and worship leader I hear plenty of
people who find themselves in this same theological limbo. The Bible
clearly tells us to "pray for the peace of Israel", and I
can think of no Christian who can stomach the thought of Jerusalem
falling into the hands of the Muslims or others who despise
Christianity. So, ever the pragmatist, I have decided to pray that
God will bring peace to the region and stop the fighting because,
for the sake of my children, I don't want to see this thing escalate
into World War 3. If Jesus is going to return he won't be asking my
permission or even what I think about it so why bother wondering
about the Armageddon angle.
Now let's try to boil it down! The
problem is both the Israelis and Palestinians believe that God has
given them a divine right to the land they both wish to inhabit.
Forget what the UN did in establishing Israel as a nation, in the
minds of most Palestinians and most of the Arab world Israel does
not have the right to exist…period. That thinking must change. But
unless you can get God to poke his head down here for a few minutes
and hand deliver a property title or deed, it's going to be a tough
sell.
Both the Israelis and the
Palestinians have endured incredible hardships and persecution that
makes it virtually impossible for them to compromise on their
positions. Okay, so the Palestinians haven't officially had a
holocaust. Still, each group at one time or another in its history
has given an inch and lost thousands of lives and land and entire
generations of people. With so much blood spilled is it any wonder
neither side seems to respond to the political prodding of the U.S.
or the rest of the world for that matter? What are we going to do,
roll in their and place a US soldier on every street corner and
deprogram every Arab and Jew to be satisfied with the land on which
they already live? What are we going to threaten them with, no more
Big Macs or Cokes or fancy cars? Please?
"Never again" is the motto
that drives this Jewish state forward in its battle against the
terrorists who view their martyrdom as an instant ticket to heaven.
Israel should and does have the right to exist as a nation in peace.
Despair is the force that propels
young men and woman to strap explosives to their bodies defying a
military presence, which is powerless to do anything but try and
control the numbers of people who will be killed. These young people
do deserve to have a homeland of their own in which to live in
peace.
And what leadership? If you think
Yassar Arafat can control his own people than you believe Miss Cleo
can pick the winning numbers in next week's lottery. The US needs to
be involved and apply pressure whenever possible but again, the
majority of the Arab world believes we are just the official
spokesmen for Israel. That's why all these so-called "Peace
Accords" brokered during the Clinton administration are such a
joke.
It seems the obvious solution is to
give the Palestinians their own homeland. The have just as much
right to exist as does Israel. But where, and does that guarantee
they still won't try to strike out at the Israelis?
The more painful and realistic
solution is what Professor Ben Abraham of the University of Cairo
calls the misery factor. In a nutshell he says, "only when both
sides have killed enough people, have been drenched with blood from
head to toe, have sent their finest and youngest to early graves,
have placed the rest of humanity at the end of a load gun, will
there be the will to end this conflict."
The lives of the Jews and Arabs in
that region must become so wretched and so filled with misery
everyone will beg for a place at the peace table. And so far, I just
don't see that happening.
Al Ruechel, copyright 2002, all
rights reserved
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