Jerusalem: A Cup of Trembling

Jerusalem:
A Cup Of
Trembling
Behold, I will make Jerusalem
A cup of trembling unto all the people
Round about ... In that day will I make
Jerusalem a burdensome stone
For all people...
Zech 12:2-3

    As Hebrew Roots goes to press the so-called 'Peace Process' between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to be stalemated. Meanwhile, the United States government continues to act as the chief mediator between the two sides. However, U.S. frustration with the stalemate seems to be rising.
    Recently, the U.S. proposed that Israel pull back from an additional 13% of the 'occupied territory' in the West Bank. Israel said they would be unable to protect the Jewish settlers that live in those areas if they pulled back to that great an extent, without having more positive assurances that the PA would step up its efforts to stop the terrorist groups, such as Hamas, from operating so openly within their territory.
    Things took another downturn the week of July 19-25 when a van was discovered in Jerusalem loaded with high explosives and thousands of nails.
    "The van-packed with gas canisters, flammable liquid and kilos of nails--caught fire before the terrorist could detonate it on Jaffa Road near Zion Square.
    "The terrorist, Jalal Roumani, who suffered severe bums, was in critical condition Monday at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Kerem.
    "General Security Service officials charged that police and the army were responsible for allowing Roumani -- a Hamas activist banned from entering the country - into Israel, Channel 2 reported. ...
    "Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu referred to the abortive suicide bombing as a stimulus to reach an agreement on effective anti-terrorist measures with the Palestinian Authority.
    "Speaking at a news conference, Netanyahu said: 'We must insist on our demands regarding the removal of the terrorist infrastructure [in the West Bank and Gaza Strip] to prevent future attacks.'
    "PA officials reacted to the botched bombing with a mixture of outrage and skepticism.
    "'The PA completely condemns this,' PA International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told reporters in Ramallah ... 'This failed attempt will lead us to increase our efforts [against terrorism].' ...
    "Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rudeineh, however, suggested that Israel might have tried to stage the bombing to stop the Israeli-Palestinian talks.
'    "This is a suspicious incident,' he said. 'You have to ask the Israelis. It sounds like an event fabricated to torpedo the current Israeli-Palestinian efforts.'" (from The Jerusalem Post International Edition, July 25, 1998, pp. 1-2).

    The average American reading his local newspaper or listening to network news, is woefully misinformed about the real reasons why the peace process has been stalled for so long. Primarily it is because the PA does not want peace, as evidenced by the fact that it has not taken the actions necessary to provide security against terrorist attacks. In fact, the PA has actually released known terrorists from jail, and now some of them are armed and serving on the Palestinian Police force. It is reported that the chief of the PA police force in Gaza and the West Bank, General Ghaze Jabali, is known to be involved in terrorism. Not only that, he has recruited at least 150 police officers from know terrorist groups. At least 25 of these men are wanted in Israel for their involvement in terrorist attacks.
    The PA police force is currently twice as large as the Oslo Accords allow. Also, their weaponry is far larger, and contains a lot of military hardware, both of which are also prohibited by the Oslo accords. Add to this problem the fact that the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, including Arafat himself, continue to incite their people with inflammatory rhetoric. Also, their promise to amend the Palestinian Charter, to remove those sections which call for the destruction of Israel, has not been kept.
    Television Evangelist Zola Levitt, writing in the May, 1998 issue of his Levitt Letter, makes the following comments about the difficulty Israel faces if it gives up certain strategic territory in the West Bank, especially since they face a hostile Palestinian people who are living within their boarders.
    "Israel cannot give up mountain ridges on the West Bank without losing early warning sites of Iraqi or Syrian attack. It cannot give up the vital underground aquifers that provide a huge share of Israel's fresh water. It cannot do without a buffer zone against Arab infiltration along the so-called Green Line, Israel's pre-1967 border. It must have a means of swiftly deploying into the Jordan Valley by means of four east-west roads that enable the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) to bypass Palestinian communities and local traffic, it must have a Jerusalem defense zone to protect passenger planes landing in the Ben Gurion Airport: The Palestinians have been trying to acquire shoulder-to-air missiles." (p. 2)

One of the chief bones of contention between Israel and the PA are the Jewish settlements that have been developed since the 1967 war, within areas of the West Bank and Gaza. The PA would like to see all of the Jewish settlers leave those areas permanently. Yet, there have always been thousands of Palestinians who have lived within the borders of Israel, many of whom enjoy full Israeli citizenship. It is a little known fact that a number of Arabs hold elected seats in the Israeli Knesset (their parliament or congress). You need not ask if any of the Jewish settlers sit on the governing boards or committees of the Palestinian Authority, of course they arc not allowed to do so.
    The Oslo accords make it perfectly clear that the Jewish settlers have every right to remain, and even expand their holdings through legal purchase of property, within the West Bank and Gaza. The PA is required, by the Oslo Accords, to protect these Jewish settlers, just as Israel is required to protect all of its citizens, whether they be Jewish, Arab, Druze or Christian. Yet the Palestinians repeatedly violate their part of the agreement.
    In early July, a clash was narrowly averted in the Gaza strip when the Palestinian Authority tried to get the Israeli army to allow a convoy of trucks to pass down an Israeli security road. This was in clear violation of the Oslo accords, which prohibit the PA from using these roads.
    "The confrontation in Gaza followed a dispute between Palestinian Authority Supplies Minister Abu Ale Shahm and Israeli soldiers over use of a security road that runs along the Gush Katif coast.
    "The army spokesman said that on Thursday afternoon, Shahin arrived at a roadblock at the entrance to the security road that runs between Khan Yunis and Dir ai-Ballah and asked the soldiers to allow him through.
    "Due to his position, the soldiers agreed to permit Shahin to pass through, but he then demanded that all the Palestinian vehicles in his convoy be allowed to use the road, including 30 trucks.
    "Shahin refused to continue on his way until the soldiers agreed to his request. At the same time, in what the army said was clearly a planned move, armed Palestinian policemen poured into the Gush Katif, Netzarim and Morag intersections, taking up positions and blocking them with vehicles." (The Jerusalem Post International Edition, July, 11, 1998, pp. 1-2)

In effect, what the Palestinian Authority Police did was cut off all access to a Jewish community in Gaza, allowing no one to enter or leave that community for nearly two days. The Jerusalem Post also reported that a woman had to be airlifted out because she was about to give birth.
The standoff was mediated by United States envoy Dennis Ross. The Israeli army finally allowed the one time passage of the 30 Palestinian trucks. In return, the PA withdrew their roadblocks to the Jewish settlement, Supposedly the road would go back to being an Israeli security road after the incident. However, once the PA has been allowed to get away with this type of coercion, it is likely they will try it again somewhere else.

Jerusalem continues to be the focal point of controversy in the world. When one looks at the city of Jerusalem from a strictly secular point of view, it is difficult to understand why it seems to hold such importance to the major governments of the world. Why would the United States, the European Community, Britain, Russia, and even China and Japan be so concerned about what happens in Jerusalem and the Middle East? One answer is the immense amount of oil that is produced in this region. Oil is the lifeblood of the modem worldwide industrial economy, and it is controlled by the Arab nations. Take away the oil and you take away the jobs of millions, if not billions, of people in the rest of the world. For this reason the western democracies must constantly placate the Arab world, whether they are right or whether they are wrong.
However, there is another reason why this rather small city (by today's standards) should carry so much importance in the world today. That is because Jerusalem is where the Eternal God is going to set up His very throne on earth.

World leaders may not know it. but one of the reasons there is so much attention placed on Jerusalem is because there is a spiritual battle taking place for its control. The interest of the nations is merely a reflection of the what is taking place in the spiritual realm.
Jerusalem is a city that has suffered more degradation, over a longer period of time, than any other city on the face of the earth. It has been destroyed any number of times, only to be rebuilt again and again. However, within those gates today, reside some of the bitterest enemies to be found on earth, it is because of this great mix of peoples and religions, in a city that was supposed to be devoted to the worship of the Eternal One, that Jerusalem will have to suffer yet again.

As long as the modern state of Israel is willing to make peace with a people who are not supposed to be dwelling in the land which God gave to the children of Israel; and as long as those people are allowed to continue their worship on the Temple Mount where the House of God is supposed to exist; Jerusalem will continue to be:

All of us who accept the Hebrew Scriptures as the Word of God, are commanded to pray for Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Hebrew Roots urges you to include in your daily prayers, supplication for the land of Israel, for all of the Jewish people who live there, and especially for those of the Jewish remnant who have found Yeshua Ha-Mashiach as their personal Savior.