Has Time Run Out For Mideast Peace?

By Bill Salus

Astoundingly 61 years have come and gone and the international community is still attempting to figure out a political way to achieve peace in the Middle East. Ever since the rebirth of the nation Israel in May of 1948, world leaders have struggled unsuccessfully to reconcile the irreconcilable differences between the Arabs and the Jews.

Former Clinton special Mideast envoy Dennis Ross has written an 848 page book called “The Missing Peace” on the subject and upon reading it, although it is not the intention of the book, one arrives at the obvious conclusion that there is absolutely no political way to broker a lasting peace between the Arabs and the Jews. Ross’s book evidences that the ongoing conflict has reduced world leaders to the intermediary role of Real Estate Brokers and predictably both the Palestinians, supported by their partnering Arab neighbors, and the Jews want possession of the precious Promised Land.

Unfortunately it appears that the only way this matter will find ultimate resolve will be via the military option. The Arabs and the Jews are likely going to have to “duke it out”! The military venue should come as no surprise to those eschatologists familiar with the Bible prophecies recorded in Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 & 39. Both of these prophecies clearly foretell the coming of two last days’ wars between Israel and their Arab and Persian nemesis’s. Undoubtedly it is the least preferred option, however in the end analysis the radical Islamic contingencies within the surrounding ancient Arab and Persian populations that most closely surround modern day Israel will bring it to that fatal point.

Presently all political ploys are being put on the table because time has run out. There can be no more procrastination because the Iranians, formerly known as the Persians, are threatening to pull the trigger on their own developing nuclear weapons program, and the Pakistani’s are in danger of losing control of theirs into terrorist hands. From Israel’s vantage point it is a matter of national survival and they realize, comparatively speaking, that the stakes have risen rapidly from DEFCON 3 during the former Bush Administration to DEFCON 1 in Obama’s early days in office.

In case you haven’t noticed, in the midst of the financial crisis and the pandemic H1N1 pandemonium, Middle East geopolitical temperatures have risen to fever pitch. Israeli President Shimon Peres has come to America in early May in order to pave the way for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to arrive in Washington with his laundry list of Mideast peace demands for Obama on May 18, 2009. Having previewed this list I see no reason why the Hamas and Palestinians specifically, and the Arab nations generally, will accept Israel’s conditions

In anticipation of Netanyahu’s arrival, President Obama previously requested King Abdullah of Jordan at the end of April 2009 to spearhead the concoction of a plan amongst the Arabs that will once and for all appease Israel. Abdullah is presently hard at work with some of his Arab counterparts trying to deliver this proposal. Meanwhile he has recently issued statements like "In the next 18 months, if we don't move the process forward, and bring people to the negotiation table, there will be another conflict between Israel and another protagonist". Furthermore Obama has invited Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to promptly visit him in Washington. Then in June of this year President Obama plans to personally visit Israel.

Isn’t it interesting that in the midst of the domestic problems facing him at home, that Obama is working double time in attempt to slap a peace agreement together between the Palestinians and the Jews? He can be applauded for the noble idea of seeking peace, but he is committed to the failed Two-State solution plan introduced in the Bush “Roadmap Plan” of April 2003. This three-phased plan has never gotten beyond phase one and six years and two Arab-Israeli wars have come and gone since it’s crafting.

Meanwhile Iran’s president continues almost daily to slander Israel and threaten the future existence of the Jewish State. Considering the fact that Iran will likely have the nuclear wherewithal to destroy Israel by the end of the summer, this has the international community’s back up against the wall. Obama, still reveling in his charismatic rock star like rise to fame, thinks he can engage in diplomatic efforts to simmer down the Mideast cauldron.

Engagement is another name for diplomacy, and that has not worked! It’s all or nothing and the Obama administration seems to sense this. That is why the Mideast peace process is moving blindly “full speed ahead”. The problem is that the international community fueled by the illusive dream of a Two State Solution, has run out of time and been reduced to saber rattling and muscle flexing on the sidelines.

Israel will be inevitably pushed into the corner and told that if they want broader Arab recognition for their right to exist as a sovereign Jewish State, they must forfeit land, place part of Jerusalem into Palestinian hands, and allow the return of millions of displaced Palestinian refugees into Israel. In essence, they will be told to commit suicide for the good of the International community.

Daniel 2:21 reminds us that God puts leaders in their place and it very well could be that He has put the present Israeli leadership in place to enable the self preservation of the nation at this critical point in time. Newly appointed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prioritized Israel’s national security above all else and it is doubtful that all the kings' horses and all the kings' men of the world will be able to huff and puff and blow Israel away this go round. Israel looks like it is about to celebrate its 61st birthday with a big bang in the Middle East.