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The Gaza withdrawal: Signal for lasting peace or future conflict?
Some high-ranking authorities in Israel see the withdrawal from Gaza as a conciliatory, voluntary step towards peace with the Palestinians. But a spokesman for Hamas (a notorious terrorist group) in Beirut, Khaled Mashall, sees it very differently. He said: "The resistance and the steadfastness of our people forced the Zionists to withdraw" (The Daily Telegraph).
Almost every Palestinian in Gaza who was interviewed believes the withdrawal was forced by the suicide bombers who have killed more than 1,000 Israeli citizens and maimed another 6,000 during the intifada of the last five years.
A Palestinian poem has become a virtual battle cry for the future. It reads: "O brigades be prepared, Gaza has been restored. Start preparing to liberate the rest of the land. Drive the Zionist out, O Hamas, let's liberate Jerusalem with the help of your soldiers and glorious rockets" (emphasis added throughout).
Two prominent Israeli cabinet members have resigned over the government's Gaza policy, first Natan Sharansky in May followed by Benjamin Netanyahu in August. In an interview with Time magazine, Mr. Sharansky said that withdrawal should have been "connected to changes by the Palestinians . . . It means zero pressure to reform." He regards the apparent lull in open conflict as "more and more time for the terrorist groups to strengthen themselves."
A senior Israeli security official said, "We feel that this is the lull before the storm." Some observers clearly expect an outbreak of serious conflict sooner or later, perhaps even another prolonged intifada. (Sources: The Daily Telegraph [London], Time.)
Gaza's uncertain future
Currently Gaza is viewed as an economic and political wreck. Many blame the 38-year Israeli occupation after Israel captured Gaza from Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War. But do certain unpleasant facts reveal another side to the story?
Smuggling weapons (more recently even short-range missiles) through an intricate network of tunnels has been commonplace for at least 10 years—ever since the Oslo Accords of 1994-1995 apparently granted the Palestinian Authority (PA) control over most of the Gaza strip. Terrorists have used Palestinian civilians to do the dirty work. Recent border control breakdowns have not helped the situation.
To help Palestinians build their economy in Gaza after the Israeli pullout, American Jewish donors purchased some 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers on the Gaza strip, leaving them in place as a gift for the Palestinians.
One former World Bank president personally contributed half a million dollars. Yet gangs of Palestinian thugs looted dozens of these greenhouses in Neve Dekalim, rendering them useless.
The International Herald Tribune, in a feature article, assessed the strength of the Palestinian security, saying they are "divided, weak, overstaffed, badly motivated and underarmed." In reality, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is rather powerless to exert effective control over Hamas and other armed factions.
What do all these factors say about the practice of conceding to repeated demands that Israelis give up even more land in exchange for peace? In the minds of some Israelis, Gaza once represented the dream of a "Greater Israel," part of the Promised Land of the Bible and the very area where the ancient judge Samson pulled down the pagan temple onto the Philistines.
Where are such recent events ultimately going to take the nations of the Middle East? To understand more, request or download our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy. (Sources: International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, MSNBC, WorldNetDaily.)
Mobs raze synagogues
Longtime British correspondent Eric Silver reported from Jerusalem that "Israeli political and religious leaders condemned the destruction of 26 abandoned settlement synagogues by Palestinian mobs after the army finished evacuating the Gaza Strip" (Jewish Chronicle). No matter how distasteful, some Israeli government officials thought that the synagogues should have been demolished before the departure from Gaza to prevent just such an occurrence.
In his column in The Mail on Sunday, Peter Hitchens expressed great disappointment that "there was no great global shock or outrage" at this destruction. Personally he found "the sight of burning synagogues both terrifying and disgusting." He also reminded his readers that "history tells us what happens when the synagogues burn." (Sources: Jewish Chronicle, The Mail on Sunday [both London].)
The disturbing implications of a Russo-German agreement
Veteran newspaper columnist William Rees-Mogg, a past editor of the London Times, sees and reports on important but largely unrecognized events that others overlook. One that most major news sources missed the relevance of is an agreement that, according to Mr. Rees-Mogg, "significantly alters the balance of power inside the European Union" (The Mail on Sunday).
Just before the recent German elections, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a special trip to Berlin, the two countries reaching "an agreement which has put the fear of a [potential] Russo-German entente into Poland and Eastern Europe."
This agreement brings to mind the Nazi-Soviet agreement in 1939, just before World War II. It destroyed the sovereignty of Poland and three Baltic countries. More than once Poland had been partitioned between Russia and Germany.
The present agreement involves laying a pipeline to transport gas from Russia to Germany bypassing Eastern Europe. Mr. Rees-Mogg's conclusions about a mere pipeline are very intriguing: "This is, however, a bilateral arrangement which will benefit Germany rather than Europe. It is described by President Putin as 'avoiding geopolitical risks,' by which he means avoiding Poland." Not incidentally, Poland is very friendly with America.
This noted journalist says that the recent agreement "makes Eastern Europe more dependent on Germany, makes Germany more dominant in the Franco-German alliance and makes Germany more the master of the European Union."
Perhaps this recent Russo-German agreement is only one more step in a long chain of events, but it is one that we would do well to consider in anticipating the nature of others that will follow. (Source: The Mail on Sunday [London].)
Earthquake country in the central United States?
The New Madrid zone of American earthquake faults runs from southern Illinois to northeastern Arkansas and includes the St. Louis and Memphis areas. Recent geological activity in this zone is causing considerable concern.
Major quakes occurred in that area during the early 1800s, at one point even causing the Mississippi River to flow backwards for a time. Officials stated that "a repeat today of the earthquakes of 1811-1812 would cause widespread loss of life and billions of dollars in property damage" (USA Today).
Meanwhile in California, more traditional earthquake country, "U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones remembers attending an emergency training session in August 2001 with the Federal Emergency Management Agency that discussed the three most likely catastrophes to strike the United States" (Los Angeles Times).
First was a terrorist attack on New York, second a powerful hurricane flooding New Orleans, and third a major earthquake in California along the San Andreas fault. Now, in the wake of the first two actually happening with 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, Lucy Jones and others are reassessing how the Golden State would cope with a major quake.
Jesus Christ foretold that major earthquakes in different places would be one of the signs that would trouble our planet before the end of this age (Matthew 24:7). Request or download our free booklet Are We Living in the Time of the End? It will give you a broad overview of those telling events that will characterize the end of the age of man. (Sources: USA Today, Los Angeles Times.)
What about those gasoline prices?
The cost of gasoline has skyrocketed over the past year in the United States, leaving most American consumers feeling like they're being mugged every time they visit the gas pumps.
What is really going on? Is there an international oil shortage? Are
too few refineries available? Do Americans have too big of an appetite
for fun and games? Are there too many large personal vehicles with only
one person occupying them? Is price-
fixing the problem?
Some state governments are setting their sights on gas stations, asking them to cough up the data that show how much they pay for gas and what they charge the public. "Attorney General Jane Brady [Delaware] has announced she's sending letters to the state's 400 retail gas stations to report what they've been paying wholesale and how much they charge customers. That in itself might bring down some prices at those stations that continue to charge unreasonable prices" (www.delawareonline.com, Sept. 18).
One sure factor is greed. Oil-producing nations charge whatever they think the world market can bear. Speculators drive up prices by speculating in futures markets. Sellers at various levels take advantage of situations like shortages due to the recent Gulf Coast hurricanes to squeeze consumers. Automobile companies push bigger, more expensive vehicles on which they can make higher profits. And car buyers' decisions are often driven more by vanity than actual need. All in all, it creates a vicious—and expensive—cycle.
Why bad news in The Good News?
Speaking of conditions before His return, Jesus Christ said our planet will experience "a time of great distress, such as there has never been before since the beginning of the world, and will never be again" (Matthew 24:21, Revised English Bible).
The United Church of God, whose members and supporters provide the financial backing for The Good News and other publications, proclaims the good news of the imminent return of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet we often report on the negative consequences of human behavior leading to the very conditions Jesus described.
Following Jesus' example, part of our purpose is to highlight the lessons mankind is writing in its self-centered way of living and to warn of where this way is leading. But more than that, our intention is to illustrate the need for an alternative way of life—the godly way of life Jesus revealed and personified. Beyond the bad news, we present this way of living that would eliminate all of man's problems. We also explain from Scripture that under the coming rule of Christ, God's way will become universal—and humanity will at last know true and lasting peace.
The world of today is indeed filled with bad news. Yet the future holds incredible promise—Christ's return to establish the Kingdom of God (Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 11:15), ushering in a wonderful world of peace, prosperity and plenty during which all people will at last learn to live God's way of life. This truly is good news!
Iran adds fuel to Middle East fire
In September Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that "Iran is willing to provide nuclear technology to other Muslim states." Within hours, "European nations renewed an offer of economic incentives if the Mideast nation would halt its uranium enrichment" (Associated Press report, Sept. 15, emphasis added).
Does history show that appeasement of despots brings peace? British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's 1938 "peace in our time" fiasco helped pave the way for the greatest holocaust in history.
U.S. intelligence sources believe that Iran is five to 10 years from producing nuclear weapons. Few doubt they will be willing to use them.
Iran already has missiles capable of reaching most of Europe. A nuclear-armed Iran willing to share its technology with other Muslim nations will dramatically alter the balance of power in that long-troubled region.
Could this be a significant contribution to the beginning of "the end," when the "king of the South"—apparently a leader of a Muslim confederation—pushes against the "king of the North," the leader of a European superpower as prophesied in Daniel 11:40 and other passages? To learn more, request your free copy of The Middle East in Bible Prophecy. (Source: Associated Press.)
India threatened by AIDS crisis
Great economic progress has generally been predicted for India, provided that the country can bring the current AIDS blight under control. Even now India has the 10th largest economy in the world and is predicted to gain ground. Yet according to Time magazine, "The government says India has 5.13 million HIV/AIDS sufferers, while the UN's estimate is up to 8.5 million. In any event 500,000 new cases are reported each year."
Apparently part of the problem is that the government is in at least partial denial, preventing effective countermeasures from being implemented. Former American President Bill Clinton indicated that "a rampant epidemic will sap an economic revival that has lifted living standards to unprecedented levels." (Sources: Financial Times Magazine, Time.)
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Keywords: Gaza Germany Russia New Madrid earthquakes gas prices Iran India AIDS
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