King Abdullah warns of Palestinian Arab Spring styled revolt
Jordanian king says Israeli settlement building hinders peace
DUBAI - Jordan's King Abdullah said Palestinians could launch an Arab Spring-style revolt if they felt prospects for a peaceful settlement of their conflict with Israel had reached a dead end, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday.
King Abdullah welcomed efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but warned of a narrowing window for peace due to Israeli settlement building.
King Abdullah also said Syria's war could ignite a regional sectarian conflict unless global powers helped to convene peace talks soon."Fading prospects of peace will explode relations between Palestinians and Israelis in a manner emulating the Arab Spring protests, either through a new intifada (uprising) or a new cycle of violence and counter violence," he said.
Situated near Syria and next door to Israel and the occupied West Bank, US-allied Jordan is affected by instability in the region. Jordan has taken in more than 500,000 Syrians out of a total 1.5 million who have fled the war, UN officials say.
"It has become clear to all that the Syrian crisis may extend from being a civil war to a regional and sectarian conflict...the extent of which is unknown," King Abdullah said in an interview.
"It is time for a more serious Arab and international coordination to stop the deterioration of the Syrian crisis. The situation cannot wait any longer," he added.
The Syrian civil war, which has claimed more than 93,000 lives in two years, has increasingly turned into a sectarian conflict. The Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah announced last month it had joined fighting against Saudi-backed, Sunni-led rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad.
US President Barack Obama last week said that Washington, keeping a wary eye on the war, has left about 700 combat-equipped troops in Jordan after a training exercise. The United States had previously decided to leave Patriot missiles and warplanes there.
King Abdullah said that efforts to convene a peace conference bringing together the Syrian government and the opposition remained "the logical and ideal way" to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.
Talks between the United States and Russia in Geneva on Tuesday to set up such a conference produced no agreement, with the powers on either side of the conflict failing to agree when it should be held or who would be invited.
Commentary:
Scripture teaches that in the days leading up to the Day of the Lord, there shall be threats of war and rumors of war.
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." (Matthew 24:6)
In fulfilment of this prophecy, many in the media - journalists and political commentators, and politicians, Bible prophecy watchers, academics and scholars are saying that the volatile situation in the Mideast is poised to escalate into a war with the nations surrounding Israel preparing to lay siege to the Jewish state. This thus far is the content of the rumors and rumor-mongering.
There are reasons to believe that a Mideast war is on the horizon. The focus of this war will be the destruction of Israel.
Even the Bible foretells of three wars involving Israel that have yet to see their fulfilment. They include the Psalm 83 war (but to some scholars this was fulfilled in 1967), the Gog-Magog war and the war of Armageddon.
(Armageddon takes place just prior to the Lord's Second Coming, and will have a future post-rapture fulfilment. This article precludes discussion of the Armageddon war.)
Several factors attest to the prevalence of rumors that a Mideast war is imminent. Widespread condemnation of Israel's ongoing actions of building settlements in so-called occupied 'Palestinian' territories such as the West Bank and East Jerusalem is one of the factors that could lead to the fulfilment of the Psalm 83 war. The Gog/Magog war as recorded in Ezekiel 38 and 39 will follow closely behind. The latter is believed to occur just before or during the seven-year Tribulation period, which is also known as the Time of Jacob's Trouble; by this time the Church, made up of true believers in Jesus Christ, will have been raptured.
Another factor for the fulfilment of Bible prophecy of a coming Mideast war is Iran's nuclear program. Iran's nuclear arms proliferation and the threat of a nuclear war are putting Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, on edge and reportedly causing both the IDF and ordinary Israelis to prepare for war. Israel's citizenry has already been issued gas masks.
What's more, terrorist organizations including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as the worldwide Al Qaeda and ISIS networks, under the umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood, are constantly warning that a holy war (jihad) on Israel will be waged unless Israel agreed to their terms for peace. However, to Israel, their terms for peace which include a restoration of pre-1967 borders are untenable. No doubt negotiations for peace will always reach an impasse if this condition for peace is insisted upon by the Muslim governments.
All these factors are examples of the propaganda war on Israel.
It's a propaganda because, simply put, the nations surrounding Israel do not really seek peace. What they seek is erasure of the tiny Jewish nation off the face of the map.
It's not just the Muslim nations that seek the destruction of Israel. The international community has of late been turning to the side of Israel's long time enemies. Antisemitism is on the rise and it appears that the international community believes Israel is responsible for the refugee crisis in the Middle East. The international community has accused Israel of causing millions of 'Palestinians' to be displaced, but this could not be further from the truth if they understood history. According to author David Meir-Levi:
"Had Arab leaders been amenable to peace with Israel, there could have been a Palestinian state in 1937, and again in 1947, and again in 1949; and there would never have been an Arab refugee problem. Had Arab leadership in 1967 and again in 2000 been amenable to peace with Israel, there would never have been a continued Israeli sovereignty over the disputed territories of the West Bank and Gaza." (Source)
Even the USA, 'ancient' allies of Israel, is now seen to be throwing Israel under the bus. There is no love lost for US President Barack Obama, a self-professing Muslim, in betraying Israel. The tension between him and Prime Minister Netanyahu is apparent to all whenever they meet together to attempt to resolve the Palestinian crisis, which always fails.
But they are all simply pawns. The larger picture that delineates the truth of why this crisis exists is written in the pages of Holy Scripture. For behind the scenes, it is Satan that is pulling the strings to ensure that Israel is annihilated. The reason for this is Satan despises Israel since her capital, Jerusalem, will be the stage on which the Son of God, Christ Jesus, shall descend from heaven to defeat him once and for all. After that the Lord Jesus Christ shall rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
This is the prophetic truth.
There is also prophecy concerning the fate of Syria. A correct understanding of the future of Syria as foretold in the book of Isaiah is a frightening glimpse of the end result of the protracted conflict in Syria and any plans by Syria to attack Israel: all of it will lead to the complete annihilation of Damascus. (More about this prophecy here.)
Such is the larger picture of the Mideast conflict, which has been foretold in Scripture in Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation.
Indeed, Satan's focus is Israel. By annihilating Israel, Satan believes that through empowering the Antichrist, who shall emerge on the scene as the savior of mankind, he - Satan - may be able to supplant the Lord Jesus Christ as the god of the world.
Nevertheless, those of us who understand biblical prophecy and believe in its literal meaning know that it is the Lord who will be triumphant and Satan will be defeated. Then the whole world, Israel included, will acknowledge Christ Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
It is therefore imperative that we pray for Israel's peace and peace in the Middle East.
Maranatha.
* Read more about the myth of the propaganda war against Israel here.
