Israel Update for April 2008

The controversial former president, who callously ignored Bush Administration pleas that he cancel his planned meetings, said he would attempt to help secure freedom for Gilad Shalit. However Hamas officials admitted they had no intention of engaging the former politician, who brokered the despised Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, as any sort of an actual go between.

Just as Carter was arriving in Israel, Hamas parliament member Yunis al-Aster said the Muslim world will "soon conquer the Crusader capital Rome" which he charged had helped "to plant the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam."

PM Olmert met in Jerusalem with PA leader Mahmoud Abbas during April for the first time since eight young Jewish seminary students were slaughtered in the city in early March. A London-based Arabic newspaper subsequently claimed the Israeli leader offered to hand over 64% of Judea and Samaria to full PA control as part of a final peace deal. But this would not include any land located west of Israel's contested security barrier, meaning three large settlement blocks and eastern Jerusalem would remain in Israeli hands. The unverified report came as the Orthodox Shas party again threatened to leave the ruling coalition, causing its collapse, if Olmert dares to discuss an Israeli withdrawal from any portion of the holy city.

During his early-April remarks before Kadima party leaders, the Israeli Premier said that while he believes he can arrive at a final agreement with Abbas before the end of this year-as requested by George Bush-he does not think it could be actually implemented right away due to continuing Palestinian rocket attacks and terrorism. Israeli media reports said officials from both sides were discussing postponing explosive final status negotiations for five more years, during which time the PA would be granted some municipal responsibilities in Arab Jerusalem neighborhoods to test the feasibility of an Israeli withdrawal from those areas.

Defense Minister Barak reportedly explained to American officials what is undoubtedly the main reason for putting off an Israeli withdrawal from most of the disputed territories-fears that Hamas would quickly take over such areas and use them to carry on with their jihad war to annihilate the detested "Zionist entity." He said Israel is already taking enormous risks by transferring more weapons and armored vehicles to PA security forces-as US officials have insisted they do-since these could eventually fall into Hamas hands, as many Israeli-supplied weapons have already done in Gaza.

According to opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, transferring weapons to the PA itself is extremely risky even if Hamas does not take over. Seemingly confirming his contention, the PLO envoy to Beirut, Abbas Zaki, told the Lebanese NBN TV network in mid-April that PA leaders "have not given up even one iota" of the PLO's 1974 "Phased Plan" to destroy Israel in stages and replace it with a Palestinian state.

"In light of the weakness of the Arab nation and American control over the world, the PLO proceeds through phases, without changing its strategy. Let me tell you, when the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take back Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine."

Syria And Iran

While actual fighting was escalating with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military alerts were stepped up along the northern borders with Lebanon and Syria. This came as Arab media outlets reported that Damascus was calling up reserve soldiers and moving forces into the Lebanese Beeka Valley, largely controlled by Hizbullah militiamen. Syrian leaders denied that reserve soldiers were being mobilized, but did admit their military forces were on a heightened state of alert and activity, supposedly in anticipation of a possible Israeli strike.

This came as Israel held its largest ever home front security drill the second week of April, when preparations for a possible Syrian, Hizbullah and/or Iranian chemical or biological missile attack were tested at many hospitals, military bases, schools and government buildings. Air raid sirens were sounded around the country, and adults were ordered to check the readiness status of their home and work bomb shelters and emergency supplies. During the massive four day exercise, several Israeli cabinet ministers said the attack scenarios that were presented to them-unfolding in real time as if an actual war was underway-were both realistic and plausible, even if quite chilling.

Syrian President Bashar Assad later told a Lebanese newspaper that he sees war with Israel as "a real possibility" and was preparing accordingly, charging that this would come during an Israeli or US military strike upon Iran's nuclear facilities. He claimed that "we know there is someone in the American government who is interested in this war, and we are preparing for it."

Speaking during the national war drill, Labor party cabinet minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer bluntly declared that "an Iranian attack on Israel will lead to a harsh response by Israel that will cause the destruction of the Iranian nation." Iran's UN ambassador called upon the world body to rebuke Israel for its "insulting and scandalous threats," while failing to mention that his country's visceral president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been repeatedly vowing to wipe Israel off of the map since October 2005.

Those of us who trust the veracity of the ancient Hebrew scriptures can be confident that modern Israel-about to turn 60-will not be destroyed by Iran, Syria, Hizbullah or any other hostile country or group. Instead, the Lord himself has promised that "I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain" (Zechariah 8:3).