Israel Update for May 2007

Prime Minister Olmert told his cabinet on May 27 that the IDF has been authorized to carry on pinpoint strikes and further ground operations in portions of the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period, even if the rocket assaults die down. However he turned down a request from senior IDF commanders to be given permission to enter built up Palestinian areas in pursuit of Hamas terrorists. After security officials briefed the cabinet that Hamas now possesses longer range rockets that can accurately strike the city of Ashkelon, some 12 miles north of Gaza City, several ministers demanded that intensified action be authorized to prevent such an assault, which military analysts say would significantly widen the conflict.

Israeli leaders also decided to send a clear message to Hamas that its rocket attacks upon Israeli civilian areas will result in action elsewhere to weaken the radical group. The IDF was ordered to arrest over 30 leading Hamas figures in Judea and Samaria, including four mayors and two PA cabinet ministers. IDF helicopter attacks were also launched on areas just outside the home of PA Prime Minister Haniyeh, signaling that he might be targeted if the Kassam attacks continue. Hamas leaders responded by threatening to assassinate Israeli leaders and launch a new round of deadly terrorist atrocities inside Israeli cities.

Sizzling Summer Ahead

Several Israeli Mideast specialists speculated that Iran and Syria may have ordered their Hamas ally to step up armed assaults upon Western-backed Fatah forces and then Israel in order to send a warning message to Washington, London and other world capitals that any assault upon Iran's fast moving nuclear program would result in widespread Mideast chaos. Some added that armed clashes north of Beirut during the month, where Al Qaida-linked Palestinian fighters resisted Lebanese government attempts to disarm them, was likely a part of the same harrowing picture. On top of this, US President George Bush warned that clashes would escalate in death-soaked Iraq in the coming weeks. Analysts said all this pointed to an extremely violent summer ahead for the volatile region.

Still, the Bible calls the Middle East the center or God's world-the place where human life began, and where the final climactic battle of history will take place. As shock waves pound the region with ever greater intensity, it is imperative to recall that Jesus and many other Hebrew prophets foretold that such upheaval would feature prominently during the prophesied "end of days." But as the seers also revealed, such messianic "birth pangs" will ultimately result in the coming of God's peaceful rule over all the earth! "And the Lord will be King over all the earth. In that day, the Lord will be one and His name one!" (Zechariah 14:9).