The Palestinians could have had a state in 2000 when Israeli PM Barak offered Yasser Arafat almost all of what he wanted, except for the Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Arafat said ‘Whoever would give away one centimetre of Jerusalem is not an Arab and not a Muslim.’ In 2008 Israeli PM Ehud Olmert offered 94% of the West Bank with some compensating Arab areas of Israel. Each time the Palestinians refused because what they really want is the elimination of Israel.
As former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban once said ‘the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity‘.
The Hamas Charter says the Islamic movement can never accept the existence of a Jewish state in Palestine and is committed to its destruction.
Also, the Palestinian National Covenant which the PLO is supposed to have changed (but hasn’t really), is committed to the elimination of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea’. If you go to pro-Palestine / anti-Israel rallies in Europe and USA, you will hear people chanting ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.’ The River is the Jordan and the Sea is the Mediterranean so, the real aim is the elimination of Israel.
Until the Palestinians can truly accept Israel’s right to exist and are willing to live alongside Israel not in place of Israel, they can never make peace. I remember reading a statement from the PLO prior to the Oslo Accords: ‘Peace for us means the destruction of Israel.’
Since Israel does not wish to be destroyed, they have no option but to defend themselves against this aggression. As a Christian who supports the existence of the State of Israel, I can never agree to such a programme. Until the Palestinians really agree to live alongside Israel in peace they cannot have a state of their own.
Israel has done incredible things with that land that was once desolate. For example its agricultural achievements, making the desert bloom, technology, building a society with some kind of rule of law and democracy.
The problem they have had is the continual attempts to wipe them off the map. From
day one in May 1948. Every time these attempts have failed. This present one will
too. Read Bible prophecy – Psalm 83, Ezekiel 36–38, Zechariah 12–14 – all these
things will happen in the last days before Jesus returns. See Luke 21. For the end of
the story read my booklet on Messiah Israel and the End of Days.
https://messiahfactor.com/messiah-israel-and-the-end-of-days/
