T
he two prophecies that appear
to be next on God’s timeline are
World War III and an agreement on
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The
prophecies are not crystal clear on
which of these events will come to pass
first. However, it appears that World
War III will precede the resolution of
the Palestinian-Israeli dispute.
Very significant developments
leading to a Palestinian-Israeli agreement occurred during 2012.
Before his first term began in
2009, President Obama stated that
he would push for a Middle East
peace agreement from the first day
of his presidency. He certainly lived
up to that promise. The day after his
inauguration he appointed former
Senator John Mitchell to be his
special envoy to the Middle East.
Mitchell had been successful in
diffusing one of the world’s greatest conflicts—the battle between
Catholics and Protestants in Northern
Ireland. It was believed that, if anyone
could find a way toward peace in the
Middle East, Mitchell could.
However, the Obama adminis-
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tration made a strategic error from
the outset. They openly stated that
Israel should stop all building in the
“occupied territories” including east
Jerusalem. No US president had ever
made this demand.
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas quickly picked up on this shift in
US policy. He aligned himself with the
Obama position stating that Palestinians would not participate in peace
negotiations unless all building in the
settlements was frozen. Israel found
herself faced with an alliance between
her best friend and her worst enemy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, realizing the precariousness of Israel’s new predicament,
decided to call the Palestinian bluff. He
declared a ten-month freeze on settlement building beginning on November
25, 2009. Still, Abbas refused to come
to the peace table. Netanyahu reiterated what he had said to President
Obama before. He stated that the
Palestinians weren’t really interested
in peace, but that they were really
plotting the total annihilation of the
State of Israel.
On September 2, 2010, 24 days
before Israel’s building moratorium
expired, Abbas finally returned to
negotiations. His plan was obvious:
Restart the peace talks in order to save
face with the US and then pressure
Netanyahu to extend the building
freeze. This would indicate that all of
the occupied territories were up for
negotiation including east Jerusalem.
When Netanyahu refused to
extend the building freeze, the Palestinian contingent abruptly walked out
of the talks. From that time onward
all attempts to resume the peace talks
have failed.
APPEALING TO THE WORLD
GOVERNMENT
Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel
had stated that she would not return
to 1967 borders because they were not
defensible. Furthermore, Israel had
officially annexed east Jerusalem in
1980. On the other hand, the Palestinians had insisted that every inch of the
land gained by Israel in the 1967 War
had to become part of the projected
Palestinian state, including east Jeru-