Human effort
One can be forgiven the impulse to give President Trump (and Netanyahu, for that matter) the benefit of the doubt regarding the “Deal of the Century” for Israel and the Palestinians.
A quarter-century of mind-numbingly stupid diplomacy has only murdered more Jews in Israel and make no mistake: Bill Clinton, Saeb Erekat, Martin Indyk et al do not care. They only nurtured the “Oslo” process because it chipped away at Israel’s sovereignty.
Now comes an equally controversial plan from Trump. For us Bible prophecy purists, the plan—extremely generous to Israel in a human context—calls for some of the Land of Israel to be given to the Palestinians for a state.
This is a non-starter for hardcore Christian supporters of Israel.
(As an aside, I fell out of favor in the last five years in certain circles because I do not support the two-state solution.)
Now, it’s tempting to endorse this plan because it gives Israel several advantages, including control of the Jordan Valley. And as I said at the outset, one could be forgiven for forgiving Trump, in that no one expects the Palestinians to actually take the deal. Did you know that since 1947, they have rejected peace deals 17 times?
Number 18 is probably right ahead.
The thinking is, this is simply a clever ploy by Trump and Bibi, and after the Palestinians inevitably take a walk, Israel can then swoop in and annex the West Bank.
It’s doubtful they would annex the whole territory, but it’s a possibility that this is what the Americans and Israelis have had in mind. At worst, Trump’s team is comprised of realists who actually understand what’s been going on.
The problem is, giving the Palestinians literally an inch will ensure they will continue to take 10,000 miles. It’s in their DNA. A little-reported event last week illustrates why peace is impossible with the Palestinians.
During a Holocaust forum in Jerusalem, Israeli troops engaged three terrorists from Gaza, when the latter threw explosives at them. The IDF eliminated all three.
But the terrorists had gotten through the security fence near Kibbutz Kissufim and had gotten several hundred yards inside Israel proper before they were detected.
In one important way, the Palestinian terrorists are identical to leftists and today’s Democrat Party leadership in Washington: they never, ever give up.
Some insane numbers are being thrown around to jump-start a Palestinian economy, should they take the deal. Hundreds of billions of dollars!
The leadership will steal every dime, just as they have since 1993. Our tax dollars.
If they are given even a tiny state, they will have realized their goal of finding a sovereign toe-hold, and they will continue trying to eliminate the Jewish state.
Sometimes human effort approaches a noble effort, but in the end, human diplomacy will fall short of Scripture. God doesn’t want the land divided, and if it is, there will be cosmic consequences.