Everybody slow down and take a deep breath. President Trump announced his ‘Deal of the Century’ Peace Plan this last week – and it is significant. But this is NOT the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 that will mark the beginning of the Tribulation. And it is NOT the “covenant with death” and hell, talked about in Isaiah 28:15. But it is a proposal, that just by its being made, is already changing the landscape in Israel and Palestine with implications to the greater Middle East. It is being welcomed by President Trump’s Evangelical support team, Paula White Cain & Mike Evans et al. They see it as a blessing to Israel – and believe that we in turn will be blessed, because God said of His People Israel, “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
One notable achievement is that the President got Israel, and both leading parties to boot, to agree to a two-state solution. But the deal is so full of conditions that have to be fulfilled by the Palestinians – in a 4 year time frame – that it is almost inconceivable that the Palestinians would ever take the bait, even though it would provide them with a Palestinian State recognized by Israel with its capital in East Jerusalem, albeit while Israel maintained control of that city. In order for the deal to go through, the Palestinians have to disarm Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups, stop payments to terrorists, respect freedom of speech and religion and press. Israel would “retain 20% of the West Bank (Judea & Samaria)…. retain the Jordan Valley and all Israeli settlements in the West Bank in the broadest definition possible, meaning not the municipal borders of each settlement but their security perimeters – and Israel would retain responsibility for the security of the entire region. Besides their state and capital, “a limited number of Palestinian refugees and their descendants will be allowed into the Palestinian state. None will enter Israel.”[i] And oh yeah, there would be a tunnel linking Gaza and the West Bank.
Well, the Palestinians had preemptively already put the kybosh on that deal. The Palestinians are acting like ….well, Palestinians and already refusing to play that game. And one motivation for Netanyahu to play that card would be that he is likely to get all he wants without giving anything up. Scott Ritter writes in RT, “Palestinians, have been presented with a fait accompli that will not change over time. President Trump has hinted at the finality of the deal — if the Palestinians refuse to embrace it, then after the four year period envisioned by the plan expire, Israel will have a green light to resolve the issue on its own terms, inclusive of the annexation of much of the West Bank. This is the heart of the ‘deal’ — a toxic ticking clock counting down to a conclusion already decided, namely the permanent rejection of a Palestinian state.” Netanyahu was already making noises about annexing certain territories allowed by the proposed agreement.
While the Israeli PM praised the move – [he wins either way] – Palestinian leaders called for violence in response, rejecting the deal out of hand. CBN reported that new ISIS leader Sheikh Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi, who took over for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, when he was taken out, ordered attacks on Israelis and called for the use of chemical weaponry. “Oh soldiers of the caliphate everywhere, especially in beloved Sinai and blessed Syria, go for the Israeli settlements and marketplaces. Turn them into lands for testing your weapons and chemical rockets and other types [of weapons]. To the Muslims in Palestine and all countries: Be a spearhead in the war against the Jews and in thwarting their plans and their ‘Deal of the Century.’” He also called on his Muslim “brothers everywhere to attack the Jews and slaughter them, inside Palestine and outside Palestine, and kill them wherever they can find them.”[ii] This is exactly what is sanctioned in the Koran in Sura 9:5: “Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush.” As to a Palestinian State, it seems that one day one will be declared, but it will be an empty shell of a nation. Isaiah 34:12: “They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.”
[i] Herb Keinon, The ‘Deal of the Century’: What are its key points?, Jerusalem Post, January 29, 2020
[ii] Emily Jones, New ISIS Leader Declares War on Israel, CBN, January 28, 2020
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