Weekly Update: Palestinian Rejectionism
It is widely acknowledged – even by its proponents – that the efforts of the international community over recent decades to create a negotiated agreement between Israel and the PLO resulting in an “independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state” existing “side by side with Israel in peace and security and mutual recognition” have failed.
Rather than establishing peace, the situation on the ground is unstable and explosive. Not only is there currently no prospect of a negotiated agreement, conflict and tensions are increasing.
The Gaza Strip has collapsed into a haven of terrorism under Hamas rule since Israel’s unilateral withdrawal in 2005. Iran’s revolutionary influence via proxies has penetrated deep into Gaza and the West Bank, in addition to its strongholds in Lebanon and Syria. The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) has become corrupt and inefficient, losing all legitimacy under its Palestinian constituency. Palestinian society in the areas governed by the PA is radicalizing, violence is increasing. Far from being viable, the Palestinian economy is almost entirely dependent on foreign support.
Instead of reducing its presence outside the Green Line, as was envisaged in the Oslo Accords, the Israeli military administration that was introduced in 1967 in the West Bank as a temporary measure has become institutionalized. The number of Israelis living outside the Green Line has grown, and Israeli “settlements” have been increasingly integrated within the State of Israel.
Each round of US-led attempts since Oslo to broker an agreement (2000, 2008 and 2014) has failed, and led to even more violence. Today, Israeli-PLO bilateral relations are at an all-time low, and negotiations are non-existent.
In the meantime, since 2011, the PLO has launched a unilateral campaign to mobilize the UN institutions to recognize “Palestine” as a state within the “1967 lines”. Some EU member states support this initiative, others do not. Nevertheless, this campaign has enabled “Palestine” to be accepted as a “non-member state” within the UN, and accede to a myriad of bilateral and multilateral treaties, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). There is increasing diplomatic pressure on Israel to “end the occupation”, “withdraw from the occupied territories”, and allow Palestinian refugees to return.
This month, at the UN General Assembly in New York, the PLO is expected to seek UN membership.
The tragedy is that the PLO is not a state, it is a farce. It has failed the Palestinian people. As Arab/Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh says this week: “neither the PA leadership nor the Palestinian people is ready for statehood. And the responsibility for that fact lies squarely with the ruthless and failed Palestinian leaders.”
Let us hope and pray that the leaders of our nations are sensible enough to hold the PLO to account, and withdraw their support of the morally and financially bankrupt PLO unless and until it abandons its culture of hatred and rejection of Jewish nationhood.
It is time for a new approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives. The international community should reward not terror, but mutual trust and respect. As Alex Ryvchin writes: “Peace can only come through genuine party-to-party negotiations and a willingness to compromise. For as long as the Palestinian leadership receives the cost-free solidarity, currency and diplomatic recognition of the world, a negotiated outcome is an impossibility.”
There seems to be a spirit of rejection and hatred in the Palestinian leadership. That can only be broken by the Holy Spirit. Once that happens, there can be true reconciliation, and the Jewish people will truly be the blessing to the Palestinians that God intends them to be.
Opinion | Time for the UN to rethink Palestine
Alex Ryvchin writes in Fathom Journal: “The United Nations and various member states are poised to revisit the question of Palestine with renewed vigour. This invariably means flushing more money into UNRWA, a special agency devoted to keeping Palestinians in refugee camps in preparation for their long foretold conquest of Israel, and by again upgrading the Palestinian status, recognising them as a state despite virtual consensus, even among sympathisers, that they in no way meet the legal definition.”
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The Palestinians and the World Do Not Need Another Corrupt, Failed Terrorist Arab State
Khaled Abu Toameh writes in Gatestone: “The PA leadership wants the world to believe that the Palestinians are ready for statehood and that is why the time has come to recognize “Palestine” as a full member of the UN. The truth, however, is that neither the PA leadership nor the Palestinian people is ready for statehood. And the responsibility for that fact lies squarely with the ruthless and failed Palestinian leaders.”
> Read more..
Fatah announces return to terror
Itamar Markus writes at Palestinian Media Watch: “Last night two Palestinian terrorists, one a member of Western funded Palestinian Security Services, shot and killed an Israeli officer, and then they themselves were shot and killed. The Palestinian Authority official media and Fatah, both headed by [PLO Chairman] Mahmoud Abbas, have responded with support for the attack that killed the Israeli officer.”
> Read more..
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
Romans 11:11-24
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
