카테고리 없음

Will dividing Jerusalem bring peace to the Middle East?

nation 2012. 6. 19. 07:11

Shalom Israel,
“If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue
cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider
Jerusalem my highest joy.” (Psalm 137: 5__6)
Last week, at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, European
foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that Israel and Palestine must share
Jerusalem “as part of any two state agreement.”

EU High Representative Catherine Ashton (right) with Middle East Quartet
Special Envoy Tony Blair (left), U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton,UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (center), Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov (fourth from left)in the Secretary General's
Conference Room at the United Nations in New York. The Quartet, which
is involved in mediating peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comprises
the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia.
According to end-time prophecy, Jerusalem will play a major role in the last
days(Zechariah 12: 10, 14:10__11; Isaiah 62: 1__3; Joel 3: 20, etc.).
It should come as no surprise then that Jerusalem’s role as the capital of
Israelremains in dispute despite more than 650 direct references to Jerusalem
in theancient Hebrew Bible, from which comes your translation today, Israel.
Jerusalem on the Chopping Block
“On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and
foreignersentered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one
of them. Youshould not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune,
nor rejoice overthe people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor
boast so much in the dayof their trouble.” (Obadiah 1:11-12)

The Old City of Jerusalem is home to both Jewish and Islamic holy sites.
Ifthe city were divided along demographic lines, Jewish sites would end
upon the Palestinian side and Islamic Holy sites on the Israeli side
(Institute for Public Affairs).
Although Jerusalem is indisputably central to the historical and religious
identity of the Jewish People, and although it’s mentioned daily by pupils
singingthe Israeli national anthem and in Jewish prayer all over the
world,manyso-called voices for peace have set Jerusalem on the
chopping block.
Some argue that the physical division of Jerusalem would “improve the city’s
demographic balance between Jews and Arabs in favor of Jews,” Israeli author
and journalist Nadav Shragai stated in Jerusalem: The Dangers of Division__
An Alternative to Separation from the Arab Neighborhoods.
However, a cook!e-cutter division of Jerusalem is unworkable because of the
city’s unique composition.
Jerusalem is a demographic tapestry where neighborhoods of Arabs and
Jews, as well as international residents, coexist side by side. This tapestry
is so intricately woven in places that it’s impossible to divide the city.

Jerusalem is a mosaic of Arabs and Jews. In many parts of Jerusalem,
they coexist side by side peacefully. And it's rare, but some Jews are even
married to Palestinians.
For example, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs reported that Jerusalem’s
population comprises 285,000 Arabs and more than half a million Jews.
Almost 39 percent of Jerusalem’s Jewish population lives in East Jerusalem__
194,000 Jews to East Jerusalem’s 272,000 Arabs.
In Jerusalem, Arabs and Jews cross into the other’s neighborhoods to go work
and conduct their daily business.
They also use the same roads, electricity grids, gas pipelines and water
systems;these complex networks serve all of Jerusalem’s residents.
The difficulty of a Jerusalem divided would be intensified by negotiating the
usageand repair of the infrastructure that connects Arabs and Jews.

The Old City of Jerusalem, photographed from the tower of the Church of
the Redeemer
Sharing Water: One of Israel’s Most Valuable Resources
With 60 percent of Israel being classified as arid or semi-arid, water is
oneof Israel’s most valuable resources.
Since water has always been a source of political conflict in the Middle East,
it’snot surprising that water issues are part of the conflict between Israel
andthePalestinian Authority (PA).
Israel has honored its obligations to develop water resources under the
Oslo II agreement, while the PA has neglected them by failing to build
pipesfor the wells Israel has produced, and failing to repair “antiquated and
corrodedpipes which cause significant water losses.(palestinefacts.org)”
In PA controlled areas, water is stolen from water mains and sold to the
thirsty. Meanwhile, rich Palestinians can fill their private swimming pools
withwater.

The Lion Fountain in Jerusalem uses recycled water.
In Jerusalem, Arabs enjoy a potable water supply alongside their Jewish neighbors.
If Jerusalem were divided into two sovereign areas that necessarily share the
infrastructure network, damage or pollution occurring in potentially neglected
sections of the water system would directly affect the neighboring population.
In a divided Jerusalem, there would be no checks in place ensuring appropriate
repairs or consistent sanitation.
As it stands now, Israel is equipped to make certain these networks are working
properly and are compliant with health regulations. Israel’s stable, thriving
economy ensures sufficient finances to maintain the infrastructure.
It’s no wonder that the prospect of a divided Jerusalem has sent “a wave of
tensof thousands of Palestinians moving to the ‘Israeli side’ of Jerusalem”
(Shragai).
Many Palestinians have filed for Israeli citizenship, despite considerable
pressurefrom the West Bank not too (City Journal).

An Arab bread seller in the Old City of Jerusalem displays his products to
the Arab and Jewish public walking by.
Priority Number One: Peace Coexistence between Israel and the PA
“The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel.” (Psalm 147:2)
In order for a division of Jerusalem to work between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority (PA), there must first be a peace agreement.
So far, however, there has been little movement in that direction.
The PA was demonstratively weak in reclaiming Gaza from Hamas control in June
2007, thus enabling the continuation of terrorist attacks against Israel.
Furthermore, the dissemination of anti-Israel textbooks in Palestinian schools
haseffectively ensured that mistrust and hatred of Israel has taken root in
thenextgeneration of Palestinians.

Islamic Jihad's website recently posted a photo essay of Gazakindergarten
graduation ceremonies that promoted hatred of Israel and martyrdom.
The picture is no different in Gaza.
Recently, at a kindergarten graduation in Gaza, Palestinian children
celebrated bydressing up as Jewish and Palestinian soldiers, waving
rifles, and shoutinganti-Israel slogans.
The children dressed as Israeli soldiers demonstrated how they have been
taughtthat Palestinians aretortured by dunking the heads of their victims in
pailsof water.
Thechildren also stood beside mock coffins draped with flags bearing the
images of “shahids” (martyrs).
One child said, "When I grow up I'll join Islamic Jihad and the al-Quds
Brigades. I'll fight the Zionist enemy and fire missiles at it until I die
asa shahid and join my father in heaven.
"I love the resistance and the martyrs and Palestine, and I want to blow myself
up on Zionists and kill them on a bus in a suicide bombing.(Ynet)"
The fanatic Muslim kindergarten director of this Islamic-Jihad run school said:
"It is our obligation to educate the children to love the resistance, Palestine
and Jerusalem, so they will recognize the importance of Palestine and who
itsenemy is.”

A Palestinian kindergarten student dressed as an Israeli soldier tortures
his 'Palestinian victim' in a graduation ceremony that glorified violence
and hatred of Israel.
The founder and director of the Palestinian Media Watch, Itamar Marcus,
recently said that there is little difference between schools in Gaza and the
PA-controlled West Bank.
"There are nuances between the programs, but the messages are the same __ Israel
has no right to exist or simply doesn't exist," he said.
Dr. Dan Shiftan, who is the head of the National Security Studies Centre at
the University of Haifa said this fascination with terror represented “a deep
problem with the entire Palestinian society,” which is locked in a victim
mentality and unwilling “to accept responsibility for their suffering.
(Ynet)”
This February, the Palestinian Authority pushed further away from peaceful
relations with Israel, committing to an interim unity government with Hamas.
The Hamas charter states that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist
until Islam will obliterate it.” It has backed this up with thousands of
missile attacks and other acts of violence against Israel.

A Divided Jerusalem: No Peace at all
“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples
reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 12:2)
If Jerusalem were divided, its Arab neighborhoods would become a part
of Palestine while the Jewish neighborhoods would remain a part of Israel.
That line of separation would become the new border between the State of
Israel and the new country of the Palestinian Authority.
While physically divvying up Arab and Jewish neighborhoods would be
straightforward to some extent in some areas of Jerusalem, other areas would
be problematic.

In the neighborhood of Abu Tor in Jerusalem, an Arab and a Jewish
neighborhood closely border each other.
American journalist Michael Totten took a walk last year through one of those
areas and wrote the following:
Take the neighborhood of Abu Tor, on a hill just south of the Old City.
[Our Bible Ministry once had offices there].
The eastern side is Arab, and the western side is Jewish. The Green
Line runs through its center. It would be easy enough, theoretically, to
make the Green Line the border between Israel and a Palestinian state.
But that border would go right down the middle of a street where Jews
live on one side and Arabs live on the other. If a wall or a fence were
erected on that border, residents wouldn’t be able to drive down their
own street.
And if there were no wall or a fence, anyone could cross the border
without passing through customs or security: tourists, spies, job-seekers,
and suicide bombers. A Palestinian could throw a hand grenade into
Israel from inside his living room, and vice versa (City Journal).
Israel, just imagine your children living in such a hostile environment!
And yet, Palestinian negotiators insist that Jerusalem must be divided in any
peace agreement.
That kind of peace agreement is unworkable.

Jerusalem
We encourage you to keep Jerusalem in your prayers, as only God can bring
true peace to this region.
Whatever happens inJerusalem has deep significance for the entire
world.This is the Holy Cityto which Yeshua (Jesus) will soon return.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you be secure.’”
(Psalm 122:6)
Please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry as we bring the
Word of God to the Israel and the world.

P.S. The Apostle (Rabbi) Paul writes in Romans 15:27
"For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings,
they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings."