In 2008 the Lausanne Conference on Jewish Evangelism was hosted in Boston, MA. Sha’ar helped to host this conference by providing support with our sound system, a sound engineer, and transportation. I also spoke on two subjects; the first being on “Creative evangelism” and the second entitled, “A perspective on the Arab and Israeli conflict”.
Foolishly, I was under the assumption that this group was in unity concerning the right of Israel to exist as an autonomous Jewish state. I was so wrong. After my presentation I was pretty much vilified by a very large contingency in that conference. I was branded as a hater. For the rest of the conference I was ignored by most of the attendees. The silence directed towards me was deafening.
After the conference I was even approached by a very prominent leader in Jewish ministries and told that if I wanted to be taken seriously in Jewish ministry I needed to tone down my rhetoric.
I categorically rejected their evaluation of my presentation. After reading an article this week from the Lausanne Conference and their stance on Israel and the Jews, I decided to write a critique and repost my initial presentation.
They say that they want to evangelize Jews for the Gospel’s sake. Yet they speak of Israel as being an apartheid state. What does the conference want to do, turn Jews into self-hating Israel rejecting Christians after their own image? I not only wholeheartedly reject that but I will continue to publically preach against it. The “Church” has forgotten its place as the adopted children and continues as it has done throughout history to try and usurp the natural-born sons.
Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--
Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without YHVH in the world.
Eph 2:13 But now in Messiah Yeshua you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.
Eph 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
What don’t they get about passages like this? The Gentiles have been brought in to the
Commonwealth of Israel. We, who are Jewish believers, are what they have been grafted into.
The “Christian” church does not replace or usurp the natural-born children; they come along side of them. But as history has shown us, so many of them have done exactly what Rom. 11 has warned them not to do.
Rom 11:18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.
Feel free to read the rest of Rom. 11 for the rest of the context.
The Lausanne Conference is a clear example of this boasting. Here are a few quotes from the Lausanne Conference and the article.
“The one Church that God has called into being in Christ is drawn from every nation, tribe, people, and language, with the result that no single ethnic identity can claim to be ‘God’s chosen people.’ God’s election of Old Testament Israel was for the sake of the eventual creation of this multi-national community of God’s people … We strongly affirm, therefore, that while there are multiple ethnicities within the one church by God’s clear intention, no single ethnic group holds privileged place in God’s economy of salvation or God’s eschatological purpose. Thus, we strongly believe that the separate and privileged place given to the modern Israeli state, in certain forms of dispensationalism or Christian Zionism, should be challenged.”
This was a statement prepared by the Theology Working Group in connection with Lausanne III.
From the website “Breaking Israel News” in an article called “Leading Evangelical Organization Calls on Christian Zionists to Repent for Supporting Israel”.
One of the world’s leading Christian Evangelical organizations is targeting Christian support for the State of Israel in what it calls a sinful practice, Israel Hayom first reported.
“The Lausanne Movement has decried Christian Zionism in the past and its newest anti-Israel campaign is not new.
“For over 60 years, many Evangelicals have clung to a very narrow theological narrative that weds Christian theology with a political ideology known as Zionism,” wrote Steve Haas, vice presidents of World Vision US, in the latest issue of Lausanne Global Analysis.
Haas compared Christian Zionists to Spanish inquisitors, Crusaders, supporters of apartheid South Africa, and other historical atrocities.
As a whole, the Lausanne movement has developed a negative obsession with Israel over the last several years. Senior leaders within Lausanne espouse the idea that Israel, the Jewish state, is the chief persecutor of Christians and other peoples in the Middle East.”
www.breakingisraelnews.com/28765/leading-evangelical-movement-calls-on-christian-zionists-to-repent-for-supporting-israel-biblical-zionism/#kQjcU04XtvsmrmVt.99
The Lausanne conference has gone the way of many in the “Church” who not only speak against Israel, but speak on behalf of the illegitimate Palestinian cause. These so-called Palestinians believe that they are the ancient indigenous people who originally inhabited the land. They also believe they have what is known as the right of return, the right to come back to Israel and claim their “ancient land”.
This why I wrote the article – to combat this historically and Biblically incorrect premise. So here is the original article and presentation I gave at the 2008 conference. You be the judge.
A PERSPECTIVE ON THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
Henry Morse
The withdrawal in the Gaza and soon to be the West Bank has captured world attention and various opinions from every different political and religious angle. The problem I find in most of these opinions is that few of them are based on Biblical or historical facts. Though many people present themselves as authorities few really speak with any sense of accuracy that can be verified. I would like to approach this issue from the historical aspect and then the Biblical basis for my argument.
The accepted premise among many is that the Palestinians should have the right to govern themselves in the land that they have occupied for centuries. They present themselves as the ancient people who have been in the land from the beginning and are now under occupation by the Zionist oppressors. Very few know this but there are no such people historically, ethnically or otherwise known as Palestinians. The word Palestine came into existence when in 132 AD, after putting down the second Jewish revolt, the Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem into a Roman city naming it after his family name, Aelia Capitolonia. He also changed the name of Judea, Samaria and Galilee to "Syria Palestina". This ascribed to the land a name connected to Israel's archenemies the Philistines. Both of these acts were done to erase the connection of Israel and Jerusalem from the Jewish people. This name has stuck with the land from that time hence. It has since been anglicized into the name Palestine. The Philistines no longer exist as a people. I dare any Arab to trace his ancestry back to the Philistines. I was under the impression that they traced their line back to Abraham through Ishmael. They can't have it both ways. They are either children of Abraham or Philistines. Please understand that I am giving you information that can be backed up in any local library.
Concerning the issue of there being an ancient people named Palestinians who have occupied the land for centuries, this is just a bold faced lie. All one must do is look at the historical record of the region by various writers and historians. One said writer "Mark Twain" reported in his Journal during his visit to "Palestine" in 1867:
It is a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds - a silent mournful expanse. We never saw a human being on the whole route. There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil had almost deserted the country. (The Innocents Abroad).
The report of the Palestine Royal Commission quotes an account of the Coastal Plain 1913:
The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track suitable for transport by camels and carts. no orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to be seen until one reaches Yavne village. Houses were all of mud. Schools did not exist. The western part, towards the sea was almost a desert. The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. many villages were deserted by their inhabitants.
The French author Voltaire described "Palestine" as, "a hopeless, dreary place."
These writers must have been reporting on the state of the barren land and the poor oppressed "Palestinian" indigenous people under the oppression of the Zionist occupiers. HELLO! The period of time between 1516 and 1917 was under the rule of the Moslems. This was known as the Turkish rule. During this 400 year rule the land was sparsely populated, poorly cultivated, and widely neglected. This was the case, because when the Jews were thrown out of Israel under Hadrian's rule, the land was neglected for the next 2000 years until 1918 when, under British rule, Lord Balfour declared that Israel should be a home land for the Jews. It was at that time when Jews returned to the land they made the desert bloom.
Isa 51:3 For Jehovah shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
It wasn't until the Jews came back to their homeland and made it habitable, cultivated the land and brought industry and infrastructure to Israel that the so called "ancient Palestinians" wanted anything to do with this land. The word "Palestinian" that we use to describe these people today before 1919 referred to any one who lived in the land at that time, this was Jews and Arabs. After 1919 "Palestine" was considered that portion of land in the Middle East that was designated for the Jewish people as a homeland. This homeland included what we know today as Jordan east of the river and Israel west of the river. The Jewish presence in Israel has been for 3000 years. Islam has only been in in existence since approximately 600 AD. The Palestinian Arabs as we know them today have only been around since the time Jews started coming back to their land in the late 1800s and early 1900s under the leadership of Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism.
Modern "Palestine" was created by the League of Nations. There were no preexisting people known as Palestinians. There were the Jews and the few left over nomads that were unfortunate enough to be stuck there during the Turkish rule which lasted from 1517 to 1917.
When Jews stated moving back to the Land in the 1880s they purchased land from absentee Arab landlords who lived in Cairo, Damascus and Beirut. The price paid for this land was at an exorbitant rate of $1000.00 an acre. The land at the time was either malaria infested swamps or barren deserts. In contrast rich black soil in Iowa was selling for $110.00 an acre that same year, as stated by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture.
What we need to keep in mind is that the entire Near East was carved up by the nations that were in control at various and sundry times. Countries were made and dissolved as a result of the political needs of the ruling powers. This certainly was the case when in 1948 the land that was promised to Israel was whittled down to 17.5 % of the original land promised to them when "Palestine" was designated as their homeland. In 1946 Jordan was created and the land Known as Palestine was now artificially reassigned to mean the land west of the Jordan River. This is illustrated in the diagram above. Where was world outcry then when the poor Palestinian Jews were loosing their land to the imperialistic Arab Muslims?
On May 14th 1948, when Israel was declared a nation by the UN, it shrunk even more when the West bank and Gaza Strip were declared a separate Palestinian State. Each time Israel was being carved up the Jews accepted the land that was given them. Each time the Arabs got more land they demanded more. In 1949 King Hussein, who is a Saudi Arabian, ignored the UN partition and annexed the west bank to Jordan. May I remind you that Jordan was in the original boundaries of land that was promised to Israel as a homeland in 1919 under the British Mandate. Why is it that promises to Israel mean nothing and can be broken at a whim without world outcry? Why is it that Muslim/Arabs can make demands that are not reasonable and get away with it while committing terrorist activities all in the name of the Palestinian cause, a cause that they have invented?
So where did all of the Palestinians come from? We must remember that the land was barren until the Jews came back and reclaimed it. The Jews are presently 1/10 of 1 percent of the worlds population. We are just not that large of a people group. There are approximately 1 billion Muslims. When the land became livable again, after the Jews repopulated, the Turks and then the British restricted Jewish immigration to the land even during WWII. Yet, to appease the Arabs they allowed unrestricted immigration from the neighboring Arab countries. This is information that is found in the 1939 British White Paper. You can find out about this I am sure at any Library.
I find it rather odd that the "Palestinians" continue to make demands that are not reasonable, practical, Biblical or historically defended. Yet, the world and some in the church continue, in their ignorance, to cow tow to them. This is all done in the name of the poor oppressed people who just want to have their own land, a land that does not belong to them, but nonetheless their own land. I find it also odd that when they were offered the very same land they are demanding now during the UN partition in 1948 they refused it. My question to them would be, what is their motivation? Do they really want the land or are they more interested in the destruction of the Jews.
Don't the Jews have the right to have a land of their own? They are a people who have struggled under every form of persecution known to man for more than 2000 years. The world still wants to do everything in their power to keep them from that small little strip of land about the size of New Jersey. The Muslims have enough land collectively to make up a country the size of the USA including Alaska and Hawaii and 1/3 of Canada. Don't they have enough land to absorb these "Palestinians"?
Since its modern inception Israel has had to fight for its very existence. During WWII 1/3 of all Jews were wiped off the face of this planet. They have constantly been on the defensive for their very survival as a people. In the year 1941 the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini met with Adolph Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and Joachim Von Ribbentrop to convince them to extend their Jewish annihilation program to the Middle East. The Mufti was the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world in his day. Given the repeated history of their enemies can you blame them for not trusting the Arabs word?
The day after Israel's independence, May 14th 1948, every bordering Arab nation sent troops to join with the Jordanian forces in a war of aggression against this fledgling state. They descended upon the "Zionist imperialists" to "Push them into the sea" They were outnumbered by 100 to 1. Israel, which had virtually no heavy artillery, no tanks, and only four decrepit airplanes, had to defend itself against Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq! That's 600,000 Jews against 45 million Arabs, while the United Nations did nothing. After a series of attacks, counter-attacks, and truces, the war ended on January 7, 1949.
It just does not make sense for this nation, fighting for its existence, to wage a war of aggression against the entire Arab world. Just 3 years prior WWII ended with as I said above 1/3 of all world Jewry destroyed. This would have been a suicide wish.
I clipped this from a pro-Palestinian web site. This is their impression of the events that lead up to the war on May 15th 1948. Here is their address for you to read it yourself:
<http://thewebfairy.com/nerdcities/Palestine/conquest-timeline.htm>
May 15, 1948 "The armies of the Arab states enter the civil war. The State of Israel is proclaimed, and more importantly the British wash their hands of Palestine. The Arab states cannot ignore the massacres of Palestinians and the outright theft of all their property. They put together an army of about 20,000 and enter the war in support of their brethren, in an attempt to resist this brutal invasion of Arab land. Unfortunately, the Jews had between 40,000 and 60,000 well equipped fighters and the outcome was never in doubt unless the Arab states committed more troops and resources. Note that the Arab states could not support their brethren directly before May 15, 1948, or they would have ended up fighting the British (although some irregulars from these countries had joined the local Palestinian fighters").
This is an outright lie. The Secretary General of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha said, on May 15th 1948, "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous Massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades." Does this sound like the statement of a defender or an aggressor? Do the poor oppressed "Palestinians" sound like they felt like the "outcome was never in doubt" Do they sound defeated?
Can anyone deny the right of existence for a people group? This is what the Jew has had to endure. All they have ever wanted is to raise their families and survive as a people. The historical record backs up the fact that they were willing to do this alongside of their Arab neighbors. The quote below should reveal to you of the sentiment of the Jews at the time of their independence. "Accordingly we, the members of the National Council met together in solemn assembly today and by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and with the support of the resolution of the General of the United Nations, hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine to be called Israel... "We offer peace and amity to all neighboring states and their peoples and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all... "With trust in the Rock of Israel, we set our hands to this declaration at this session of the Provisional State Council in the city of Tel Aviv on Sabbath Eve, 5th Iyar 5708, 14th day of May 1948."
No religious Moslem nation in the world has Jews in any governmental position. Israel has Arabs in their Knesset and Senate. The Jews have from the beginning had to be on the defensive for their very survival. Their only other option is to die. The history of the Arab nations is set in stone. They have always wanted nothing less than the destruction of every Jew on the face of the planet. Where is the world outcry for the sake of the Jew?
I have yet to see an Israeli Strap on a bomb and blow himself up with his enemies including innocent women, children and fellow Jews. Does this seem like a logical way to solve the Middle East conflict? Why am I am I unable to see the logic in these actions? Why do so many people in the world refuse to also see it the way it really is? I do have an answer for any one who is willing to listen. It is logical, Biblical and historically sound.
The nation of Israel as we know it was created by God. Before Abraham there were no Jews. He is the father of the nation. The children of Israel are not a race they are a family. They are the children of Abraham. These children were promised a land and a special job description. This is found in Genesis 12:1-3.
Gen 12:1 And Jehovah said to Abram, Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you. Gen 12:2 And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. Gen 12:3 And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.
God has promised blessings to the world if they would bless Israel. This is also found in many scriptural references throughout the word of God, Here are just a few of those references, Gen 22:18, Is 42:5-8, 43:9-12, 49:6.
The most important blessing that the world would receive in their relationship to Israel would be relationship with God and salvation. Islam, which is only approximately 1400 years old, has since its beginning tried to usurp Israel from its place in God's plan. Islam teaches that the promised seed does not come from Abraham's son Isaac but that Ishmael the illegitimate son of Sarah's handmaiden is the promised seed.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
In the Qur'an, Ishmael is known as the first-born son of Abraham from his second wife Hagar and an appointed Prophet of God (also mentioned in the Bible). Islamic tradition holds that Abraham married Hagar, the mother of Ishmael. As a result Ishmael was the first legitimate son of Abraham. Islam asserts that he was the one nearly sacrificed, not Isaac (or Ishaq in the Qur'an). Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God is celebrated by Muslims every year as Eid ul-Adha.
Islamic tradition holds that Ishmael and Hagar were sent to the deserts of Arabia on the orders of God (Allah). The Bible claims that Sarah, after the birth of Isaac, sent Hagar and Ishmael away. He and his mother settled in Mecca (or "Makkah") and were without water. The frantic running of his mother in pursuit of water led to a miraculous spring appearing from the ground (from God) known as the Zamzam Well. Ishmael then helped his father, Abraham, build the House of God, or the Kaaba, in Mecca.
The scripture teaches the very opposite. In Gen. 22:15-18 it reads:
And the Angel of Jehovah called to Abraham out of the heavens the second time, and said, I have sworn by Myself, says Jehovah; because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only one; that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.
That son was Isaac, not Ishmael.
Gen 17:21 But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time in the next year.
Gen 21:10 And she said to Abraham, Cast out this slave woman and her son. For the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son, with Isaac.
Gen 22:2 And He said, Take now your son, your only one, Isaac, whom you love. And go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will name to you.
The way that Islam obtains its legitimacy is to de-legitimize Israel and change its history. This is called replacement theology. They seem to have a problem with verifying the facts. This they have done for 1400 years. They continue to do it with their modern history. It's time that thinking people are willing stand up and say, "Just the facts ma'am, just the facts".
If we in America keep insisting that Israel give up the land, I am fearful for the out-come. Some people, including some spiritual leaders, are saying our recent catastrophes are as a result of our sin. I don't have a revelation from God, but this wouldn't be too far fetched. Neither would it be inconsistent with God's character. After all He is a judge. He judged Israel in their sin. What makes the USA think we are exempt from God's judgment? We have thrown God out of our society. Why would we expect His protection, when we have told Him we want nothing to do with Him? Whether or not it is the Lord's judgment, or just God being a gentleman and doing what we asked, He is still in control. And there is one thing I know; He will not tolerate people messing with His people or His Land.
2 Sa 7:22-24 says:
Therefore You are great, O Jehovah God. For there is none like You, neither is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like Your people, like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to make Him a name, and to do for You great things and terrible, for Your land, before Your people, whom You redeemed to You from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? For You have confirmed to Yourself Your people Israel to be a people to You forever. And You, Jehovah, have become their God.
2 Ch 7:19-20 says:
But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and if you shall go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them. And this house which I have sanctified for My name, I will cast out of My sight, and I will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.
Joe 2:17-19 says:
Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Have pity on Your people, O Jehovah, and give not Your inheritance to shame, for a proverb among those of the nations. Why should they say among the people, Where is their God? Joe 2:18 Then Jehovah will be jealous for His land and pity His people. Joe 2:19 Yes, Jehovah will answer and say to His people, Behold, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied with it. And I will no more make you a curse among the nations.
I could be wrong, but it seems rather curious to me that the Lord takes so much pride in His land and in His people. If this is good enough for Him then it should be good enough for the Church.
Foolishly, I was under the assumption that this group was in unity concerning the right of Israel to exist as an autonomous Jewish state. I was so wrong. After my presentation I was pretty much vilified by a very large contingency in that conference. I was branded as a hater. For the rest of the conference I was ignored by most of the attendees. The silence directed towards me was deafening.
After the conference I was even approached by a very prominent leader in Jewish ministries and told that if I wanted to be taken seriously in Jewish ministry I needed to tone down my rhetoric.
I categorically rejected their evaluation of my presentation. After reading an article this week from the Lausanne Conference and their stance on Israel and the Jews, I decided to write a critique and repost my initial presentation.
They say that they want to evangelize Jews for the Gospel’s sake. Yet they speak of Israel as being an apartheid state. What does the conference want to do, turn Jews into self-hating Israel rejecting Christians after their own image? I not only wholeheartedly reject that but I will continue to publically preach against it. The “Church” has forgotten its place as the adopted children and continues as it has done throughout history to try and usurp the natural-born sons.
Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--
Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without YHVH in the world.
Eph 2:13 But now in Messiah Yeshua you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.
Eph 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
What don’t they get about passages like this? The Gentiles have been brought in to the
Commonwealth of Israel. We, who are Jewish believers, are what they have been grafted into.
The “Christian” church does not replace or usurp the natural-born children; they come along side of them. But as history has shown us, so many of them have done exactly what Rom. 11 has warned them not to do.
Rom 11:18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.
Feel free to read the rest of Rom. 11 for the rest of the context.
The Lausanne Conference is a clear example of this boasting. Here are a few quotes from the Lausanne Conference and the article.
“The one Church that God has called into being in Christ is drawn from every nation, tribe, people, and language, with the result that no single ethnic identity can claim to be ‘God’s chosen people.’ God’s election of Old Testament Israel was for the sake of the eventual creation of this multi-national community of God’s people … We strongly affirm, therefore, that while there are multiple ethnicities within the one church by God’s clear intention, no single ethnic group holds privileged place in God’s economy of salvation or God’s eschatological purpose. Thus, we strongly believe that the separate and privileged place given to the modern Israeli state, in certain forms of dispensationalism or Christian Zionism, should be challenged.”
This was a statement prepared by the Theology Working Group in connection with Lausanne III.
From the website “Breaking Israel News” in an article called “Leading Evangelical Organization Calls on Christian Zionists to Repent for Supporting Israel”.
One of the world’s leading Christian Evangelical organizations is targeting Christian support for the State of Israel in what it calls a sinful practice, Israel Hayom first reported.
“The Lausanne Movement has decried Christian Zionism in the past and its newest anti-Israel campaign is not new.
“For over 60 years, many Evangelicals have clung to a very narrow theological narrative that weds Christian theology with a political ideology known as Zionism,” wrote Steve Haas, vice presidents of World Vision US, in the latest issue of Lausanne Global Analysis.
Haas compared Christian Zionists to Spanish inquisitors, Crusaders, supporters of apartheid South Africa, and other historical atrocities.
As a whole, the Lausanne movement has developed a negative obsession with Israel over the last several years. Senior leaders within Lausanne espouse the idea that Israel, the Jewish state, is the chief persecutor of Christians and other peoples in the Middle East.”
www.breakingisraelnews.com/28765/leading-evangelical-movement-calls-on-christian-zionists-to-repent-for-supporting-israel-biblical-zionism/#kQjcU04XtvsmrmVt.99
The Lausanne conference has gone the way of many in the “Church” who not only speak against Israel, but speak on behalf of the illegitimate Palestinian cause. These so-called Palestinians believe that they are the ancient indigenous people who originally inhabited the land. They also believe they have what is known as the right of return, the right to come back to Israel and claim their “ancient land”.
This why I wrote the article – to combat this historically and Biblically incorrect premise. So here is the original article and presentation I gave at the 2008 conference. You be the judge.
A PERSPECTIVE ON THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
Henry Morse
The withdrawal in the Gaza and soon to be the West Bank has captured world attention and various opinions from every different political and religious angle. The problem I find in most of these opinions is that few of them are based on Biblical or historical facts. Though many people present themselves as authorities few really speak with any sense of accuracy that can be verified. I would like to approach this issue from the historical aspect and then the Biblical basis for my argument.
The accepted premise among many is that the Palestinians should have the right to govern themselves in the land that they have occupied for centuries. They present themselves as the ancient people who have been in the land from the beginning and are now under occupation by the Zionist oppressors. Very few know this but there are no such people historically, ethnically or otherwise known as Palestinians. The word Palestine came into existence when in 132 AD, after putting down the second Jewish revolt, the Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem into a Roman city naming it after his family name, Aelia Capitolonia. He also changed the name of Judea, Samaria and Galilee to "Syria Palestina". This ascribed to the land a name connected to Israel's archenemies the Philistines. Both of these acts were done to erase the connection of Israel and Jerusalem from the Jewish people. This name has stuck with the land from that time hence. It has since been anglicized into the name Palestine. The Philistines no longer exist as a people. I dare any Arab to trace his ancestry back to the Philistines. I was under the impression that they traced their line back to Abraham through Ishmael. They can't have it both ways. They are either children of Abraham or Philistines. Please understand that I am giving you information that can be backed up in any local library.
Concerning the issue of there being an ancient people named Palestinians who have occupied the land for centuries, this is just a bold faced lie. All one must do is look at the historical record of the region by various writers and historians. One said writer "Mark Twain" reported in his Journal during his visit to "Palestine" in 1867:
It is a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds - a silent mournful expanse. We never saw a human being on the whole route. There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil had almost deserted the country. (The Innocents Abroad).
The report of the Palestine Royal Commission quotes an account of the Coastal Plain 1913:
The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track suitable for transport by camels and carts. no orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to be seen until one reaches Yavne village. Houses were all of mud. Schools did not exist. The western part, towards the sea was almost a desert. The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. many villages were deserted by their inhabitants.
The French author Voltaire described "Palestine" as, "a hopeless, dreary place."
These writers must have been reporting on the state of the barren land and the poor oppressed "Palestinian" indigenous people under the oppression of the Zionist occupiers. HELLO! The period of time between 1516 and 1917 was under the rule of the Moslems. This was known as the Turkish rule. During this 400 year rule the land was sparsely populated, poorly cultivated, and widely neglected. This was the case, because when the Jews were thrown out of Israel under Hadrian's rule, the land was neglected for the next 2000 years until 1918 when, under British rule, Lord Balfour declared that Israel should be a home land for the Jews. It was at that time when Jews returned to the land they made the desert bloom.
Isa 51:3 For Jehovah shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
It wasn't until the Jews came back to their homeland and made it habitable, cultivated the land and brought industry and infrastructure to Israel that the so called "ancient Palestinians" wanted anything to do with this land. The word "Palestinian" that we use to describe these people today before 1919 referred to any one who lived in the land at that time, this was Jews and Arabs. After 1919 "Palestine" was considered that portion of land in the Middle East that was designated for the Jewish people as a homeland. This homeland included what we know today as Jordan east of the river and Israel west of the river. The Jewish presence in Israel has been for 3000 years. Islam has only been in in existence since approximately 600 AD. The Palestinian Arabs as we know them today have only been around since the time Jews started coming back to their land in the late 1800s and early 1900s under the leadership of Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism.
Modern "Palestine" was created by the League of Nations. There were no preexisting people known as Palestinians. There were the Jews and the few left over nomads that were unfortunate enough to be stuck there during the Turkish rule which lasted from 1517 to 1917.
When Jews stated moving back to the Land in the 1880s they purchased land from absentee Arab landlords who lived in Cairo, Damascus and Beirut. The price paid for this land was at an exorbitant rate of $1000.00 an acre. The land at the time was either malaria infested swamps or barren deserts. In contrast rich black soil in Iowa was selling for $110.00 an acre that same year, as stated by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture.
What we need to keep in mind is that the entire Near East was carved up by the nations that were in control at various and sundry times. Countries were made and dissolved as a result of the political needs of the ruling powers. This certainly was the case when in 1948 the land that was promised to Israel was whittled down to 17.5 % of the original land promised to them when "Palestine" was designated as their homeland. In 1946 Jordan was created and the land Known as Palestine was now artificially reassigned to mean the land west of the Jordan River. This is illustrated in the diagram above. Where was world outcry then when the poor Palestinian Jews were loosing their land to the imperialistic Arab Muslims?
On May 14th 1948, when Israel was declared a nation by the UN, it shrunk even more when the West bank and Gaza Strip were declared a separate Palestinian State. Each time Israel was being carved up the Jews accepted the land that was given them. Each time the Arabs got more land they demanded more. In 1949 King Hussein, who is a Saudi Arabian, ignored the UN partition and annexed the west bank to Jordan. May I remind you that Jordan was in the original boundaries of land that was promised to Israel as a homeland in 1919 under the British Mandate. Why is it that promises to Israel mean nothing and can be broken at a whim without world outcry? Why is it that Muslim/Arabs can make demands that are not reasonable and get away with it while committing terrorist activities all in the name of the Palestinian cause, a cause that they have invented?
So where did all of the Palestinians come from? We must remember that the land was barren until the Jews came back and reclaimed it. The Jews are presently 1/10 of 1 percent of the worlds population. We are just not that large of a people group. There are approximately 1 billion Muslims. When the land became livable again, after the Jews repopulated, the Turks and then the British restricted Jewish immigration to the land even during WWII. Yet, to appease the Arabs they allowed unrestricted immigration from the neighboring Arab countries. This is information that is found in the 1939 British White Paper. You can find out about this I am sure at any Library.
I find it rather odd that the "Palestinians" continue to make demands that are not reasonable, practical, Biblical or historically defended. Yet, the world and some in the church continue, in their ignorance, to cow tow to them. This is all done in the name of the poor oppressed people who just want to have their own land, a land that does not belong to them, but nonetheless their own land. I find it also odd that when they were offered the very same land they are demanding now during the UN partition in 1948 they refused it. My question to them would be, what is their motivation? Do they really want the land or are they more interested in the destruction of the Jews.
Don't the Jews have the right to have a land of their own? They are a people who have struggled under every form of persecution known to man for more than 2000 years. The world still wants to do everything in their power to keep them from that small little strip of land about the size of New Jersey. The Muslims have enough land collectively to make up a country the size of the USA including Alaska and Hawaii and 1/3 of Canada. Don't they have enough land to absorb these "Palestinians"?
Since its modern inception Israel has had to fight for its very existence. During WWII 1/3 of all Jews were wiped off the face of this planet. They have constantly been on the defensive for their very survival as a people. In the year 1941 the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini met with Adolph Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and Joachim Von Ribbentrop to convince them to extend their Jewish annihilation program to the Middle East. The Mufti was the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world in his day. Given the repeated history of their enemies can you blame them for not trusting the Arabs word?
The day after Israel's independence, May 14th 1948, every bordering Arab nation sent troops to join with the Jordanian forces in a war of aggression against this fledgling state. They descended upon the "Zionist imperialists" to "Push them into the sea" They were outnumbered by 100 to 1. Israel, which had virtually no heavy artillery, no tanks, and only four decrepit airplanes, had to defend itself against Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq! That's 600,000 Jews against 45 million Arabs, while the United Nations did nothing. After a series of attacks, counter-attacks, and truces, the war ended on January 7, 1949.
It just does not make sense for this nation, fighting for its existence, to wage a war of aggression against the entire Arab world. Just 3 years prior WWII ended with as I said above 1/3 of all world Jewry destroyed. This would have been a suicide wish.
I clipped this from a pro-Palestinian web site. This is their impression of the events that lead up to the war on May 15th 1948. Here is their address for you to read it yourself:
<http://thewebfairy.com/nerdcities/Palestine/conquest-timeline.htm>
May 15, 1948 "The armies of the Arab states enter the civil war. The State of Israel is proclaimed, and more importantly the British wash their hands of Palestine. The Arab states cannot ignore the massacres of Palestinians and the outright theft of all their property. They put together an army of about 20,000 and enter the war in support of their brethren, in an attempt to resist this brutal invasion of Arab land. Unfortunately, the Jews had between 40,000 and 60,000 well equipped fighters and the outcome was never in doubt unless the Arab states committed more troops and resources. Note that the Arab states could not support their brethren directly before May 15, 1948, or they would have ended up fighting the British (although some irregulars from these countries had joined the local Palestinian fighters").
This is an outright lie. The Secretary General of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha said, on May 15th 1948, "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous Massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades." Does this sound like the statement of a defender or an aggressor? Do the poor oppressed "Palestinians" sound like they felt like the "outcome was never in doubt" Do they sound defeated?
Can anyone deny the right of existence for a people group? This is what the Jew has had to endure. All they have ever wanted is to raise their families and survive as a people. The historical record backs up the fact that they were willing to do this alongside of their Arab neighbors. The quote below should reveal to you of the sentiment of the Jews at the time of their independence. "Accordingly we, the members of the National Council met together in solemn assembly today and by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and with the support of the resolution of the General of the United Nations, hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine to be called Israel... "We offer peace and amity to all neighboring states and their peoples and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all... "With trust in the Rock of Israel, we set our hands to this declaration at this session of the Provisional State Council in the city of Tel Aviv on Sabbath Eve, 5th Iyar 5708, 14th day of May 1948."
No religious Moslem nation in the world has Jews in any governmental position. Israel has Arabs in their Knesset and Senate. The Jews have from the beginning had to be on the defensive for their very survival. Their only other option is to die. The history of the Arab nations is set in stone. They have always wanted nothing less than the destruction of every Jew on the face of the planet. Where is the world outcry for the sake of the Jew?
I have yet to see an Israeli Strap on a bomb and blow himself up with his enemies including innocent women, children and fellow Jews. Does this seem like a logical way to solve the Middle East conflict? Why am I am I unable to see the logic in these actions? Why do so many people in the world refuse to also see it the way it really is? I do have an answer for any one who is willing to listen. It is logical, Biblical and historically sound.
The nation of Israel as we know it was created by God. Before Abraham there were no Jews. He is the father of the nation. The children of Israel are not a race they are a family. They are the children of Abraham. These children were promised a land and a special job description. This is found in Genesis 12:1-3.
Gen 12:1 And Jehovah said to Abram, Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you. Gen 12:2 And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. Gen 12:3 And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.
God has promised blessings to the world if they would bless Israel. This is also found in many scriptural references throughout the word of God, Here are just a few of those references, Gen 22:18, Is 42:5-8, 43:9-12, 49:6.
The most important blessing that the world would receive in their relationship to Israel would be relationship with God and salvation. Islam, which is only approximately 1400 years old, has since its beginning tried to usurp Israel from its place in God's plan. Islam teaches that the promised seed does not come from Abraham's son Isaac but that Ishmael the illegitimate son of Sarah's handmaiden is the promised seed.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
In the Qur'an, Ishmael is known as the first-born son of Abraham from his second wife Hagar and an appointed Prophet of God (also mentioned in the Bible). Islamic tradition holds that Abraham married Hagar, the mother of Ishmael. As a result Ishmael was the first legitimate son of Abraham. Islam asserts that he was the one nearly sacrificed, not Isaac (or Ishaq in the Qur'an). Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God is celebrated by Muslims every year as Eid ul-Adha.
Islamic tradition holds that Ishmael and Hagar were sent to the deserts of Arabia on the orders of God (Allah). The Bible claims that Sarah, after the birth of Isaac, sent Hagar and Ishmael away. He and his mother settled in Mecca (or "Makkah") and were without water. The frantic running of his mother in pursuit of water led to a miraculous spring appearing from the ground (from God) known as the Zamzam Well. Ishmael then helped his father, Abraham, build the House of God, or the Kaaba, in Mecca.
The scripture teaches the very opposite. In Gen. 22:15-18 it reads:
And the Angel of Jehovah called to Abraham out of the heavens the second time, and said, I have sworn by Myself, says Jehovah; because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only one; that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.
That son was Isaac, not Ishmael.
Gen 17:21 But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time in the next year.
Gen 21:10 And she said to Abraham, Cast out this slave woman and her son. For the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son, with Isaac.
Gen 22:2 And He said, Take now your son, your only one, Isaac, whom you love. And go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will name to you.
The way that Islam obtains its legitimacy is to de-legitimize Israel and change its history. This is called replacement theology. They seem to have a problem with verifying the facts. This they have done for 1400 years. They continue to do it with their modern history. It's time that thinking people are willing stand up and say, "Just the facts ma'am, just the facts".
If we in America keep insisting that Israel give up the land, I am fearful for the out-come. Some people, including some spiritual leaders, are saying our recent catastrophes are as a result of our sin. I don't have a revelation from God, but this wouldn't be too far fetched. Neither would it be inconsistent with God's character. After all He is a judge. He judged Israel in their sin. What makes the USA think we are exempt from God's judgment? We have thrown God out of our society. Why would we expect His protection, when we have told Him we want nothing to do with Him? Whether or not it is the Lord's judgment, or just God being a gentleman and doing what we asked, He is still in control. And there is one thing I know; He will not tolerate people messing with His people or His Land.
2 Sa 7:22-24 says:
Therefore You are great, O Jehovah God. For there is none like You, neither is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like Your people, like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to make Him a name, and to do for You great things and terrible, for Your land, before Your people, whom You redeemed to You from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? For You have confirmed to Yourself Your people Israel to be a people to You forever. And You, Jehovah, have become their God.
2 Ch 7:19-20 says:
But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and if you shall go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them. And this house which I have sanctified for My name, I will cast out of My sight, and I will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.
Joe 2:17-19 says:
Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Have pity on Your people, O Jehovah, and give not Your inheritance to shame, for a proverb among those of the nations. Why should they say among the people, Where is their God? Joe 2:18 Then Jehovah will be jealous for His land and pity His people. Joe 2:19 Yes, Jehovah will answer and say to His people, Behold, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied with it. And I will no more make you a curse among the nations.
I could be wrong, but it seems rather curious to me that the Lord takes so much pride in His land and in His people. If this is good enough for Him then it should be good enough for the Church.
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