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** The myth of Palestinian statehood
9 December 2022
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According to the European Union, the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip is the only possible solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict – and the only way to achieve peace in the Middle East. This has been official European policy since 1980.

The previous Israeli government agreed. “An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel's security, for Israel's economy, and for the future of our children," Israel's interim prime minister, Yair Lapid, told the UN General Assembly's 77^th Session on 22 September 2022. "We have only one condition: That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one. That it will not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being, and the very existence of Israel."

Today, Chairman of the PLO Mahmoud Abbas parades the world as “President of the State of Palestine”.

Yet, everyone knows that “Palestine” is not really a state. It is a dream, an Arab aspiration supported by many in the West, but far from reality. As Professor Efraim Karsh writes this week, the idea of a Palestinian state is a “delusion” based on Western idealism that ignores realities on the ground. There is “one insurmountable obstacle: the century-long Palestinian rejection of the idea of Jewish statehood—from the Jerusalem mufti Hajj Amin Husseini who led the Palestinian Arabs from the early 1920s to the late 1940s; to Yasser Arafat, who dominated Palestinian politics from the mid-1960s to his death in November 2004, and his successor Mahmoud Abbas; to the Islamic Resistance Movement (or Hamas as its Arabic acronyms know it).”

In a report launched last week in the European Parliament, the Hague based NGO The Hague Initiative for International Cooperation (thinc.) argues that the EU’s two-state policy towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is based on false assumptions, and must be urgently reformed.

According to the report, “Despite decades of strenuous E.U. efforts, expending tens of billions of euros, the reality is that there is no independent, democratic and peaceful Palestinian state. Democratic institutions of government are lacking, Palestinian institutions and society are corrupt and radicalized. Major Palestinian organizations continue to promote the destruction of Israel and reward attacks on and the killing of Jews.”

This Report reassesses the EU’s current Middle East interests and critiques the legal rhetoric that covered for its 1970s interests, and suggests a new way forward towards peace, consistent with legal, historical and political realities. “To be clear, Palestinians have a right to self-determination but not an à priori right to a full-fledged sovereign state. The EU two state policy fails to acknowledge Israel’s legitimate territorial rights in these territories. A negotiated peace should address both Palestinian and Israeli needs in a more balanced way, consistent with the way international law is applied in other situations.”

From a Biblical perspective, one thing is sure: the Lord is bringing His people back to settle the land, never to be uprooted. This includes Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria (known as the "West Bank"). He who scattered Israel is gathering them, and will watch over them, like a shepherd watches His flock (Jeremiah 31). Whether or not a Palestinian state is created, Jews cannot be (and will not be) prevented from living in the land. So, a "judenrein" (Jew-free) State of Palestine is clearly contrary to God's laws. May this be a warning to the nations. European countries, particularly, are on a collision-course with God.

The Editorial Team - Israel & Christians Today

The Never-Ending Two-State Delusion

Efraim Karsh writes at Middle East Forum: “Just as the creation of free and democratic societies in Germany and Japan after World War II necessitated a comprehensive sociopolitical and educational transformation, so Palestinian society deserves a real "spring" that will sweep the corrupt and oppressive PLO and Hamas regimes from power, eliminate endemic violence from political and social life, and teach the virtues of coexistence with Israeli neighbors. Until this happens, the two-state solution will remain a pipe dream.”
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NGO demands overhaul of EU’s two-state policy of ‘double standards and false assumptions

Tal Heinrich reports at All Israel News” “International-cooperation non-profit ‘thinc.’ shows how EU’s policy and rhetoric on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict no longer aligns with its own interests. The Hague-based non-profit claimed the E.U.’s efforts are fruitless since they are based on three false assumptions: first, conceptually, that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is territorial and not existential; second, legally, that the West Bank belongs to a future Palestinian state; and, third, practically, that the establishment of a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state alongside Israel is feasible.
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On the Run Now That Winter Has Arrived in Ukraine

Koen Carlier writes from Ukraine: After our first trip to Kherson since the liberation of the city late last week, we travelled to Kherson again last Thursday with relief supplies. Mainly drinking water, candles, matches and a gas heater for the Jewish community’s office. In addition, we will again evacuate some Jewish elderly people, after which they will fly to Israel.
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The Escape| The Book of RUTH
with Johannes Gerloff #04



When the land and the people of Israel are separated from each other, we usually understand this as God’s punishment of His people. But it can also be a flight of the people from their responsibility.


** SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
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** Jeremiah 31:10-14

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“Hear the word of the Lord, you nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands:
‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over His flock like a shepherd.’
^11 For the Lord will deliver Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.
^12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord—
the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.
^13 Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
^14 I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and My people will be filled with My bounty,”
declares the Lord.

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Israel & Christians Today
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The goal of Israel & Christians Today is to help Christians to take God’s Word seriously, and study current events in the world in the context of the Bible.

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