What's Behind the Middle East Conflict?
A commentary by Darris McNeely
Managing Editor of World News and Prophecy
Possession
of no other piece of real estate on earth is more contested than the
Middle Eastern territory of Palestine. Three of the world's most
influential religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, regard it as
sacred territory.
Peace will not come to that part to the world until its religious issues
are resolved. This is becoming increasingly clear, even to news commentators.
Dennis Prager's column on
July 18, 2006 gives a concise history lesson about the conflict between
the nation of Israel and its Arab neighbors during the past sixty years.
His opening statements go to the heart of the matter.
"The Middle East conflict is difficult to solve, but it is among
the simplest conflicts in history to understand.
"The Arab and other Muslim enemies of Israel (for the easily
confused, this does not mean every Arab or every Muslim) want Israel
destroyed. That is why there is a Middle East conflict. Everything else
is commentary.
"Those who deny this and ascribe the conflict to other reasons,
such as 'Israeli occupation,' 'Jewish settlements,' a 'cycle
of violence,' 'the Zionist lobby' and the like, do
so despite the fact that Israel's enemies regularly announce the reason
for the conflict. The Iranian regime, Hizbollah, Hamas and the Palestinians—in
their public opinion polls, in their anti-Semitic school curricula and
media, in their election of Hamas, in their support for terror against
Israeli civilians in pre-1967 borders—as well as their Muslim
supporters around the world, all want the Jewish state annihilated."
I would add another crucial observation. The 'why' of the
conflict began with the skewed relations between Ishmael and Isaac, the
two sons of the biblical patriarch Abraham.
To Ishmael's mother Hagar, already pregnant with Ishmael, God
sent this message by an angel, "I will so increase your descendants
that they will be too numerous to count ... You are now with child and
you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael ... his hand will be
against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in
hostility toward all his brothers" (Genesis 16: 10-12, New International
Version).
In this verse we see the beginning of the conflict between the two branches
of Abraham's family. It is the same conflict we see playing out in the Middle
East today. With the arrival of Islam among Ishmael's descendants in
Arabia, this animosity turned from ethnic jealousy to religious competition.
Today, Islamic militants have turned that competition into an international
campaign for not only Israel's total destruction but also for the
destruction of the entire Western society. Their strategy is to create
chaos throughout the world and blame the policies of Israel and the United
States as its cause. Annihilating the state of Israel is their top priority.
Behind the scenes is a figure more powerful than even the most radical
Islamic militant. Just a little over 2,000 years ago he was on the scene
in Jerusalem before Mary, the mother of Jesus, when she was "ready
to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born" (Revelation
12:2-4).
His identity is revealed as "the Devil and Satan, who deceives
the whole world" (verse 9). He is the real author of anti-Semitic,
anti-biblical hatred. He would like to engulf mankind in a global war
that would extinguish all human life from planet earth. But man's
Creator has no intention of allowing that total destruction to happen
(Matthew 24:21-22).
Until Jesus Christ returns and makes Jerusalem the capital of His world
ruling kingdom, that city will not experience any lasting peace. "And
in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people:
all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all
the people of the earth be gathered together against it" (Zechariah
12:3, King James Version).
The present conflict will not end the attempts to annihilate Israel
and return Jerusalem to Islamic control. More and more the Middle East
is going to be the frustrating focus of international tensions and conflict.
 For
a fuller and clearer picture of how those tensions will lead the world
to the most horrible time of warfare mankind has ever experienced, request
or download your personal copy of our free booklet, The Middle East
in Bible Prophecy.
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