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"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman
with child; and they shall not escape" (I Thessalonians
5:3). Israeli-Palestinian talks raise hope of peace
For most Israelis and Palestinians, peace seems such a remote prospect that it is scarcely worth thinking about. Even officials involved in the peace process are working hard to damp down optimism, fearful that hopes will once again be cruelly dashed.
Ahead of a US-backed conference planned for November, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, have begun tackling the core issues of the conflict - final borders, the division of Jerusalem, and the resettlement of Palestinian refugees. They have been meeting one-on-one, and seem to be getting along well, according to insiders. In their meetings, Mr Abbas smokes the occasional cigarette, and Mr Olmert the occasional cigar. There have been almost no unwanted leaks to the media, unlike the briefings and counter-briefings that have marred previous peace efforts. Just a few months ago, Israel was insisting that there was no Palestinian partner for peace and was ignoring the Palestinian government. Such talks were unthinkable. But in the weeks since Hamas's dramatic takeover in Gaza, the US and Israel have recalculated. They have concluded that a true peace push that offers Palestinians hope will be the best, and perhaps only, chance for Mr Abbas to fend off the rising power of Palestinian Islamists. Now supporters of Mr Abbas, as well as Israeli leaders, believe that a tangible peace document, endorsed by Arab leaders further afield and with an explicit endgame in sight, may split Hamas's ranks and tip the scales back towards the president's Fatah party. The US is lobbying moderate Arab powers, especially Saudi Arabia, to secure their involvement in the peace conference. Saudi Arabia has said it will sign on if it is convinced the talks will produce more than empty promises. Even the Arab League sent a delegation to Israel earlier this year for the first time. "Things are churning. There is a lot of scuttling and running around," said Danny Seidemann, a human rights lawyer and long-standing Israeli peace activist. Mr Olmert has appointed Haim Ramon, a former Israeli Labour Party peace advocate who is trusted by Palestinians, as his deputy. He has also been quietly polling Israelis to gauge their willingness to accept the sort of concessions necessary for any meaningful agreement, including uprooting settlements, pulling out of the West Bank, and dividing Jerusalem. According to the results of those polls, which were discreetly passed to the media, 60 per cent support making compromises to secure a deal. There are signs that Palestinian attitudes are shifting as well. When a lone, unarmed Israeli soldier made a wrong turn into the Palestinian militant hotbed of Jenin last week, Palestinian security forces stepped in to save him from an angry mob. The last time Israeli soldiers made a similar mistake, in 2000, their mutilated bodies were tossed from the windows of the police station in Ramallah.
Mr Olmert is waiting for the report on his handling of last year's Lebanon war, a potential bombshell that could end his political career. Mr Abbas, meanwhile, faces approval ratings in the mid-30s after his poor handling of the power struggle with Hamas. In the US, President Bush, already a lame duck leader, is haemorrhaging support over Iraq. But those very weaknesses may also be unlikely assets, said Akiva Eldar, a veteran journalist with the Haaretz newspaper. "They have already lost their house, they lost their cars, and they lost their wives. So now they are free to say, 'To hell with it, I got nothing to lose, and everything to gain.' " Mr Abbas said last week that he hoped the conference would yield "tangible results" toward a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. But diplomats are fearful of raising expectations, in case failed talks cause more violence - just as the failure at Camp David in 2000 triggered the uprising that has left nearly 6,000 dead over the past seven years. Success is far from assured. The Israeli Right remains viscerally opposed to peace concessions, and the silence on the part of Hamas suggests that it is not taking this peace push seriously. Even the US seems uninspired in its preparations for the summit. A junior State Department official is due in Jerusalem this week and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, will follow shortly thereafter - but it is a far cry from the seven trips in six months made by one of her predecessors, James Baker, in the run-up to the Madrid peace conference in 1991. Sceptics warn that without involving either Hamas or Syria - both of which seem certain to be excluded - substantive peace is impossible. It would only take one Hamas suicide bombing to derail months of progress. But unlike in 2000, the last time a peace conference attempted to settle this conflict, today both Israelis and Palestinians understand what the basic shape of a final settlement needs to be. Mr Eldar said: "Today, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Now, we just need the tunnel." End item Yes, Israel will make a "covenant with many" (Daniel
9:27). But, the covenant will never be implemented. God's Word
says:
It is inconceivable that the Arabs would ever agree to Israel's building a temple in old Jerusalem, which is, they say, their holy place. The militant Muslims won't even recognize Israel's right to exist as a political state in "their holy land." Something very dramatic will happen very shortly after the "covenant's" confirmation ceremony on the first day of the tribulation. Something so dramatic that it will void the "covenant" and allow for Israel to immediately build a temple. Retired Baptist pastor/teacher |
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