EDITORIAL   

A CRUMBLING WALL

 DeWayne Coxon

The cement wall being built around the Arab west bank next to Israel is a bad idea at best.  But, we live with many bad things that are necessary in life such as long lines in airports and American oil companies that are making billions of dollars at the expense of the working American.  It doesn’t seem fair.

Most Israeli publications are deeply committed to informing their readers about the wall and the land swapping that is taking place with the Palestinians.  The concern is genuine and it creates a considerable amount of emotion.

What should we Christians think regarding a unified Palestinian state that might segment Israel?  How should we react to the Gaza evacuation of Jewish settlers?  How can we reconcile the biblical promise of this Land being an eternal heritage to the Jew?  These are, indeed, thought provoking questions and not simple to answer.

There are intense discussions taking place at high government levels in both Europe and America attempting to create two countries where both the Jews and Arabs can live together peacefully.  All of my friends in the Middle East, whom I talk to, both Arab and Jew, want to live in peace and have secure borders. 

There was a blueprint written some years ago by the present Israeli Labor leader, Shimon Peres, that very clearly speaks to what the land could look like as defined in his book, “The New Middle East.”  There are parts of that book that would appear to be the plan for the new “Transnational Highway” that is being built parallel to the Israeli costal road.  This is a toll road that will run the full length of Israel, from Gaza in the south to the Lebanese border in the north.  As I recall, it is the intent of Mr. Peres, who was then the Prime Minister of Israel, to have this highway be the economic lifeline and the land link for trucking and tourism from Cairo to Beirut to Damascus.  It might also be the defining border of the west bank and link Gaza with Samaria when it is completed.

The possibility that the new Palestinian state would become a terrorist country seems to me to be improbable. Israel and the proposed new state of Palestine are far too small to house a terrorist center, as proven by the crushing of the resistance in the last four years.  No big name terrorist has ever come into the West bank or the Gaza strip because of the danger of capture or death. 

The evacuation of the Gaza strip of Jewish settlers is unfortunate.  They were moved there to be a buffer for the Jewish population centers of Israel and many of them have died violent deaths.  Perhaps the mistake was made when the Sinai was given back to Egypt and the Gaza strip was not attached to that deal. 

No Arab country that surrounds Israel wants any Palestinian presence on its soil.  President Mubarek of Egypt is reported to have said that Egyptians only hate the Israeli more than the Palestinians.  These people are not trusted either in Lebanon or in Jordan.  They have been forcibly removed many times from other neighboring Arab countries because of their violence and attempts to overthrow governments.

The cement wall that is separating Arab communities from Jewish communities defining the west bank is an unfortunate temporary piece of architecture.  It will come down and I hope soon.  It is made to be removed more quickly than it was built when democratic principles control this area.

My interpretation of these events is that our generation is living to see prophetic events take place, as have former generations.  We need to be wise in how we interpret the present in the light of past biblical information.  Comenius who died in 1670 said, “The sun sends its rays upon us directly, paying no heed that we look askance at one another.  The rose smells sweetly to both the Jew and the Christian – and to the Muslim too.  And so God is God of all, and whatever he says, he speaks in the same manner to all that are ready to listen.  If then we look to our own rules, books, and works, which we have made ourselves and which differ in many thousands of ways, we are irreconcilable.  But if with due attention and honor we accept God’s ideas regarding our lives…reconciliation is possible.