A Palestinian woman waters plants growing in tear gas canisters in
the village of Bilin, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday,
Oct. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israel is facing a host of challenges in this new year. From the Iranian nuclear threat to negotiations with the Palestinians — the pressure is ramping up.
Iranian media reported the Geneva agreement may be implemented in late January. But the U.S. State Department says a few standing issues still need to be resolved.
Six world powers and Iran signed that agreement in November. It allows Iran to enrich Uranium but under tighter guidelines.
It also eases economic sanctions on Iran.
But some, like former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dore Gold, believe the Geneva deal is flawed.
“What the Iranians want to do is undermine the sanctions as much as possible,” Gold warned.
“So when they go into future negotiations with the U.S. and the P5 + 1 in general there will be no leverage on the American side to extract concessions from Iran,” he added.
A bI-partisan bill in the U.S. Senate would impose new sanctions if the final agreement allows Iran to enrich Uranium.
The White House said it would veto the legislation.
In addition to Iran, Israel faces major decisions about the ongoing peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Jerusalem for yet another round of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Kerry set an ambitious deadline of late April 2014 to establish a framework for final negotiations.
But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said if Israel continues building in the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria, known as the West Bank, the negotiations will be over.
Erekat’s statement follows the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, most of them convicted murderers.
The release — part of Kerry’s plan — was celebrated by the Palestinian authority and upset Israel.
“Last night we saw them celebrating, glorifying terrorists – people responsible for killing innocent civilians, for killing children. This is not the way to start a new year,” Mark Regev, Israeli Prime Minister’s spokesman, said.
“The Palestinian Authority must stop glorifying murder, it must stop celebrating terrorism,” he continued.
Ref Article: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2014/January/Israel-Faces-Threats-on-all-Sides/
From the Author:
Keep in mind: The covenant given by G-d for the land of Israel was established through Isaac and not through Ishmael. So the Jews are the true descendents of Abraham in the covenant sense.
Also keep in mind: Bethlehem is a Palestinian city located in the central West Bank, neighboring south Jerusalem, with a population of about 25,000 people. It is the birthplace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the 12th Century B.C. an Aegean people settled along the coastal plain of the Mediterranean. Today, it the nation of Israel and the Gaza Strip. It was the Romans that first applied the name Palaestina to Judea which is the southern part of what is now called the WEST BANK. This was their attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. Furthermore, Palestine is never explicitly mentioned in the Koran, rather it is called the Holy Land or (al-Arad al-Muqaddash) and belongs to G-d!
Most Bible prophecies were fulfilled in the year 1948 when Israel became a nation again. The land in question was later captured by Israel in the 1967 war but at that time was not annexed to become a part of the state of Israel. Prior to that, the land was under the control of the country of Jordan. During those times there was no discussion of establishing a Palestinian state there. It wasn’t until Israel fulfilled the prophecy in Ezekiel 36 that the world began clamoring for a Palestinian state on the West Bank.
The nation that G-d gave to Abraham and his descendants stretches from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean at a point below Gaza on the west and extends up to the coastline at least as far as Dison in Lebanon, then to the Euphrates River in the north, and on the east down a line of the Jordan river. This area encompasses the disputed territories of the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians and other international powers may be looking for the establishment of a separate state from Israel but G-d and His WORD does not change. The land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the Jewish people) was forever.
There will be peace for a time but this will not be a lasting on. Found the article below and agree with the author:
In Leviticus 25:18-19, the stipulation that God gave to the ancient Israelites that would guarantee their living safely in the land was that they would have to be following His decrees and obeying His laws. Today, maybe some of the orthodox Jews are doing this, or at least are trying to do so. But I do not see the people of Israel, as a whole, doing this at all, nor do I see them doing it effectively and successfully until their Messiah returns.
Leviticus 25:18-19 (AMP)
18 Therefore you shall do and give effect to My statutes and keep My ordinances and perform them, and you will dwell in the land in safety.
It may be, at some point during the 70th Week, that the descendants of Jacob will be doing their best to follow God’s decrees and to obey God’s laws, enabling them to “live in safety,” albeit for a short time (until attacked by the Gog/Magog hordes—see my commentary, The Final Battles). Or else it very well could be, as you have suggested, that “living in safety” will be merely a perception or an assumption, by many, that this is happening when, in reality, it will be nothing more than a deceptive illusion. I believe that either one is possible.