What Is Happening to the Middle East?
The recent diplomatic shuttle to the Middle East by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, far from achieving anything noteworthy for the peace process, may have had a distinctly negative effect.
One headline summed up the legacy of that doomed diplomatic mission by describing it as “a dangerous vacuum.” Assessing the fallout from Powell’s “Middle Eastern dash,” the writer suggested, “he leaves behind a dangerous vacuum at the heart of the conflict—the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation …. [H]is words not only brought no comfort, they are a source of deep concern. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot tolerate a diplomatic vacuum: In the absence of energetic activity, it is doomed to further deterioration” (International Herald Tribune, April 18; emphasis ours throughout).
Taking a decidedly anti-U.S. position on this latest attempt to bring the opposing parties in the conflict together, the Palestinian terrorism inciter Yasser Arafat simply declared that it was “a disaster.”
This sad spectacle is the latest in a litany of failed attempts by various U.S. administrations to conclude a valid agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that would stick and thus terminate the endless cycle of violence in the Middle East.
With each U.S. failure, the remaining vestiges of respect for American diplomacy fritter away under a rising tide of anti-Americanism sweeping the world, overwhelming any brief sympathy which may have resulted from the horrific acts of terror suffered by the U.S. on September 11.
Nature abhors a vacuum, the saying goes. The vacuum in the Middle East is one of effective, assertive leadership, backed up by a declaration of authoritative power of the type that would literally put the fear of God into the instigators of terror.
Though such strength of leadership will be the ultimate force which will fill the vacuum in the Middle East, a very opposite type of power is destined to fill it in the short term.
Recently, calls have been stepped up for an external military presence in Palestine. The EU has become quite vocal in its call for an international observer force to surround Jerusalem and oversee and enforce stability in the region. This is an idea that has, in the past, been debated both by Israeli leaders and by Arafat.
But perhaps the most startling reaction to the recent firestorm created by the Palestinian terrorist incursions within Israel, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s reaction to rout the killers from Israeli territory, is coming from Germany. The bbc reported last month that “In view of the escalating Middle East conflict, the debate in Germany about a possible blue beret mission, including Bundeswehr soldiers, is intensifying. Bundestag members from the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (fdp) suggested today that German soldiers should participate in a possible blue beret mission to de-escalate the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. …
“Particularly because of its past, Germany has a special responsibility for peace in the Middle East …. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported at the weekend that support for the French proposal to de-escalate the crisis in the Middle East with an international observer force is growing among the federal government. … [A] senior official said that he ‘quite liked the idea of a military presence that keeps the parties to the conflict apart’” (April 8).
This is an ominous sign! It is an early warning of a bloody betrayal that will soon deeply wound the tiny nation of Israel.
In the book of Hosea, the prophet declares, “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound” (Hos. 5:13).
Biblical Ephraim is modern Britain. Judah is the nation we know as Israel today. Assyria is Germany. Here is a prediction, made over 2,500 years ago, that the Jews will seek help from Germany.
The EU, dominated by its leading nation, Germany, already has been approached by Israel with the invitation to contribute toward a Mideast observer force. Now Germany is indicating its willingness to contribute to such a force. This ought to electrify any true Bible student, who should know the great sign which Jesus gave to His disciples indicating that they should flee to a chosen place of protection from impending tribulation (Rev. 12:6,14): “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains …” (Luke 21:20-21).
We are dangerously close to that event. You need to learn about this quickly! Times are extremely urgent. The streets of Jerusalem, stained with so much blood over the centuries, will soon become rivers of blood!
Write now for your free copy of Gerald Flurry’s timely booklet, Jerusalem in Prophecy, and learn how to escape the devastating effects of Judah’s wound.
