International support for the declaration of a Palestinian state, perhaps as early as September, is building. The hope that Palestinian statehood will lead to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is both naive and dangerous. In the end, it is more likely to result in further conflict.

There are a number of reasons for this, nearly all of which boil down to geography.

The new Palestinian state would include the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, territory acquired by Israel in the Six Day War in June 1967. No territory has been more central to Jewish sovereignty than East Jerusalem and the West Bank, known historically as Judea and Samaria. Both historically and recently, the West Bank has been the heart of the Jewish state—an organ without which Israel simply cannot exist.

For Israel, ceding Judea and Samaria to the Iran-inspired Palestinians would be an act of national suicide!

In May 2009, former Israeli Ambassador Yoram Ettinger explained the importance of the West Bank to Israel’s sovereignty to students of Herbert W. Armstrong College here in Edmond, Oklahoma. He explained how Judea and Samaria are the “crux of the cradle of Jewish history.” The key to Israel’s survival in a terribly hostile region is not Tel Aviv or any of its coastal cities. Instead, Ettinger explained, the central reason Israel exists today is because of the “territorial stretch between Hebron in the south, the first Jewish capital before Jerusalem, and Nablus in the north, the first stop of the Israelites when they reentered the Promised Land.”

The Jewish people have been tethered to Judea and Samaria for more than 3,000 years. Genesis shows that Abraham entered Israel through Shechem, and that the hills of Judea and Samaria were home for his descendants through Isaac and Jacob. The Bible records that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried in Hebron, a bustling city in the Judean hills. Even Joseph, although he lived and died in Egypt, was buried in Shechem, in the hills of Samaria (Joshua 24:32). Scripture says Bethel, known today as Beit El, was where Jacob slept on the pillar stone and had his famous dream. The book of Exodus shows that the ark of the covenant, before being placed in the temple in Jerusalem, rested in the Samarian city of Shiloh.

The Jews’ fingerprints are literally all over the hills of Judea and Samaria. “Ninety-two percent of the Bible place names are in the mountains of Israel in what the Bible calls Judea and Samaria and the world calls the West Bank,” says Billye Brim, a Bible scholar at Elon Moreh. In the book of Joshua, God maps out the borders of the Promised Land as a whole, as well as the internal borders separating the 12 tribes of Israel. In Joshua 15, God specifically outlines the territory assigned to the tribe of Judah, of which the Jews today are descendants.

Notice, God placed the tribe of Judah at the heart of the Promised Land, on the northwest side of the Dead Sea, and primarily in the hills of what even today is still called Judea!

As the biblical heartland of the ancient Israelites, the territory of Judea and Samaria—not the Golan, not the coastal plain—is the pulse of Jewish sovereignty. This history definitely complicates land-for-peace deals and the two-state “solution.” But as Ettinger asked: “Can any nation survive whilst negotiating away the cradle of its history? … If you don’t have your roots, how can you have peace?”

The West Bank is absolutely pivotal to Israel’s national security, specifically that of its capital, Jerusalem. The West Bank is largely comprised of a mountainous ridge, known as the spine of Israel, that stretches from below Hebron in the south to the valley of Jezreel in the north. These hills, ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high—the “mountains of Israel,” the Bible calls them—provide an ideal strategic vantage point for either engaging with enemies or simply standing guard over the towns peppered across the lower plains. The scraggy hills, marked by steep inclines, gaping gorges and deep valleys, are also an ideal natural barrier for invading armies, providing a measure of protection for civilians as well as military hardware and facilities.

The Golan Heights supply a decisive strategic advantage in the north, helping Israel control the Sea of Galilee and the towns and cities on the northern plains. But as Ettinger explained during his visit, few recognize that the mountainous ridge on which Judea and Samaria sit is infinitely more important to Israel than the Golan. Since 1967, the hill country of Judea and Samaria has been to Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and the coastal plain what the Golan is to the Sea of Galilee and Israel’s northern plains.

Strategically, the territory of Judea and Samaria is the pivot on which the Jews’ national security depends. It is critical not only to the security and stability of Jerusalem and the other towns and cities in the Judean and Samarian hills, but also essential to the security of towns and cities on the coastal plain, where 80 percent of Israel’s population lives and most of Israel’s finance, economy and transportation arteries and industry exist.

For Israel, the entrenchment of Islamic terrorists in the hills of Judea and Samaria—which would be inevitable the moment Palestinian statehood became reality—within easy gunshot of numerous Jewish towns and cities, including Jerusalem, would create a nightmare scenario!

When you understand the centrality of Judea and Samaria to Israel’s existence as an independent and secure state, the notion of ceding this territory to the Palestinians—a people incapable of forging peace among themselves, let alone with their sworn enemy—in return for peace is illogical and immoral. Yet that is the basic premise of the two-state solution, a plan outlined in the Oslo accords in 1993 that has been embraced by most of the international community, including Britain, the European Union, the Palestinian Authority, and even the Arab League (with preconditions).

As the momentum for the declaration of a Palestinian state grows, the onus is increasingly on Israel to find an alternative solution for peace. Unless Israel makes further concessions—and they would have to be major to satisfy the Palestinians, who currently enjoy the support of the global community—the Palestinians with the support of the United Nations, many European nations and possibly even America, could soon declare statehood. The way it looks now, this could happen as early as this September.

If this occurs, expect war—not peace!

Even in the unlikely event that Israel accepts a Palestinian state according to 1967 borders, conflict will be inevitable. If East Jerusalem and the West Bank are allowed to fall under the sole control of the Palestinians, another Gaza will be created in an instant, this one on the doorstep of Jerusalem. Embedded in the hills of Judea and Samaria, Iran’s radical Islamic proxies would have the tactical advantage and be able to conduct violent attacks on Jewish towns and cities throughout the West Bank. Moreover, Jerusalem would be under constant threat.

On the other hand, if Israel bucks international opinion and rejects the declaration of a Palestinian state, the Palestinians, especially Hamas, will likely resort to pursuing statehood through violence. Should this occur, blame for the violence will be pinned squarely on Israel (because it rejected the “peace overtures”), and Israel would be further ostracized by the international community.

Israel is between a rock and a hard place. Keep an eye on the ongoing discussion about Palestinian statehood. One way or another, this controversial venture could easily spark an event of extreme prophetic significance, one the Trumpet has long forecast: the violent takeover of East Jerusalem by Iran-led radical Islamists.

If you aren’t familiar with the vital prophecy of the fall of East Jerusalem, you need to read Jerusalem in Prophecy now. With God’s prophecies about Jerusalem in mind, it will be impossible to ignore what is currently happening in Israel and the broader Middle East.