A surprising announcement came forth from Ramallah, the de facto capitol of the Palestinian Authority. Current President, Mahmoud Abbas, announced that he has "no desire" to run in the January 24, 2010, presidential elections in the PA territories. Later in the week, several of the key Fatah personnel surrounding President Abbas also indicated that they were "thinking" of walking away from their posts as well. Now you need to remember that the Fatah Party is one of the oldest political parties among the Palestinians, dating back to the early 1960's when it was founded by Yassir Arafat. He led that party for forty years, before his death in 2004.
If the Fatah Party becomes weakened because of these announcements, then one can only wonder exactly what the outcome of those January 24, 2010, elections might be. It is no secret that Hamas has been salivating at the thought of controlling the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). You might remember the elections within the PA territories several years ago when Hamas actually captured enough votes to control the Palestinian Parliament. If not for the leadership of President Abbas, who knows what might have happened. And you will remember what happened in the Gaza Strip, one of the PA territories, when Hamas actually gained the leadership role there through a violent take-over. The Gaza Strip has become one of the most tightly controlled terrorist camps in the world. Over the past eight years, thousands of rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip into the surrounding Israeli towns and villages, causing untold human suffering.
What do you think would happen if Hamas captured, not only the Palestinian Parliament, but also the leadership positions? How soon before the West Bank would become another terrorist camp. Now all of Israel would become vulnerable to the threats of daily rocket attacks. What would the family of world nations do? What would be their response to such a situation?
In answer to those questions, one needs to look no further than the recent approval of the Goldstone Report by the United Nations General Assembly. That report, commissioned by the UN to investigate the actions of Israel and Hamas during last winter's Operation Cast Lead offensive into the Gaza, was highly critical of Israel for the heavy loss of civilian lives. The essence of the report was to condemn Israel and to seek its punishment for war crimes through the International Court of Justice at the Hague. Last week, when the voting occurred, 114 nations approved the Goldstone Report, only 18 nations voted against the Report, with another 44 nations abstaining. The result of this vote caused one writer to issue these headlines: "An Evil Wind Is Blowing" (Joel Rosenberg's Weblog - www.flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com). Did 158 nations really care about the continual rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli towns? Don't think so! Did 158 nations really care to check the manner in which Hamas used human shields - even hospitals and schools - in this fight? Don't think so! Will 158 nations really care if Israel becomes surrounded on all sides by enemies firing rockets, not just into small towns like Sderot, but cities of Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem? Don't think so.
Let's see if we can begin to put some pieces together. Presently, on Israel's southwest border is Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And on Israel's northern border is Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon. (Thankfully they are 500 tons short of rockets, mortars, and grenades because of Israel's quick actions against the ship trying to bring the munitions from Iran to Lebanon). And there is Syria on Israel's northeast border...announcing just this past week that the time for peaceful negotiations for the Golan Heights will soon end, then war will begin to reclaim that strategic piece of land for Syria. And, if Hamas wins in January, then the West Bank will also become a place for terror. Israel will be totally surrounded.
Now this sounds like the script right from Psalm 83. Go back and reread those verses. The only ones missing are the Egyptians and the Jordanians. But both those regimes are being pressed hard by radical Islamists, so who knows how they might fall.
More pieces of the end-times puzzle is beginning to take shape. The Bible tells us repeatedly that Israel will stand alone during the last days. I think we are already seeing how the world will respond. But let us not despair, God is in control. His promises and His plans for Israel and for us can never be changed because He is a God who never changes. Now, that is some good news we need to hear.
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