Two world leaders spoke this past week on the topic of the Middle East. While one leader introduced a new formula for obtaining peace in that region, the other spoke with realism. Last Thursday, May 19, President Obama gave a policy speech on the Middle East while visiting the State Department. Instead of stating, as others have in the past, that the borders for two states in the region would be based upon negotiation, President Obama declared that the pre-Six Day War of 1967 should be the starting point. The leaders of Hamas were quick to go even further, stating, in an article in one of today's Jerusalem papers, that they wanted to go back to the lines drawn up by the United Nations in 1947. Funny, though, as in 1947 the Arab world rejected those borders outright. The pre-armistice borders of 1949 would shrink Israel even more.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his speech before a joint session of Congress this past Tuesday, reiterated that the Pre-67 borders are not negotiable as they would create an indefensible border for Israel. He recalled that in 1967 then Prime Minister Abba Eban had called those borders the "Auschwitz borders" because no one could defend them; they would be the target of constant attack.
President Obama, in a speech before the AIPAC convention in Washington on Sunday evening, somewhat backtracked on his statement at the State Department. Now he indicated that Israel might include some "land swaps" to include major Jewish centers now in the West Bank. You remember playing the "swap game" as kids: I'll swap you my red marble for two of your green ones. That might work in marbles, but hardly in the Middle East. One problem is who will make the determination of value. What will I have to trade to get a Hebron? How much land will I have to give up to keep Jerusalem as a whole entity? I would not want some United Nations committee making those decisions, and I am sure that Israel would not want that either.
Prime Minister Netanyahu clarified the Middle East when he stated: "Israel is not what is wrong in the Middle East; it is what is right." Israel is not the cause of the problems; really it is the solution to the problems. The freedoms that many in the Arab world are seeking, Israeli-Arabs have enjoyed for decades. Instead of looking at Israel as being the villain, we need to look at Israel as being the lifeline.
Two men with two ideas for resolving one of the most troubled areas in the world. One spoke with an idealism that has been found wanting in the past; the other spoke with a realism that has been ignored in the past. Time will tell as to whose viewpoint will prevail, but I know whose I am hoping will rise to the top.
Just a quick word about Harold Camping and his failed prophecy of the world coming to an end on May 21 at 6:00 p.m. Obviously that did not happen. Now he has gone on record as stating that he missed the mark by five months - the new date is October 21. Friends, if we lived in Old Testament times, Mr. Camping would now be buried beneath a pile of stones with this marker placed upon it: "A False Prophet Gains His Own Reward." Jesus told His disciples that no one - and that includes Mr. Camping - knows the day or the hour of His return. So, don't count days; just be ready when the trumpet sounds.
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I read through Harold's reasoning for the rapture date and it's based very loosly on the bible, but mostly his own prophecy. Harold certainly has proven himself to be a false prophet.
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