Numbers

The Same Palestinian Narrative Continues: “Either us or the Zionists”

The Same Palestinian Narrative Continues: “Either us or the Zionists”

September 2018 marks twenty-five years since Oslo and that famous handshake on the White House lawn by Prime Minister Rabin and Chairman Arafat under the patronage of President Bill Clinton. And a lot will be written about this anniversary. The one undeniable truth over this period has been the disenchantment of those who supported Oslo and who had believed that finally the Palestinians were going to reverse their original mantra as expressed in 1921 by the Palestine Arab Executive Committee when they said: “Either us or the Zionists. There is no room for both.” Those in Israel who still support the principles of Oslo and yearn for a Two State solution, understand where the fault lies for it not yet occurring. AB Yehoshua who was at one time on the Meretz list running for the Knesset, said in an interview in Ha’artez that: “Yasser Arafat first misled the world when he said he wanted a secular, pluralistic and democratic state and then trampled the Oslo Accords with terror attacks.” Yehoshua also blamed Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, for “rejecting Israel’s land-for-peace offer in 2008”. Einat Wilf a former Labour MK, in a recently published book says that her party’s assumption in […]

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The Prophetic Yom Kippur War

The Prophetic Yom Kippur War

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the dramatic Yom Kippur. The Yom Kippur war is not only a powerful story from the pages of history, but I believe it also prophetically foreshadows an even greater war to come—while also pointing to the means of deliverance and victory. Caught Napping On October 5th, 1973 the Egyptian army on the West bank of the Suez Canal were drawn up in full battle array with bridging equipment and rubber boats for crossing the Canal. The Egyptian side of the Suez was bristling with 100,000 troops, 1350 tanks and 2000 artillery pieces and heavy mortars. Meanwhile the Israeli side of the border barely numbered 450 aging reserve troops, 44 artillery pieces and only 3 tanks! The border with Syria was in an even worse situation with the Israeli troops and tanks outnumbered in even greater numbers. The thin line of Israeli tanks and troops on the Golan was all that separated the civilians of the Galilee region from the incoming armada of Syrian troops and tanks. The surprise attack caught Israel napping. The seemingly all-knowing Israeli intelligence community had been completely blindsided by the attack. Israel’s frontline soldiers were therefore unprepared for the […]

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Jerusalem: Magnet for Christian Visits (Part Two)

Jerusalem: Magnet for Christian Visits (Part Two)

In Part 01 of our series about Jerusalem and Christians visits, we learned that the ‘river of pilgrimage’ has been flowing from the very beginning of the church age. Christians constitute the highest amount of sacred visitors to a holy city which is also sacred to Judaism and Islam, too. This growing phenomena in Christian visits is even more remarkable considering that neither Christ nor the apostles command it, and there is more of a spiritual, rather than geographic, emphasis in Christian worship. We also learned why Christians visit Jerusalem. They can be summarised in two key words: Devotion: From the very beginning, Christians have been motivated to visit Jerusalem so that they can ‘walk where Jesus walked.’ Following in the footsteps of the Master is a strong sign of devotion. Education: Pious believers visit Jerusalem because they want to learn more about the Bible. Considering that Jerusalem is mentioned over 811 times in the KJV, it is indisputably the premier city of Scripture.  What is remarkable is that these twin pillars of devotion and education can be applied across the board, to pilgrims from every denomination and every century of the church age.  The Tourism Factor To the ancient […]

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