GN Commentary: November 13, 2009 - Peace, Peace—But There Is No Peace

Keep your eyes on the Middle East. Bible prophecy indicates it will be the center of strife and troubles, leading up to the coming of the Prince of Peace. Only He will be really successful in bringing true peace.

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Video Transcript

Among all the recent news about the world economy and congressional elections in the United States, it's easy to miss one that seems to be a perennial: the search for peace in the Middle East.

Judged by the Obama administration to be the key to peace and democracy for the entire region, negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians commenced shortly after the inauguration of the new president. Mr. Obama named George Mitchell, a veteran diplomat who successfully mediated peace talks in Northern Ireland, as his envoy for the Middle East.

But the Mideast is proving even more challenging than Ireland. Months of shuttle diplomacy have produced little fruit. The Palestinians, led by Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, demanded an immediate and complete halt to Israeli settlement construction, while Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reluctantly agreed to a partial settlement freeze. Mr. Netanyahu's calls for Mr. Abbas to enter into immediate face-to-face negotiations went unheeded, and Mr. Abbas recently announced his intention not run again as Palestinian leader in the elections slated for January.

Both sides are jaded and cynical. Israelis are generally unimpressed by promises of diplomatic relations with the entire Arab world at the cost of relinquishing most or all of the territory gained in the 1967 war. They ask, "If they want peace, why do they continually attack and alienate us?" The Palestinians, meanwhile, are divided between the nationalist Fatah movement which rules the West Bank, and the Iranian-supported Hamas fundamentalists in the Gaza Strip. Many Palestinians ask wearily, "If the Israelis want peace, why won't they return our land?"

In the meantime the prestige of the US, which seemed to be recovering after the president's Cairo speech, suffered a new dip as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to back away from the administration's insistence on a complete settlement freeze as a precondition for talks, infuriating the Palestinians. Mr. Abbas has insisted on an end to settlement building and expansion before he will enter into negotiations.
On the other side, many Israelis regard Mr. Obama with suspicion and distrust for his apparent pro-Arab tilt in US policy. The mix doesn't make for a lot of hope.

'If all this sounds wearily familiar, of course it is. The twentieth century brought multiple attempts to negotiate peace between the Arabs and Israel, most of them failed. And even as far back as the seventh and six centuries BC a prophet of God coined the famous saying "Peace, peace, when there is no peace," prophesying of the same part of the world.  Jeremiah's words apply even today.

Let's keep our eyes on the Middle East. Bible prophecy indicates it will be the center of strife and troubles, leading up to the coming of the Prince of Peace. Only He will be really successful in bringing true peace.

For GN Magazine, I'm Ralph Levy.