"Although Labor and the Likud differ in their views on the solution to the Palestinian question, we both oppose in the strongest terms the creation of a Palestinian "mini-state" in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, first and foremost because it cannot solve anything." (Yitzhak Rabin The Rabin Memoirs p334)
In his book "Tomorrow is Now," Shimon Peres absolutely rejected the idea of a Palestinian state, writing:
"During a war, the borders of the Palestinian state will serve as an ideal springboard for mobile forces to immediately breach Israeli defenses towards the infrastructure vital to Israel's existence, to limit the freedom of action of the Israeli Air Force in Israeli skies, and to shed the population's blood through "masses of artillery positions" proximity to the border. In the absence of defensible borders, Israel will be annihilated in a war."
Even Rabin wrote it in his memoirs:
"Palestine will rise upon the ruins of the State of Israel."
Now that Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Sharon, is publicly offering this gift to the Palestinian leadership, it is no wonder that nation after nation has jumped aboard the bandwagon, nor that even the President of the United States and his Secretary of State have made this official American policy to bring about a solution to the problem of the Middle East.
All the evidence indicates that a Palestinian state might well spell the end of the State of Israel, even as Yitzhak Rabin said.
But who is there to listen? Yes there are a few strong and courageous voices on the Jewish as well as on the Christian side, but what can these voices and movements achieve if the present leader of Israel itself has advocated this solution (or should we say dissolution) of its own state?
The trap is set by Israel's own leaders, and Israel may well fall into it, to the applause of the world that wants an even-handed approach so that in the end it doesn't need to choose regarding to whom this land was promised by God in its entirety!
One of the most spiritual and perceptive pilots I know - wrote me the following, a heart cry that resonated in me:
I have been quite upset spiritually and have sent some communiques to our President, George W. Bush and have been praying for him. It seems that he is hell-bent on pushing this "Palestinian thing" upon Israel, not knowing that by doing so, he will be sticking his Texas finger in God's eye, and bringing judgment on America.
I am equally concerned about Israel's leaders and their apparent willingness to keep dealing with the idea of dividing up the land, and making a Palestinian state.
On Arafat's official Fatah website we find the following statement:
"A legitimate Palestinian entity FORMS THE MOST IMPORTANT WEAPON THAT ARABS HAVE AGAINST ISRAEL."
(See http://www.fateh.net/e_editor/01/311201.htm)
This is consistent with similar statements by Arafat who, on the same day he signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn spoke the following words on Jordan TV:
"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."
And in a letter to rejectionists quoted by The Jerusalem Post November 18, 1994, Arafat wrote that this agreement:
"will be a jumping off point to remove the enemy from all Palestinian lands."
The giving up of that part of Czechoslovakia that was called the Sudetenland meant not only the fall and end of all of Czechoslovakia, a strong and healthy democracy, but also turned all of Europe into a theatre of war.
This will be the case when, through the blindness and foolishness of today's politicians, the ancient biblical Judea and Samaria (the so called West Bank) his offered to Palestinians on which to establish their state.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
