World
A Significant Week for Israel
By Tzippe Barrow
CBN News - Jerusalem Bureau
March 27, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM - This has been a significant week for Israel, and it's not over yet.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Condoleezza Rice has used her two-day visit scrambling between back-to-back meetings in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and other Fatah-affiliated members of the PA government.
Determined to push ahead the U.S. vision for the formation of a Palestinian state, Rice has found both governments reasonably receptive to her diplomatic efforts.
Even the Hamas members of the PA unity government have said little as they watch their agenda being met by the secretary of state and allied Arab nations.
Though Rice stated that she's not interested in taking over negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, one has to search for an alternate explanation to describe her shuttle diplomacy, as it's been labeled.
Before arriving in Israel, Rice traveled to Egypt to meet with Arab leaders there. And today, she leaves for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for more talks with Arab heads of state in preparation for the upcoming Arab League summit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Rice doesn't mind admitting she's working closely with her speech writer before each press conference. But her meticulously worded announcements do little to couch the reality facing Israel as a result of her efforts.
Some here in Israel are concerned by the willingness of the present Israeli government, headed by Ehud Olmert, to capitulate to most of the demands of surrounding Arab countries is setting up the Jewish state for yet another war for its very survival.
In spite of the media spin, both inside and outside the country, most Israelis know intuitively that there's never been a "last war" for the survival of their country.
A careful study of the past will reveal that little has really changed.
Few might admit it, but there seems to be a decidedly spiritual nature to the conflict. Some believers point to Psalm 2 as evidence that the war against Israel shows the nations are raging against God Himself.
Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
"Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us." (Psalm 2:1-3)
Muslims often repeat the phrase, "Allah Akbar," translated as "God is great." A more accurate translation is "Allah is Greater [that is, than God]."
A careful study of the Koran and the Bible will show that Allah and the God of the Bible are not one in the same.
Regardless of the complexities facing the tiny Jewish nation, it appears world leaders are continuing to push Israel into an untenable situation.
At this juncture in history, the present Israeli government is cooperating with their efforts.
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