You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:
In this week’s 5 minute update, we focused on several things:
1) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process
2) The buildup in the Middle East for war with Iran
On May 15, the PLO protested the birth of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948. Unarmed protestors stormed the borders of Israel along the Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Demonstrators were killed in clashes with Israel. The PLO has indicated that this is only the beginning of more protests to come. Some feel that these protests were a “trial balloon” to test the readiness and response from Israel. It is projected that the next protests will be on June 5 which is the anniversary of the 1967 war. The UN speculates that these protests could be the beginning of the 3rd intifada.
It seems that the goal of Mahmood Abbas of the PLO is to get the international community to isolate Israel, blame it for lack of progress in peace negotiations, declare the failure of peace talks, unify with Hamas, get recognition of a PLO state at the UN this September and seek to wage war on Israel. Upon achieving these goals, Mahmood Abbas wants to retire from being the President of the PLO. The PLO would like to see the UN recognize a state so that it can take legal action against Israel at the international court of justice. In expectation of the UN recognizing a PLO state in September, the PLO has called for governmental elections in October.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the PLO doesn’t just want a PLO state based upon 1967 borders but wants to destroy the state of Israel. Because of this, Netanyahu presented Israel’s case before the Jewish lobbying group AIPAC and the US Congress regarding the necessary security requirements of Israel in any peace deal with the PLO. It entails the following:
a) Netanyahu wants the PLO to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
b) Netanyahu wants to keep Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
c) Netanyahu will only accept a demilitarized PLO state with an Israeli troop presence along the Jordan Valley.
d) Netanyahu would like to see PLO refugees absorbed into a PLO state rather than Israel.
e) Netanyahu will not negotiate with the PLO as long as the unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas remains and Hamas fails to recognize the existence of the state of Israel.
The PLO has rejected these views.
In a major policy speech regarding the current situation in the Middle East, Obama voiced support for democratic Arab uprisings. He stated that a PLO state must be based upon 1967 borders with agreed land swaps. The Quartet (US, UN, EU and Russia) quickly endorsed the US position. The US doesn’t seem to recognize Jerusalem as being solely belonging to the state of Israel. In a visit by a US state department official to the Middle East, it was stated that the official was visiting: “Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank”.
Israel rejected Obama’s peace parameters for an agreement with the PLO based upon 1967 borders because they view that these borders are not defensible and threaten the existence of the state of Israel. Israel officials also said that Obama is detached from true realities in the Middle East.
The PLO rejected Obama’s peace parameters by saying that they didn’t go far enough in endorsing the PLO position. The PLO is proclaiming that the peace process is dead and that there only alternative is to seek a PLO state through the United Nations in September.
Various Middle East leaders do not trust the policies of President Obama and find great fault with current US policy regarding the Arab uprisings and the US position on the peace process. As a result, it seems that war is looming in the region.
An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles are as follows:
1) Abbas: Those killed in Nakba Day clashes are martyrs
2) Palestinians test tactic of unarmed mass marches
3) Arab uprising to strike Israel next?
4) UN envoy Robert Serry fears 3rd intifada
5) Abbas: Peace talks can’t resume without settlement freeze
6) Abbas: Opportunity for historic peace deal still exists
7) Netanyahu: Conflict is about 1948, not 1967
8.) Abbas: If Palestinian state is created, I may step down
9) Abbas: UN recognition of Palestinian state would allow legal action against Israel
10) Netanyahu calls Abbas op-ed ‘callous falsification of fact’
11) PA delays elections until October
12) Erekat: No Israeli partner for peace; negotiations over
13) Netanyahu says Palestinian unity government not a peace partner
14) PM: Israel may give up settlements not in major blocs
15) PA: Israel not interested in peace
16) Former UN envoy: Israel’s international status at all-time low
17) Full text and video of President Obama’s Middle East speech
18) A substantial shift toward the Palestinian position
19) Obama Abandons Decades of U.S.-Israeli Diplomacy
20) State Deptartment statement separates J’lem from Israel
21) For the Arab world, Obama didn’t go far enough
22) Arab League calls for action on Palestinian statehood
23) PM meets with Obama amid tensions between J’lem, US
24) PM slams Obama call for ‘Palestine’ based on ’67 lines
25) Netanyahu: 1967 lines ‘indefensible’
26) Analysis: What rankled Netanyahu in the Obama speech
27) The speech that signals a Washington-J’lem collision
28) Netanyahu associate: Obama detached from reality
29) Mideast Quartet support Obama’s vision for peace
30) European officials back Obama on 1967 borders for Palestinian state
31) Netanyahu is one of 12 Mid East leaders saying no to Obama
Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant has been successfully launched. The US has spent many years trying to prevent Iran from having a nuclear production facility that could be used to make nuclear bombs. This effort has now failed. Meanwhile, Iran is building rocket bases in Venezuela that could reach the USA. The situation with Iran is getting more critical.
A US war with Iran is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles are as follows:
1) ‘Die Welt’: Iran building rocket bases in Venezuela
2) Iran: Bushehr nuclear power plant ‘successfully launched’
From a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah).
We will to be “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem” and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).
Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,
Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l