Featured News Report

Middle East Peace Prospects Face
Insurmountable Odds Against
Terrorists And Prophecy

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By Bill Wilson, KIN senior correspondent

WASH—Mar 29—KIN—The United States and other nations are applying tremendous peace pressure on both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but hopes for a lasting peace between these adversaries grow dimmer with each passing day as terrorist groups are using the current informal ceasefire between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to rearm themselves and to marshal support for gutting the peace process after the July PA parliament elections, and Bible prophecies point toward no lasting peace.

Mohmaud Zahar, one of the top leaders of Hamas, Sunday said that Hamas would never support a peace agreement with Israel because it believes the land of Israel is Islamic land. And Hamas stands to gain control of the Palestinian parliament after the July 17 elections. Meantime, Israeli intelligence sources have reported that the Palestinians have smuggled Russian-built anti-aircraft missiles through tunnels from Egypt into the Palestinian territories. The Middle East News Line reported from Jerusalem that Israeli officials said “Soviet-origin SA-7 missiles” were smuggled from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip over the last few days. They said PA officials ordered the missiles and their delivery to the Gaza Strip was facilitated by elements within the PA and Egyptian security forces.

Zahar had warned Sunday that Hamas would be ready for any violation of the ceasefire agreement. In fact, Zahar said that Israel’s plans to expand the Jewish settlement near Jerusalem was a violation, but he stopped short of calling for violence against Israel at this time. Senior Palestinian officials Thursday asked the United States to help block the expansion of the Maaleh Adumim settlement, located five kilometers (three miles) east of Jerusalem, warning that the planned 3,500-home construction would cut off east Jerusalem--where the Palestinians' demand to establish the capitol of their future state. But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said time and again that Jerusalem will be Israel’s capitol and it is a non-negotiable possession.

If the barriers to peace are not enough in the natural, there are even greater barriers in the prophetic. In Matthew 24, Jesus Christ speaks of the times just before the tribulation, which He called the beginning of sorrows. He said in verse 6, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Further, he speaks of nation rising against nation and betrayals and lawlessness. The prophets of the Old Testament often declare that there will be no peace. For example, Jeremiah 6:14 states, “They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.” The angel prophesied over Hagar, mother of Ishmael who is the father of the current Islamists, in Genesis 16:12, “He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

Peace has been elusive since the reestablishment of Israel and it appears by prophecy that it may continue so until the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, returns—meaning that world leaders will spend their political capital in vain trying to attain peace. There will be a period, however, where a temporary or false peace will occur, according to scriptures. Daniel 9:26, 27 speaks of a war that results in the desolation of Jerusalem, which will cease when the anti-Christ will “confirm a covenant with many for one week.” One week is symbolic for a seven-year period. But at the 3 ˝ year marks, the peace agreement will be broken.

Some believe that the current “roadmap to peace” is the covenant that will usher in that seven-year period. Others dispel this theory because it is leaders of the world, such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, and U.S. President George W. Bush who are the main purveyors of the agreement, and none appear to be the anti-Christ. Some believe that a massive war against Israel, such as that described in Ezekiel 38 and 39, where Russia, Iran, Libya, Ethiopia and other nations will come against Israel and be soundly defeated, will reveal the anti-Christ and his peace covenant with Israel. Fact is, no one knows for sure the real scenario.

But what is known is that the nations of the world are continuing to align against Israel. There is also the framework of a peace covenant in place and it is supported by the nations of the world through the United Nations, the United States, Russia, and the European Union. Trouble at the United Nations has perhaps cleared the way for a new leader to emerge there, and the Catholic Pope appears to be dying. These are all events that could be types and shadows of the end times or even the clearing the way for the anti-Christ and the false prophet of Revelation to maneuver into position.

It should come as no surprise that Hamas intends to scuttle the peace process. That these events are occurring at this very point in time—a generation after Israel regained control of Jerusalem—many believe that Apocalyptic winds are whistling the warnings that the world has entered the “beginning of sorrows.”

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