Enforcing Peace in the Holy Land?

With the Israeli-Hamas crisis waning on, Israeli Foreign Minister Liberman told the German Bild “Germany and the EU must dispatch inspectors to Gaza to monitor trade with the neighboring countries” (Agence France Presse, August 7, 2014). Mr. Liberman noted that the inspectors should not be “police or soldiers” and that “Germany… take a leading role” – all to the agreement of Germany and France (ibid.). Several years ago, PLO Prime Minister “Salam Fayyad said…  “he was proposing ideas that include the temporary deployment of Arab security forces in Gaza to help reunite Hamas-run Gaza with the West Bank” (Reuters, July 7, 2008). Mr. Fayyad voiced his concern about the division in the Palestinian territory noting that “restoring Palestinian Authority control over the Gaza Strip, run by Hamas… is a key objective of policy and has to be pursued vigorously at all times” (ibid.). Might the Palestinians be interested in such a solution today, given the same ongoing issues?

It is sobering to watch the Israeli government suggest that international intervention and guidance is needed in the Holy Land. It is equally sobering to see Israel call for a German-led intervention team to monitor trade into the Palestinian territories. The Palestinians have also called for a neutral international arbitrator between them and Israel for years.

Bible prophecy reveals that both a German-led “king of the north” and an Arab “king of the South” will work together in a quasi-peace for a time (Daniel 9:27; Psalm 83:5-8), after which they will turn against each other (Daniel 11:25-30). This action will lead to a military occupation of Jerusalem by the “king of the north” (Daniel 11:31; Luke 21:20-24; Isaiah 8:7-8). God’s church has warned of these coming events for decades and it is exciting, yet sobering, to see the stage being set for their initiation!

For more on this topic, view our telecast Five Prophetic Signs for the Middle East.