Our World: World Affairs

Events in the Middle East

Russian interest in the Eastern Mediterranean grows apace with two significant developments in recent months.

The first was President Medvedev's announcement in November that Russia was looking to develop new naval bases abroad, specifically in Libya and Yemen while expanding her existing strategic naval base at Tartus in Syria. All this in
addition to Russia's expansion and modernisation of her naval fleet as a whole. As RIA Novosti reported in November:

"Russia's warship fleet is gradually being transformed into a more sophisticated formation. Corvettes nd
frigates, now under construction, are to be supplemented with destroyers and amphibious assault ships in the upcoming decade."

Clearly the stage is being set for the fulfilment of Daniel's prophecy in the Bible concerning the time of the end:

"At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. He will also invade the Beautiful Land." (Dan. 11.40-41, NIV) .

Natural gas discoveries

The second significant development is the discovery of vast new natural gas fields off the coast of Israel. Russia is showing keen interest in this, and in December the Russian gas giant Gazprom sent secret envoys to Tel Aviv to
discuss investment opportunities with Israeli firms holding concessions in these important gas fields. It seems that Russia's sights are firmly set on these newly discovered Israeli oil and gas fields, and it could only be a matter
of time before we might see the outworking of Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the Gogian invasion of Israel:

"And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, to take a spoil, and to
take a prey." (Ezek. 38.11-12)

Little hope for Middle East accord in 2011

This was the title of an article in the Age late last year by Jason Koutsoukis a Middle East correspondent:

"At the start of the year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of his commitment to a moratorium on new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank until the end of September. The move was meant to foster trust with the Palestinians, and enable the resumption of direct peace talks."

As we know the talks broke down acrimoniously.

"Netanyahu is constrained by the fragile and fractious state of Israeli politics. Even with good intentions he is unlikely to succeed. Abbas has his own similar problems. And it gets worse for both men. Many in their respective constituencies may not care much about a two state solution – or even want it at all. Many Israelis believe for a range of reasons that the West Bank is a non negotiable part of Israel. In contrast many Palestinians believe in what could be described as a 'one state' solution. They see the
problem as the very existence of Israel. They believe that in time their population expansion will far outstrip Israel and they will get what they want by weight of numbers."

The article suggests that "2010 proved disastrous for the way Israel is perceived internationally." The commando raid on the Gaza convoy has all but destroyed Israel's relations with its former ally Turkey. Both parties are in the news demanding the other side apologise. The article concludes:

"The loss of international support caused by the flotilla raid came at a difficult moment for Israel. Its foes, in particular Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, are thriving. A visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Lebanon in October highlighted the fact that, in Hezbollah, Iran supports a formidable military force on Israel's doorstep ... All in all, 2010 was a period of disappointment, with little evidence of reason for hope in 2011."

But Bible readers see every reason for hope. The downward spiral we see in current events indicate that the return of Jesus Christ may be very soon.

 

New perspective on Israeli/Palestinian peace talks

The revelations from the documents leaked to the TV station al-Jazeera in January are particularly interesting to us as observers of the signs. The documents purport to be accurate records of significant parts of the Israeli/Palestinian
peace talks. They put a different perspective on those talks from what most of us would expect. As the Melbourne Age put it:

"The Palestine papers reveal that Israel has – or had – a partner for a negotiated two-state solution.
They reveal that Israel's previous government, led by Ehud Olmert as prime minister and Tzipi Livni as foreign minister, discussed a detailed partition plan involving serious give and take with its Palestinian interlocutors. Alas, the Palestine papers also reveal the lack of political will to conclude the deal, shown by the wide gaps over substantive positions, and both sides' leaning towards fruitless debating rather than seeking a compromise."

This all has the ring of truth about it though it's important to note that it is as yet unproven.

 

Another quotation from the Age is interesting in its suggestion of the consequences of the document leaks:

"Senior Palestinian Authority officials are expected to face intense pressure to resign amid growing public anger over revelations that they were prepared to give away some of the Palestinians' most cherished claims in their desire to sign a peace agreement with Israel. A cache of leaked documents chronicling the past decade of behind-the-scenes Middle East peace negotiations has shown the Palestinian leadership to be so eager for an agreement that it was prepared to allow Israel to keep
almost all Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. The trove of more than 1600 documents, which has been leaked to the al- Jazeera news network, indicates that Israel rejected the unprecedented Palestinian offer as insufficient."

How truthful these matters are in some ways doesn't matter. The fact is it's in the news and once again the world's attention is focused just where we expect it to be – on Israel, the "burdensome stone", as the Bible describes that country and nation.

 

The Palestinians can be portrayed as the arch villain with the Jews simply acting on their undoubted Divine right to the land. But that Divine right fully applies when the Master returns. In the meantime the actions of the Jews are somewhat less than pure. If the leaked documents are true the Palestinians have grounds to feel less than happy with Israel's posture.

 

The only real answer to such an intractable problem is God's answer. The Jews will then have their land without territorial or political compromise and no one will be aggrieved about it. All will regard it as a blessing.

 

The rise and rise of Hezbollah

As we finalise this article the Shia Islamist group Hezbollah have increased their control of Lebanon by backing the appointment of billionaire Najib Mikati to the post of Prime Minister. The Western backed moderate government led
by Saad Hariri was brought down in January after a row over the 2005 murder of Mr. Hariri's father, Rafik. The UN Report on the murder is likely to implicate Hezbollah figures.

 

Some have called this turn of events a "constitutional coup." Hezbollah, who are strongly backed by Syria and Iran, have more weapons than most small States. Certainly they are far stronger than the Lebanese army. Hezbollah insist they need the massive arsenal to ward off the threat of attack from Israel.

 

Back in October, Lebanon and its allies were in the news with the visit of Iranian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was in the country to attend a Hezbollah rally in the border town of Bint Jbeil which bore the brunt
of the 2006 war with Israel. Ahmadinejad used the occasion to repeat his previous denials of the Holocaust and call for the wiping of Israel from the map. "Israel is a cancerous tumour" and "Israel is pure evil" were printed on roadside
billboards.

 

Part of the celebrations included the opening of a full sized replica of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque (the "Dome of the Rock"), which had been funded by the Iranians as part of a US$1billion aid package to the area. The mosque flies the Iranian flag. From a nearby lookout, the Iranian president and Hezbollah leaders were joined by many others in throwing rocks at Israel. This symbolic act demonstrated even more strongly than words the utter hatred of Israel and the intention of the Shiites to reclaim "possession of the ancient high places" including Mount Zion, the home of the original of the mosque.

 

The Jerusalem Post sums up recent developments by saying, "For Israel, this is a troubling development and an example of how Iran is tightening its grip on Lebanon. It also demonstrates the continued formation of a Shiite
crescent which begins in Iran, continues in Syria and ends in Lebanon."

 

The Bible student knows that the day will soon come when the prophetic words of Zechariah will come to pass, "Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree: for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled" (Zechariah 11.1-2).

 

Turmoil in the Middle East

Many countries in the Middle East are in turmoil. They are either experiencing political upheaval now or anxious that it will happen to them shortly. The common denominators appear to be an autocratic regime headed by an unpopular dictator and a massive cross-section of the population who have had enough of the current order. This critical
mass has been successful in ousting the ruler of Tunisia. Currently the much larger country of Egypt is experiencing similar unrest with allegedly a million people protesting in the streets. There has also been unrest in Jordan and
Yemen.

 

Other Middle Eastern countries that are not directly affected by the revolutionary spirit are pondering with varying degrees of anxiety what the changed political landscape will mean for them. This is especially the case in Israel.
BBC news reports: "Israelis are watching anxiously as anti-government protests continue in Egypt – one of the country's only friends in the Arab world. … The implications of regime change in Egypt would be enormous here. 'We
are concerned. We are watching this very anxiously,' says Dan Gillerman, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations …

'We are already facing Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the prospect of ... an autocratic, fundamentalist, Islamic organisation taking over in Egypt is obviously not something we can ignore'."

Other opinion is that it is not inevitable that extremists will take over Egypt. An article in Stratfor however sees the possibility of a different though admittedly not an inevitable scenario. In this scenario the army takes over in Egypt
(which seems inevitable anyway, at least in the short term) but its leadership is in turn overthrown by a "colonels' coup" where the next level down from the army leadership takes over. After all this was precisely how Colonel Nasser
came to power in Eygpt not so long ago!

 

An opinion piece from Time online news titled "What the U.S. Loses if Mubarak Goes" is interesting. "The revolt that appears to have fatally undermined President Hosni Mubarak's prospects for remaining in power is a domestic
affair – Egyptians have taken to the streets to demand change because of economic despair and political tyranny, not the regime's close relationship with Israel and the U.S. But having tolerated and abetted Mubarak's repressive rule
for three decades precisely because of his utility to U.S. strategy on issues ranging from Israel to Iran, Washington could be deprived of a key Arab ally with his fall from power."

 

The fact that Israel and the US, both democracies, have been happy to align themselves with dictators for the sake of political "stability" has not endeared either country to much of the population of Egypt. How all this fits into the
plan of God or how it will affect the future is not completely known to us. What we can see with certainty however is that the Middle East is alive with change and very much a focus of world attention. It normally has a high profile, but the events of the last several weeks have raised that profile to an extraordinary extent. The pace of events seems to be increasing.

 

The Kingdom of God may not be far away. We can only hope that proves to be true.