Koenig's Commentary

Special Report From Jerusalem -
Bill Koenig

This week, Israel has been celebrating the 38th anniversary of their Six-Day War victory and the liberation of Jerusalem.

The Six-Day War was only necessary because President Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Syrian President Haffez Assad and other Middle East leaders were telling the world that they were going to drive the Zionist entity into the soil of Israel. The world knew it would be just a matter of time before Israel would be attacked by Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. It was in the newspapers for the world to see. However, Israel knew this, too — and knew it had to hit the enemy first to save Israeli lives.

Five months after Israel’s Six-Day War victory, the U.N. Security Council passed U.N. Resolution 242 — which called on Israel to give back the land they had obtained in the war and ordered them to the peace table. This agreement was the beginning of the problematic and biased Middle East peace process.

Now the Sharon government is rapidly preparing for the August 15 implementation of Sharon’s disengagement plan: the evacuation of 20 Gaza settlements and four settlements in Northern Samaria. This decision is dividing the nation and creating massive tension in a country that has been reeling from years of tragic suicide bombings and the Intifada which Yasser Arafat began on September 29, 2000.

Public Opinion in Israel Is Shifting

Interestingly, public sentiment toward Israel’s evacuation is changing. Eleven weeks from the beginning of the commencement date of Ariel Sharon's Gaza Strip withdrawal, public support has fallen below 50 percent for the first time, according to a poll broadcast on Wednesday night on the Nissim Mishal show on Channel 2.

Haaretz reported that the poll, conducted by Maagar Muhot, found that 48 percent of the public supports the plan, 33 percent are opposed, and 19 percent are undecided. Support for disengagement in the polls has fallen significantly from its peak of 65 percent in February.

Sharon’s associates did their best to downplay the poll, noting that other polls show different results and casting doubt on Maagar Muhot’s polling methods. The prime minister himself addressed the poll before the cameras in a meeting of the ministerial committee on disengagement, saying, “I didn’t get excited when the polls were in my favor, and I don’t get depressed when the polls are different.”

Sharon’s opponents said the poll was proof the public has started to realize that disengagement will lead to more terrorist attacks and that the implementation of disengagement is being mishandled. Likud rebel leader Uzi Landau expressed confidence that support for disengagement will continue to fall until the plan gets stopped.

“The closer disengagement gets, the more people see the price,” Landau said. “Now [support for] the plan is under 50 percent; and when you take out the Arabs, it’s even less. In a couple of months, after support for the plan continues to fall, it will be clear to the MKs that they are doing something with no public legitimacy or support.”

Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s associates said that public opinion is changing because of Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip this week on Sderot and Gush Katif, and because of the recent criticism of disengagement from former IDF Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya’alon and former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter.

First Time in History Jews Will Be Evicting Jews

If this evacuation is carried out, this will be the first time in history that Jews will actually be evicting Jews from God’s covenant land (or any other land). Jews have had a history of being driven from their land — but never by their own people.

Who is responsible for this pending evacuation? — George W. Bush, who inherited the peace process from Bill Clinton and from his father, George H. W. Bush. As the Quartet’s point man, George W. Bush is principally responsible for moving this evacuation forward and promoting the concept of “Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security.”

Additionally, the international community is responsible for U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338 — and the Quartet Road Map, which is the foundation of today’s peace efforts in Israel.

In order to fend off White House and international pressure, Ariel Sharon devised his disengagement plan in December 2003. He also had domestic pressure from the Geneva Accord architects, Yossi Beilin and Palestinian Abed Rabbo, and Labor Party’s Shimon Peres.

In April 2004, Sharon received George W. Bush’s full backing at a White House meeting. A few months later the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly endorsed President Bush’s backing of the Sharon’s disengagement plan. Even representatives of the conservative and reformed Jews told Sharon not to blow it — because President Bush stuck his neck out politically for him; and if the disengagement plan is not implemented, U.S.-Israeli relations will be dramatically impacted.

There is an incredible effort taking place in Israel to stall, postpone or cancel the evacuations; but only the Lord knows how it will play out in the next few weeks, months and year(s).

Final Thoughts

History shows us that President George W. Bush is moving himself and this nation into a very precarious time. Are the blessings of Genesis 12:3 about to be replaced with an enormous curse?

We must continue to pray that God’s will be done and that President Bush will soon understand the repercussions of his actions pertaining to God’s covenant land before it is too late for the United States and Israel. We realize these are prophetically relevant times, but we must still pray.

Joel 3:2 (KJV), “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”

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