by Rev. William E. Currie
April 1997
In this issue:
The Agreement that Satisfies No One
The negotiations toward the Hebron Accord, signed on January 15,1997 by Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, began as a seeming exercise in futility. The talks dragged on for more than 15 months, wasting precious time needed to advance better relations between the Israeli and Palestinian camps. Word came almost daily from the office of then newly-elected Netanyahu that the negotiators had almost agreed on the security steps needed for the redeployment of Israeli troops from Hebron. Then news would come of more obstacles.
An unappealing option
The now completed agreement portends shifts in loyalties within Israeli and Palestinian politics and society. For Netanyahu, the extended negotiations were a means of placating the more than 400religious Jews of Kiryat Arba (the ancient name of Hebron*), giving them hope there would be no accord reached and that Hebron would continue under full Israeli control. Religious Jews in other West Bank settlements pressured the Israeli government not to settle with the Palestinian Authority, knowing they were next in line for an accord to redeploy troops once Hebron's future was decided.
The religious parties in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and theultra©Orthodox sects also exerted intense pressure not to reach an accord. These were the people who provided Netanyahu's narrow election victory last year, while also attaining new power in the Knesset by winning seven more seats. Netanyahu had to take them into account as he negotiated with Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.
The delay served to heighten Palestinian hopes that they would get all of Hebron back, including the burial place of their ancestor, Abraham, along with the use of all main thorough fares the market. At the same time, the wealthy Arab power brokers of the city distrusted Arafat and what he would do for Hebron and its extensive commercial outreach in the Middle East. Their hesitancy to commit themselves to Arafat caused him to put a low priority on the negotiations.
It was world and commercial pressure that forced the negotiators to finish the accord and move on with the remainder of the Middle East peace process anticipated in the Oslo Accords. The United States led the parade in applying the pressure. Dennis Ross,personal representative of Secretary of State Warren Christopher,stayed on site in Israel, holding open the door of negotiation.Ross often threatened to return to the U.S. if Israel and the Palestinian Authority did not return to the negotiating table.
Pursuing a resolution was a more unappealing option to both parties. But they could not ignore the international political pressures and wider commercial interests. Both Israel and the Palestinians need the approval of the U.S. for continued economic growth and recognition as stable leaders in the Middle East. Thus, Ross spent most of the Christmas and New Year's holidays in Israel to keep the talks alive as the patience of world leaders waned quickly. Final resolution, even though it would hurt both Netanyahu and Arafat politically, was a necessity.
The final agreement was essentially the same as the one that had been negotiated before the bus bombings in Tel Aviv over a year ago. Those negotiations were carried on first between then©PrimeMinister Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. Following the assassination of Rabin in November 1995, the negotiations were between Shimon Peres and Arafat. The final agreement in January1997 led Leah Rabin, Yitzhak's widow, to complain bitterly that her husband had died for no reason. His very opponents had just signed essentially the same agreement that Rabin had negotiated.
Bitter reactions
The Hebron Accord has led to a bitter reaction by Israeli religious elements, with the same anger shown by Arafat's constituency. The most religious segments of Israeli society believe they need to keep Hebron and the settlements safe from the Oslo Accords not only for security, but also because in their belief all of "greater Israel" must be kept for Jewish possession alone. ("Greater Israel" extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River; the West Bank is ancient Judea and Samaria of Bible times.) It was for this assurance that they cast their vote for Netanyahu. The Orthodox want secure access not only to the Tomb of the Patriarchs © that can be assured only by military control of terrorists in Hebron © but security for all of the other territory holy to them in the West Bank.
For the Palestinians the accord has brought no improvement in their lifestyle. Closure of the borders by the Israelis, which shut off West Bank Palestinians from employment opportunities within Israel, has made their living conditions worse. Both sides feel betrayed by the men they voted into office.
These reverberations could eventuate in the fall of Netanyahu's and/or Middle East instability. Both sides are unsatisfied with the peace process, not do they trust their leaders to do what they were elected to do. Neither Netanyahu nor Arafat wants to see instability return. Yet, they cannot meet all the promises they made to their constituencies to gain office, and storms of protest have resulted. Israel Radio announced on March 22 that Arab residents of Hebron clashed with Israeli forces; many injuries were reported. I strongly anticipate more violence in Hebron in the near future.
Those who are committed to "ideological" are not interested in a pragmatic approach that most values peace and commercial prosperity, not are they very concerned about alienating the rest of the world. Extremists on both sides desire renewed hostility and instability so that their own agendas might be carried out.Radical Islamic forces want the Jews out of the Middle East entirely, and radical Jewish elements want the Arabs out of"greater Israel."
The politics of Har Homa
With the furor not yet subsided in the wake of the signing of the Hebron Accord, the Orthodox have demanded that Netanyahu and the Knesset proceed with securing Jerusalem so that it can never be divided. One way to accomplish this is the "facts on the ground."To protect Israel's right to an undivided capital, the Israeli government began on March 18 to build another settlement southeast of Jerusalem at Har Homa, part of the West Bank that is presently uninhabited.
When Itzhak Rabin was still prime minister, an Arab friend and believer in Bethlehem took me to a point in the city overlooking Beit Sahur (Shepherd's Field north of Bethlehem). He pointed to a lovely forested hill a few kilometers north between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and said, "There is Jabal Abu Ghneim," which is known to Israelis as Har Home. He said, "It is actually owned by the Israelis, but the Palestinians will fight to keep it from being built on the future."
Rabin's government was determined that no more settlements would be built to further inflame the Palestinians. Now the settlement issue has come to the fore again, with angry demands from the religious elements of Israeli society to maintain full sovereignty over the Holy City. To keep the religious Jewish parties in his coalition, Netanyahu broke the promise he made in January that none of the present settlements would be enlarged or new ones built.
AP's Gwen Ackerman quoted Netanyahu March 19 on Israel Radio as insisting that "Israel's right to build in Jerusalem is not something that can be questioned. I cannot imagine or agree to any idea of peace that will not allow us to build in Jerusalem."
The Palestinian Authority's Jerusalem representative, Faisa Husseini, was quoted in the March 20 Jerusalem Post as declaring the peace process "dead" after building began on Har Homa. Arab leaders most willing to deal with Israel, such as Jordan's King Hussein and Egypt's Hosanna Mubarak, have also spoken out against the Har Homa decision. Members of the U.N. are asking the Security Council to condemn the Israeli government for this new settlement, and President Clinton and his cabinet have voiced their disapproval. Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is left with the delicate task of speaking against "the unfortunate timing of the decision to build" while carefully avoiding saying anything that will ignite the simmering Palestinian anger.
The anger of a Jordanian soldier reached the boiling point on March 13 when he slaughtered seven Israeli schoolgirls on a fieldtrip to Naharayim, a popular tourist site at the Israeli-Jordanian border. Jordan condemned the massacre, and King Hussein paid personal condolence visits to the families of the murdered girls. On March 21 several were killed and nearly 50 wounded by a Hamas suicide bomber in a Tel Aviv cafe. These tragic episodes are further examples of the politics of violence in the Middle East, and a reminder of why many Israelis believe the peace process is not at all about peace.
A compromise suggested in the Har Homa issue has been that only the first 2500 of 6500 proposed housing units would be built now,and a percentage of those housing units would be available to Palestinians. Given the depth of current unrest and bitterness,making neighbors of Jews and Arabs on contested land hardly seems the course of wisdom. But it will take more than even the wisdom of Solomon to bring about peace in the Middle East.
Freedom of Religion?
No lasting peace will come for Jerusalem until that day when Israel looks with faith to their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ at His second coming (Zech. 12:1©13:1).
Elements in the Israeli government are working to ensure that faith in Messiah Jesus is not even an option for Israelis. The Knesset is considering the draft of a bill that will, if passed,have repercussions for the advance of the Gospel. A translation of the initial draft follows:Prohibition of inducement for religious conversion Bill 174C:A)Whoever possesses contrary to the law or prints or copies or distributes or shares or imports tracts or advertises things in which there is an inducement for religious conversion is subject to one year imprisonment. B)Any tract or advertisement in which there is inducement to religious conversion will be confiscated.
At the time of this writing, the proposed legislation has been introduced, with three
readings necessary for it to be passed. Now is the time to pray that this bill not be
passed. Even those who are enemies of the gospel are beloved for the fathers' sake(Romans
11:28). How like the real enemy, Satan, to work to keep the only out of the hands of the
Jewish people to hope for mankind whom it was first given! seed of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob is to The best way for us to bless the bring through the finished work of the
Messiah of them the good news, the Gospel of salvation Israel at the cross of Calvary.
What will you do to help the Jewish people hear the Gospel?
*Israel's second most holy city, site of
Abraham's altar and the patriarchs' burial cave of Machpelah.…
Hebron: Israel's Second
Most Holy Place
Why are the 400 religious Jews of Kiryat Arba (the Jewish section of Hebron) so intent on staying among the more than 100,000 Muslim Arabs? Why not give it up for peace and the protection of the children and adults on both sides of the equation? The history of the city and its importance to both peoples as part of their religious heritage is the sticking point.
Hebron is one of the oldest cities in Israel, pre-dating the founding of the Lower Egyptian city of Tanis (Zoan), and already existing as a Canaanite city when Abraham placed his tent and built his altar there (biblical Mamre), following Lot's departure for Sodom in Genesis 13. Here God confirmed the covenant He had made to Abram in Ur of the Chaldees. Also here Hagar bore him a son, Ishmael, when barren Sarai urged him to cohabit with her Egyptian handmaiden Hagar. Ishmael was born 14 years before Isaac.
In Hebron Abraham would plead with God that his son Ishmael would "live before Him." God emphatically rejected Abraham's plea by saying the seed would come through Sarah by miraculous conception in her advanced age. His name would be Isaac. Thus, both the Jews and the Arabs have a common ancestor in Abraham who is buried with his wife, Sarah, and Isaac and Jacob and their wives* in what the Jews call the "Tomb of the Patriarchs," and the Arabs call, "Haram esh-Sharif" in Hebron.
The enmity between Ishmael and Isaac, then, began in Hebron. God promised each would be the father of a nation. Ishmael, called by God in Gen.16:12 "a wild donkey of a man," became the father of the Arabs. Isaac became the father of Israel, through whom the promised Seed of the covenant along with the other promises of a land, people and nation would come.
*Jacob's wife Rachel is buried on the road to Jerusalem where she died giving birth to Benjamin.
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