Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, is now speaking before the UN Security Council as it deliberates the current, armed conflict between Israel and Hamas which governs the Palestinians’ Gaza Strip. The two are trading ballistic missiles, with Gaza undergoing far more casualties and physical damages, as is always the case. The last “war” between them was in 2014.
Although I support the existence of the State of Israel, I also strongly support the concept of an independent, sovereign State of Palestine. Listening to Erdan’s speech reminds me of what Moses says in Torah about Israel, “But to this day the LORD has not given you a min to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29.4; cf. Romans 11.8 NRSV).
Erdan said in speech that Israel is a nation that seeks “peace.” No it does not! If it did, there would have been a Palestinian state many decades ago. Israel has refused to abide by the Jews’ Torah regarding its neighbors, the Palestinians. God says therein to the Hebrew/Jewish people, “you shall loved your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19.18). Jesus used this text and the Torah’s chief text, Deut 6.4, in explaining the entire Torah in a nutshell. For when Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment in Torah (=Law/Life), he said, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12.29-31).
Jews reestablished their nation of Israel in 1948. Their neighbors, Palestinians, have gone all that time without a state largely because Israel has been against the concept. Israel therefore has not treated Palestinians as the Jewish Bible tells it to by advocating for a Palestinian state. However, there is a serious problem about this in which Israel is not to blame.
IMO, the traditional two-state solution has always been an impossible solution. For one thing, the shape of such a Palestinians state would hinder Israel in defending itself. This traditional two-state solution is based on demographics–let Palestinians have their own state in the Gaza Strip and the separated West Bank, or most of it. I don’t believe that will ever happen. And if it does it will not work, resulting in some other real estate arrangement.
Rather, I believe Bible prophecy–thus in the Jews’ own sacred scriptures–indicates there will be a Palestinian state in the latter days located only in the coastal plain, likely similar to the location of the Philistines’ state 3,000 years ago, and the West Bank will be part of Israel. It is the only land solution that makes sense. See my book, Palestine Is Coming: The Revival of Ancient Philistia (1990; read the Bible prophecy portion of this book free at my kermitzarley.com website.)
This proposal, therefore, requires a transposition of peoples. Although such a transition will be costly, it will be successful. And it would be according to historical precedent, which Jews actually set forth in 1948 in their three-page Proclamation of Independence.
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