Jewish People Homecoming to Their Promised
Land After 2500 Years
On Nov. 5, 1914 , Britain declared war on Turkey , the home of the Ottoman Empire . The Turks were allies
of Germany . Neither the British,
nor its allies in France , were in a position to
send troops into the Middle East . Britain already had strong
interests in the region, controlling Egypt and key points at the
southern end of the Arab peninsula, including the Suez Canal . Britain wanted to keep this
route open, it was the gateway to Britain 's most valued colony, India . Much of the Middle East was in Ottoman hands
and had been for centuries.
The British realized that if they were to have any success at all,
they needed to cultivate a new ally, the Arabs. An agreement was drawn up
between the British High Commissioner in Cairo , Sir Henry McMahon, and
Hussein ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca. Ali hoped to be the first leader of an
independent Arab state.
A letter from McMahon dated Oct.
24, 1915 was clearly written and excluded from any agreement "portions
of Syria lying to the west of Damascus , as they cannot be said
to be purely Arab, but it did promise the Arabs their own state. Subject to the
above modifications, the letter stated, Great Britain is prepared to
recognize and support all regions within the limits demanded by the Sharif of
Mecca.
By this letter, the British promised away Turkish lands in
exchange for Arab aid in defeating Turkey . Through this and
subsequent letters, the areas that are today Iraq , Saudi Arabia and Egypt were included in the
promise. Not mentioned in any exchange were the areas of Palestine, which at
that time extended from the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest across to the
Euphrates River in the Northwest corner of what is today Iraq.
In 1916, Britain and France began negotiating about
what they would do with the Ottoman Empire when they won the war.
A secret plan, known as the Sykes Picot agreement, divided the Ottoman Arab
lands in 5 categories. Some were to be under direct French or British rule,
others merely under French or British influence.
Finally, a region containing the "holy places, roughly
corresponding to Palestine , was to be under the
joint control of both. There was no mention of a separate homeland for the
Jews. Neither was there any attempt to honor the understanding given to
Hussein. And a third promise made the following year would complicate the
situation ever further.
During WW1, a British scientist, Dr. Chaim Weitzmann, developed a
synthetic acetone and showed how it could be used to create a new kind of smokeless
gun powder called "cordite". This helped the British
significantly shortened the war. In gratitude, the British government
offered to grant Weitzmann a "boon". Weitzmann, a Zionist leader,
asked for the return of the homeland for his people. The problem was
turned over to Lord Arthur Balfour. Balfour saw several advantages for Britain in acceding to
Weitzmann's request.
First, he needed the support of the wealthy Jews inside Britain , especially Lord Lionel
Rothschild, a wealthy Jew and prominent banker. Secondly, it would be in Britain 's interests to have a
state friendly to Britain in the eastern
Mediterranean region. Thirdly, largely as a result of the growing sympathy for
a Jewish state brought on thanks to Darby and the rising tide of evangelical
Christianity, there was public support for the concept in Parliament. Lord
Balfour then sent his famous letter, known to history as "The Balfour
Declaration," that promised a Jewish homeland in Palestine .
His request resulted in the issuance of the Balfour
Declaration, which in part said: "His majesty's government view with favor
the establishment in Palestine of a national home for
the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the
achievement of this object.
Lord Balfour had become an avid believer in the literal
interpretation of Bible prophecy, through the influence of John Darby's
extensive ministry. As a result, he believed that God could not lie to the
Jewish people when He promised to return them to their own homeland and reestablish
the Jewish State of Israel. Lord Balfour, with the assistance of another Member
of Parliament named Lord Lindsay, who also believed in the literal promises of
Bible prophecy, had exerted considerable influence on their colleagues for the
sake of seeking to help reestablish the Jewish homeland in its ancestral
territory.
In December 1917, at the height of WW1, Britain found itself in a
position to implement the Balfour Declaration. In the providence of God,
General Allenby captured Palestine from the Ottoman Empire , ending 400 years of
Turkish Muslim rule. At the end of the war there was the April 1920 San Remo
Conference by the victorious Allied Powers, whereby The Balfour Declaration was
incorporated into the Treaty to divide the Ottoman Empire . The Allied Powers
dictates from the 1920 San Remo resolution assigned the
League
of Nations to dismantled the Ottoman Empire and divided the Middle East as delineated by the
1920 San Remo Conference between two peoples, the Arabs and the Jews. Of the
land legally apportioned to the Jews by the Balfour Declaration in 1917, only
some 20% was actually given the Jews by 1921. The remainder of the promised
Jewish homeland was awarded to the Arabs. This was due to an unexpected furor
among the Muslims, who suddenly found the neglected and desolate land of Palestine to be of infinite
value.
By the end of the Great War, Britain found itself in the
position of having promised all things to all people, and now it was time to
deliver. The McMahon Hussein Agreement gave the land east of Damascus to Hussein of Mecca.
The Sikes Picot Agreement divided it up between Britain and France . And, the Balfour
Declaration gave Palestine to the Jews. The French
& British solved their differences by the simple expedient of dividing up
the territory by drawing borders, freehand, over the map of the Middle East .
The French created Syria and Lebanon . The British carved Iraq and Transjordan out of what had been Mesopotamia . But when it came to Palestine , the Arabs dug in their
heels and demanded that as well. Arab hopes had been raised by McMahon's
declaration of support for Arab independence, which the Arabs now claimed
encompassed the whole Middle East .
The lack of historical understanding on the part of the British
and French diplomats involved is staggering. They drew boundary lines that
artificially divided ancient tribal lands and divided tribes into nation
states. The legacy of these "diplomats" to future generations was a Middle East in a perpetual state of
war. Now, that's diplomacy!! The Balfour Declaration and the support it
received in the British government greatly annoyed the Arabs. Even Winston
Churchill had spoken Eloquently in favor of keeping Lord Balfour's commitment:
"It is manifestly right that the Jews, who are scattered all over the
world, should have their national home back where some of them might be
reunited. He went on to say it will be good for the world, good for the Jews,
and good for Britain .
But it was not good for the Arabs. And they, as it so happens,
have most of the proven oil reserves. In 1921, at the April 1920 San Remo conference, the British
said they intended for Palestine to become a Jewish
State. Prior to the establishment of the League of Nations . (The San Remo
Agreement was confirmed by the 1920 Treaty of Sevres and Lausanne). The British
realized the economic value of the oil reserves in the Middle East , and due to Arab
pressure. The British revised the allocation of Palestine and proposed instead to
divide Palestine into Two states, one
Arab, and one Jewish. This was an outright violation of International agreement
and marked the beginning of constant concessions to the Arabs' increasing
demands. (Which I might state continues until today).
The British proposal to divide the area into two states East of
the Jordan river for the Arabs and West of the Jordan river for the Jews (in
violation of International Treaties), this proposal was accepted by the Jews.
Chaim Weitzmann who went on to be Israel 's first president,
enthusiastically discussed the plan with King Faisal Hussein of Iraq , who initially gave his
blessing, then withdrew his support in 1929. But if the Arabs had accepted the
1919 plan, the Jewish minority may well have been "absorbed" into an Arab Palestinian State . And that was not God's
plan for His people.
The Peel Commission in 1937 offered a similar 2 nations, one
state, proposal. Again, it was accepted by the Jews and rejected by the Arabs.
Again, the irony is, had the Arabs accepted it, they would have won the battle
for land over which they are currently fighting. And, they would have won
without firing a shot and with the enthusiastic support of the Jews. The
Woodhead Report of 1938 proposed an even smaller region of Jewish autonomy.
Again, the Arabs rejected it; the Jews supported it, although very reluctantly.
The White Paper of 1939, offered by the British, was much more pro
Arab than any previous offer. At the time, the British were trying to win Arab
sympathies away from the Nazi Party. The White Paper in violation of the
Mandate curtailed Jewish immigration, cut back Jewish settlements, in fact, it
was little more than a tacit recognition that Jews actually physically existed
on the land. Amazingly, the Arabs rejected even this plan, which gives insight
into what they really want. And what they really want is the total obliteration
of any Jewish presence in what they continue to call Palestine .
In March 1939, the British government actually asked the Germans
to "discourage travel" by Jews to the Holy Land . According to
official documents, Sir Neville Henderson sent a cable to the Nazi Foreign
Office. It stated that a large movement from Germany of Jewish refugees, who
without visas or any arrangements for their reception, were attempting to land
in any territory that saw to present the slightest possibility of accepting
them. This is a cause of great embarrassment to His Majesty's government, and
as it appears, to the American government and the latter have expressed a wish
you should join the American charge d'affairs in Berlin in bringing the
situation to the attention of the appropriate German Authorities and requesting
them to discourage such travel on German ships. After WW2 the British went as
far as blowing-up Holocaust refugee ships destined for Palestine , under operation
Embarrass.
The Partition Plan of 1947 offered by the UN gave a tiny portion
of the land to Israel , the remainder to the
Arabs, and declared Jerusalem an open city. This too,
was rejected by the Arabs. The first time any partition plan ever offered by
anyone was even looked at seriously by the Arab side was in 1970. That was
after they had lost the West Bank aka Judea and Samaria and the old city of Jerusalem to Israel following their most
recent attempt to wipe the Jewish State off the face of the earth.
The British immigration policy for Palestine in violation of the
terms of the Mandate for Palestine , underwent several
modifications during the years between wars. As the Arabs objected to the
influx of Jewish refugees fleeing the Middle East after WW1 and from 1935
Europe , Britain changed the rules to
curtail Jewish immigration into Palestine . Britain 's need for Arab oil
became more important than keeping its promise to the Jews and adhering to
International agreements. In 1930, the White Paper was formally passed through
Parliament, effectively banning further Jewish immigration to Palestine , again in violation of
International Treaties and the Mandate for Palestine .
Certain elements within the British Foreign Ministry became
hostile toward the Jews, especially some of the personnel working in Palestine . Because of this
attitude and violations of International laws by the British, many millions of
Jews who could have escaped the Nazis perished in the Nazi SS extermination
camps. This kind of action not only sealed the fate of the Jews but of the British Empire . God warned the gentile
world 4,000 years ago of what He would do to the people or nation who harmed
His people simply for being Israelites.
He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob concerning their descendants,
"I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse the one who curses
you." The rise and fall of many great gentile empires of history can be
traced to how they blessed or mistreated the Israelites. The Jews suffered
through the Holocaust where 6 million men, women and children were forced
marched to their deaths.
A note on this: After WW2, the Empire "on whose flag the sun
never set" found itself being progressively destroyed. Today, the UK is only a shadow of
what it was.
The survivors emerged from the Nazis Holocaust a different people.
The nations were shocked. For some, the shock quickly wore off and began to see
them as "problem refugees." Everything they owned, homes, property
and bank accounts, had been confiscated before the war. The new owners agreed
it was a shame, but did nothing to right the wrong. Greed proved once again to
be a universal human weakness.
Many of the Jews of Europe became the Israelis of Palestine.
Tough, disciplined and courageous in the face of overwhelming odds. They fought
against British immigration restrictions to sneak themselves into Palestine by any means. They
fought against a hostile Muslim population that was being flooded with hundreds
of thousands of new Muslim residents from all over the Muslim world. When the
British disarmed the Jews and heavily armed the Muslims, they smuggled weapons
in with incredible cunning and audacity. They organized freedom fighting cell
groups that gave the British more than they could handle.
The British withdrew, and Israel claimed the land of Palestine to be the reborn Jewish homeland on May 14, 1948 . They proclaimed in its ancestral homeland a
new State and providentially named it Israel . The next day, they
were invaded on all sides by the combined might of the Muslim world. Humanly speaking,
there is no way to explain how the Israelis defeated the well-trained, heavily
armed Muslim army that outnumbered them 10 to 1.
Twelve hours before the document had to be signed and turned in, Israel 's declaration of Independence , Ben Gurion decided the
name of their new nation would be. He knew the Arabs would have but one answer,
Jihad, a holy war.
Ben Gurion was born as David Grein in 1886 in Czarist Poland. But
he decided to give himself a new Hebrew name. He chose Ben Gurion, which means
"son of a lion." Then he smiled as his thoughts returned to the
momentous event about to happen. "My country" he muttered. Then he
unknowingly fulfilled many ancient prophecies by writing in the name "Israel " at the top of the
document
Never in history has such a thing happened. From being scattered
across the face of the earth for over .2,200 years, they returned to the same
piece of real estate from which they were driven. They brought with them their
culture, preserved through the centuries, their religious laws, their dietary
laws, their customs. They kept alive a sense of nationhood that somehow
survived in their hearts. The empires of the Assyrians and the Babylonians of
this world all rose and fell. Israel alone, scattered,
without friend, land or flag, has endured to become a nation again. There are
no Jebusite people in the world today, no Babylonians, no Medes, no Amalekites,
no Caananites or Philistines. But Israel exists, as it did
before Nebuchadnezzar!
The cold war enabled the USSR to build the most formidable
arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in history. That arsenal is now
equipping the Muslim confederacy for their predicted war with Israel .
On May 15, 1948 , five well equipped
Muslim armies attacked the tiny new fledging State of Israel from all sides.
The British trained and equipped Arab Legion of Jordan attacked and captured
the power station at Naharayim. An Iraqi expeditionary force tried to ford the Jordan River in the area of Gesher.
They were held back for a full week by the poorly armed settlers of Gesher. The
Iraqis finally withdrew, choosing to cross the river at a ford held by the
Jordanians. The Syrians actually began their attack on the night of May 14.
They unleashed a devastating barrage of heavy artillery against the poorly armed
settlements south of the Sea of Galilee .
Arab radios announced with euphoric glee that the "War of
Annihilation" had begun! The Arab Legions numbered more than 650,000 men.
British mercenary officers of great renown led some of the Arab armies. All
Arab armies were armed with the most modern of weapons and air power of the
time. The Jews, on the other hand, had only 45,000 "troops", most of
whom were guerrilla fighters from the Haganah, Palmach, or members of the Irgun
and Stern groups. Under the British mandate, it was a crime punishable by death
for a Jew to carry a firearm, although Arabs carried weapons openly.
As a result, the new Jewish army had very little with which to
defend itself. Chaim Herzog, the Jewish historian, estimates the total armament
at the Haganah's disposal was 10,500 rifles, 3,500 light submachine guns, 775
light machine guns, 34 3" mortars, and 670 2" mortars. And, worst of
all, they only had sufficient ammunition for 3 days' fighting. The Palmach, the
"Israeli Army," for want of a more descriptive term, was able to arm
only 2 out of 3 of its fighters. Against the Arab Legion's modern air force, Israel had 20 unarmed Piper
Cubs. The Arabs also controlled the only landing stripes in Palestine .
The Arabs fought a very different Jew than those who went meekly
into Hitler's death camps, or lined up naked in front of ditches to be machine
gunned by members of the SS Einsatzgruppen. Outnumbered by more than 100 to 1,
and hopelessly outgunned, these survivors of the death camps, of countless
persecutions in the Muslim countries, and of the hardships that life in
Palestine had to offer shocked not just the Arab armies, but the entire world.
Many Israelis charged into battle without a weapon to take one from the dead
body of a fallen enemy.
A few Jews from outside the country flew in on a wing and a prayer
with obsolete German Messerschmitt fighters purchased from Czechoslovakia . With these planes and
some cavalier volunteer pilots, they cleared the skies of enemy planes and
turned back an Egyptian armored corps in the Southern Gaza Strip. With a
determination rarely seen in any war before or since, the Jews met every
onslaught. 10% of the total population of the new Israeli State fell in battle. But
when the dust cleared, the Israelis controlled all the land set aside for them
by the original Mandate plus half the city of Jerusalem . On June 11, 1949 , the Arabs withdrew and armistice line was set,
and the Israeli State became a fact.
At the beginning, it looked hopeless for the outnumbered and outgunned
Jews. The Arabs were justified in their conviction of an easy victory. But some
of the rabbis proclaimed God's promises from the Torah to the beleaguered men,
"Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten
thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword" (Leviticus
26 v.8)
The land of Israel became the land of the
Jews, by providence if you please. Their victory is inexplicable apart from the
unseen intervention of the Hand of God. God has a Plan for the last days. A
restored land of Israel , homeland to the Jewish
people, is the key element in His plan, and the very existence of Israel bears testimony to it.
The old rabbis remembered, and even the atheist immigrants from Russia took
heed to the words of the prophet Isaiah: "Remember the former things long
past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like
Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which
have not been done, saying, My purpose will be established, and I will
accomplish all My good pleasure" (Isaiah 46 v.8-10)
God wants the world to know that His promises concerning His
chosen people are His promises, not merely legends in an old Book. By their
very survival, the Jews prove God is exactly who He says He is, and, His
counsel shall indeed stand, and He will do all His pleasure. The birth of Israel sets a pattern that is
drawing us toward the end of days and the Day of the Lord. Israel fought 5 defensive wars
in its short 50 years: The War of Independence, the Sinai Wars, the 1956 Suez
Crisis, the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. In each war, Israel ended up with just a
little bit more of the territory God promised to "Abraham's seed forever.
Who Really Caused the Palestinian Refugees - Weeks before the
1948 war, Arab families were encouraged to abandon their homes and flee to the
Arab countries. They were assured that within a matter of weeks, they would be
allowed to return and reclaim their homes - and also the homes and property of
the massacred Jews. Although the new Israeli government pleaded with them to
stay and fight together for a common homeland, all but a handful crossed over
into Jordan to wait for total
victory against the Jews. They expected to return home as soon as the hated Jew
was slaughtered. Instead, after the war was lost, their "brother"
hosts kept them intentionally in miserable refugee camps and did nothing to
help them.
What happened to the
million expelled Jewish refugees from Arab countries - the Arab countries had persecuted and
expelled about a million Jewish families and their children from their
countries, confiscated their assets, businesses, homes and Real estate
property. Many of the Jews persecuted and expelled from Arab countries died
while their forced departure from Arab countries, due to attacks by the Arabs,
hardship, famine and starvation. About 650,00 - 700,000 Jewish families and
their children of these expelled Jewish families and their children were
resettled in Greater Israel, the balance went to other western countries. The
Land the Arab countries confiscated from the Jewish people is: 120,440 sq. km.
or 75,000 sq. miles, which is over 5-6 times the size of Israel , and its value today is in the
trillions of dollars.
The Jewish
people and their children during the over 2,500 years living in Arab countries
have suffered Pogroms, Libel claims, beheadings, beatings, false imprisonment,
slavery and extreme hardship as a second class citizens. They had their
businesses and homes pillaged, their wives and daughters raped, sold them as
slaves, their houses of worship pillaged and burned, forced conversion to Islam
and many were beheaded.
Today
over half of Israel 's population are Jewish families
expelled from Arab countries and their children and grandchildren. With natural
growth the Jewish population expelled from Arab countries number over 7
million.
The Death of Colonialism - For most of the past 200 years, the
major European powers invaded, subjugated and set up colonies in many places
around the world. The legacies of colonialism are still apparent on the map.
The Dutch Antilles, The US Virgin Island, the British West Indies, the French
Mexico and so on. It was colonialism that gave rise to the saying "the sun
never sets on the British Empire ." Before the Revolution, The US was
itself a colony of Great Britain and it displaced the
Indians and the Mexicans to become a country. At the close of WW2, the cost of
maintaining colonial empires became too high for the colonial powers.
The British had been bombed out of business; their only option
available was to begin to divest it from foreign obligations. As the various
colonial empires were granted independence, a new spirit of ethnic pride was
rekindled in nations who had lived for generations under a sort of "national
schizophrenia." Countries previously held together by colonial powers
splintered into smaller countries better suited to their ethnic makeup. In
1948, the UN was composed of 67 nations and since at least an additional 134
countries came into existence.
One of the biggest problems for the planners of the coming one
world order is what to do with Palestine . The 6 million Jews
there are not about to surrender their sovereignty to the UN or the US or anyone else. They
have made their last move. To this day that is more than apparent. The
significance of Jerusalem 's end time prominence
is clear that the Holy City of Jerusalem will be in the center of world events
in the end time.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians
Arabs will focus more and more attention on Jerusalem . The total world
situation may be expected more and more to be cast into the mold that prophecy
indicates the stage is set and the actors are ready for the final drama in
which Jerusalem will be the key! Many
ancient prophecies are unfolding before our eyes but they could not be
fulfilled until Israel was back in her land as
she is today.
Here is the amazing events which took place. In 1916 the war was
going adversely for England . German machine guns
and other advanced weaponry was cutting down their soldiers. Desperate to find
a rapid method of manufacturing TNT and a smokeless gun powder, they turned to
a brilliant Jew named Chaim Weitzmann who invented such a formula that made
possible the rapid production of those vital materials thus changing the course
of the war. In return, David Lloyd George, representing the British government,
told Dr. Weitzmann to name his price. Rejecting personal reward, he requested
that Palestine be returned to the
Jewish people and declared the homeland for the Jewish people. Consequently the
Balfour Declaration was drawn up and signed on Nov.
2, 1917 .
Gradually the Jews began to gather (bone to his bone) and in 1917,
it is estimated that less than 50,000 Jews lived in that land. By 1922 there
was 93,000; 1932-180,000; 1935-300,000; 1937-430,000 and by 1945 more than 520,000.
In 2004 there are over 7 million and growing. But while God blessed Israel , Britain reneged on her 1917
treaty and violated International treaties and the terms of the Mandate for Palestine . In 1939, after much
deliberation over the growing conflicts between the Arabs and Jews, Britain withdrew from Palestine ; shortly thereafter the
Nat'l Council and the General Zionist Council proclaimed from Tel Aviv the
reestablishment of the sovereign state of Israel . The date was May 14, 1948 . David Ben Gurion was appointed Prime Minister.
Both the US and Russia recognized the new
nation which, after much debate, was accepted as a member nation of the UN by a
vote of 37 to 12.
In 1967 for the first time since the Babylonian and Roman
captivity, Jews took back Jerusalem from the Jordanians.
That has to be the most impressive fulfillment of Bible prophecy in 20
centuries. After planting the Israeli flag on the Dome of the Rock, Moshe Dayan
did a strange thing, he decided to be conciliatory toward his Muslim captives
and instead of keeping the site, he returned control back over to the Muslims
(this was a big mistake). As a secularist Jew, Dayan thought it would help make
friends of the Arabs, he succeeded only in making his friends angry. As the
Arab neighbors outnumbered Israel 50 to 1, he knew that
to not have done so would ignite a holy war. Some religious Jews still have not
forgiven Dayan for his actions and rightly so.
Since 1993, Israel and the Arab-Palestinians
entered into various agreements utilizing land for peace. To date non of those
land for peace agreements bore any fruits. If anything it increased more terror
and violence and reduce the safety and security of Israel 's population. The
Arab-Palestinians are of the opinion that one way or another they will get what
they want, and that is all of Israel . We hope that sound
minds will prevail and cooler heads shall win the day to bring about at least some
kind of permanent truce.
As impossible as it may seem in the light of the present crises,
we can expect Israel and the Palestinians to
hammer out some kind of peace accord they can all live with, one that is for
their mutual good. After all, peace, even an undesirable peace should be in
both countries' best interest.
That brings up the possibility that the agreement suggested by
several of the leaders in the Arab world and seemingly endorsed by the various Presidents
of the United States , to establish two
sovereign states in Israel with governments committed
to halt the bombing and violence and the agreement to live in peace, just might
work. And it might be a fulfillment of prophecy. Whether we will live to see
that happen is anyone's guess.
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