Bible groups support Israel's expansion on W. Bank,considered illegitimate by US, UN

Palestinian child

“I am deeply concerned about the ongoing displacement and dispossession of Palestinians in Area C, particularly along the Jordan Valley where the number of structures demolished more than doubled in the last year,” said a senior United Nations relief official.  Area C is 60 per cent of the West Bank.  Israel maintains control over security, planning and building in the area.

Recently 66 people, including 36 children, were forced to leave their homes as Israel demolished their homes.

James W. Rawley, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory,  continued his remarks, evidencing concern about Israel's continuing demolition of structures in the West Bank that is forcing people of their basic shelter and services.   Rawley declared, "It runs counter to international law." 

The demolition is taking place before Palestinians have had access to an area with fair plans and zones where they can receive basic services.  

Various humanitarian agencies have been providing assistance to displaced families that include more than 1000 individuals in recent years.  And much of this assistance has been confiscated or destroyed.

Several months ago, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, met with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president in Bethlehem, after which he made this statement about the United States' position on the new Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.  He said, "Let me emphasize that the position of the United States is that we consider now, and have always considered, the settlements to be illegitimate," he said.

In the meantime there are regular reports of fundamentalist Christian organizations providing money for Israelis to build their homes on the West bank, they consider part of the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

Christians look at Syrian conflict as fulfillment of Biblical prophecy

[caption id="attachment_20064" align="alignleft" width="300"] Cathedrale d'Amiens--Day of Judgment[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---“Only those who know the future and what it holds can live at peace in the midst of a world going mad. And the only way to know the future is to know God and His Word.”  This statement of belief by David Jeremiah represents those who believe in Biblical prophecy, with some of them pointing to the Syrian conflict as one of the signs of the Second Coming and the end of the world.

Time magazine has specifically explored this issue, noting how many Christians maintain that the conflicts in the Middle East represent some of the prophecies in the Bible about the Holy Lands and how the struggles in those lands are documented in scripture and offer vigilant believers early signs that Christ’s kingdom is at hand.

As President Barack Obama assesses the conflict in Syria, and government leaders around the world, together with their constituents, line up on one side or the other to consider a military strike against Syria, whose government is alleged to have carried out chemical weapons attacks against its own people, Evangelical Christians see what is happening as the unfolding of a design that was presented in language both symbolic and spiritual, as a promise of better days to come.

Jan Markell, founder and director of Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries, is quoted by OneNewsNow, an online publication as saying that “the Syrians’ use of chemical weapons makes her think about Isaiah 17, which foretells the complete destruction of Damascus, which hasn't happened in thousands of years. “

This quote by Markell and her reflection on it represents the views of many Christian believers, even as others see the Syrian conflict, and the potential for world response that expands to other nations and to an ultimate war that aids no one.  Still those who see signs of the Rapture find it in this quotation from the Book of Isaiah:  “This message came to me concerning Damascus: ‘Look, Damascus will disappear! It will become a heap of ruins. The cities of Aroer will be deserted. Sheep will graze in the streets and lie down unafraid. There will be no one to chase them away. The fortified cities of Israel will also be destroyed, and the power of Damascus will end. The few left in Aram will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 17:1-3