I Thessalonians 5:3,4

[3] For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

When one looks at the current geographical structure of what we call Israel today, he or she cannot fail to notice the military significance of the great Palestinian bulge, the West Bank, in Israel’s center, and the importance of the only PA access to a seaport, the narrow strip in the southwest linking the PA to Egypt, called Gaza.  Any graduate of a military academy will tell you that if a nation is attacked from outside her borders, and simultaneously within her borders, it is an impossible situation.  Once the false peace comes to Israel, it will finally be broken by just such a situation, which will cause Israel to be driven southward into the Negev wilderness.

In all of Israel’s endeavors to procure military rest with the Arab nations she has repeatedly, for the last 54 years, made this statement with each new administration: “We must have Peace with Security.”  The basic New Testament word for “Security” is “Safety.”  There is no danger of the battle of Armageddon beginning in the Middle East until this false peace comes to exist between Israel and her bordering nations.

When Ehud Barak played the role of Santa Claus, and offered the unbelievable concessions to Yasar Arafat at Camp David, why did Arafat not accept them?  There is one major overriding reason: Arafat knew he could not control Hamas, Hizbullah. and the Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.  In fact, he probably knew he could not control some factions with his own terrorist group Fatah.  Had he accepted Ehud Barak’s most generous land concessions, he knew that immediately after he signed the agreement, the terrorist groups would wreck havoc in Israel, and he would look like a helpless fool.

The long and short of peace in the Middle East is totally dependant upon Libya, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran calling off the terrorist groups they sponsor long enough for Israel to think true peace is a reality.  The terrorist groups, their sponsoring nations, and the Palestinian leaders MUST work together to bring this false “Peace and Safety” to the Middle East.  I suspect this will be one of the main topics discussed secretly, behind closed doors, at the Arab Conference to be held the latter part of this month.

Why has there been intrusion after intrusion into autonomous PA cities and camps by the IDF during the last few months?  It has, of course, been in retribution for the numerous human bomb episodes within Israel that have taken many Israeli lives.  However, it has also given Ariel Sharon the justification to accomplish an important military objective before he begins to negotiate a final peace arrangement with the Palestinians.  He knew full well that the existence of a West Bank “bulge” PA nation in the midst of Israel, filled with terrorist groups, was a completely untenable situation.  So, before he holds any peace negotiations with the Palestinians, or anyone else, he is working diligently to destroy the terrorist infrastructure within PA autonomous territory, and its capacity to produce weapons internally.  Even if Israel is able to completely surround a newly created Palestinians nation by maintaining the western shore of the Jordan River, the existence of active terrorist groups within the new nation is completely unacceptable.  The only way any Palestinian leader could control the terrorist groups, according to Israel’s mode of thinking, is for Israel to purposely eliminate, or greatly weaken them, before the false peace.  However, in all reality, the only ones who can control them are the countries that supply them with money, weapons, and martyrs.