Israel Watch: Buckle Up!

Israel Watch: Buckle Up! - Jim Fletcher - Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz will be arriving in Washington this week to meet with President Trump, to discuss the much-anticipated peace plan.

 

Trump says he will release details of the plan immediately before his separate meetings with Gantz and Netanyahu on Monday and Tuesday. It is the rumored details that are so fascinating and explosive. The plan just might provide Israel with a game-changing reality on the ground, after decades of being forced to dance with menacing diplomats and terrorists that wished to shrink the Jewish state to dangerous borders.

 

According to the Jerusalem Post:

 

"The long-delayed peace plan, expected to be extremely generous to Israel, was drawn up by the US president's former special envoy Jason Greenblatt, Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

 

"Gantz said the peace plan would set off 'a large and painful internal argument' within Israel, and said he committed himself to 'reduce this dispute to a minimum.'

 

For his part, Netanyahu must be giddy with excitement:

 

"'This is an opportunity that comes once in history, and we cannot miss it,' Netanyahu said in a video posted to social media. 'We have the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House, and therefore, we have the best opportunity we ever had.'"

 

Notice Gantz refers to "painful internal argument." This no doubt refers to the possibility of the establishment of a pseudo-Palestinian state, albeit one with disadvantages for real statehood. Thank goodness we finally have an American president that doesn't reward Palestinian terrorism with more concessions from Israel. Now to the juicy details:

 

"The US plan has yet to be released, but it reportedly allows for Israeli sovereignty over settlements in Area C and the entire Jordan Valley, as well as a Palestinian state that would incorporate open portions of Area C, according to KAN.

 

"All but 15 isolated settlements would be linked contiguously, and Israel will be able to apply sovereignty immediately if it agrees to the plan, Channel 12 reported.

 

"Additionally, the Trump plan would reportedly leave Jerusalem undivided under Israel control, with a symbolic Palestinian presence.

 

"The peace plan also demands that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, demilitarize the Gaza Strip and take away Hamas's weapons, and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Channel 12 reported.

 

"Under the plan, Palestinians reportedly will not have control of any borders."

 

All stunning. The real fly in the ointment (and something I think is really up in the air) is what the Palestinians will do. The default position for 25 years is to genuinely reject the offer. Arafat did it, and Abbas has continued the intransigence the last 15 years.

 

But what if they took the deal? Personally, if I were them, I would. It would jar Israel supporters and I think shock the Israeli political establishment. Yes, on paper, such a Palestinian state would be weak and a non-player even regionally.

 

But remember what the Jews did in 1947 when offered a greatly shrunken state by the British and the UN?

 

Ben Gurion took the deal.

 

That bold stroke gave them a foothold in their ancestral homeland and a generation later, they achieved goals they could never have dreamed of.

 

I personally believe international momentum would provide headwinds for the Palestinians so that-potentially-they could set up their own realities on the ground in, say, 20 years.

 

What this all means is that while "the deal" seems golden for Israel, it is also moving the chess pieces prophetically, so that the world will continue to hate Israel.

 

This week will be fascinating and momentous!

 

'We Will Make History' - Netanyahu Heads To Washington For Trump Peace Plan - By Benjamin Kerstein/Algemeiner.com - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=3807

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he and President Donald Trump "will make history" on Tuesday when they meet to discuss the president's long-awaited peace plan for the Israeli-Arab conflict.

 

Speaking on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport just before he left for Washington, DC, Netanyahu referenced his high profile 2015 speech to Congress against then-president Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, saying, "Five years ago, I went to Congress in Washington because I had to face a plan brought by a US president that I believed would jeopardize the interests of the State of Israel."

 

"Today I am going to stand alongside a president who brings a plan that I believe promotes our vital interests," he asserted.

 

"Trump is a huge friend of Israel," Netanyahu added. "I talked to him countless times about our security and justness. Tomorrow I will meet with him, and Tuesday together with him we will make history."

 

Netanyahu's statement echoed a more elaborate statement he issued on social media on Saturday evening, in which he said of Trump's plan, "An opportunity such as this comes once in history and cannot be missed."

 

"Today, we have in the White House the greatest friend that Israel has ever had; therefore, we have the greatest opportunity that we have ever had," he said.

 

"For three years, I have spoken with President Donald Trump and his staff about our most vital national and security needs, which must be included in any diplomatic arrangement," Netanyahu noted. "I have found an attentive ear in the White House to these needs."

 

"Therefore, I am full of hope that we are on the verge of a historic moment in the annals of our state," he said. "I am leaving for Washington with a sense of great mission, of great responsibility and of great opportunity, which will not recur, to ensure the future of Israel."

 

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu's leading political rival, former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, also took off for Washington for a personal meeting with Trump on Monday.

 

Gantz was originally invited to meet with Trump on Tuesday together with Netanyahu, but fearing a political trap and also unwilling to snub the American president, he requested a one-on-one meeting, which the administration granted.

 

"The plan will go down in history as a significant milestone," Gantz said on Saturday, according to Israel's Channel 13.

 

"The proposal is going to cause major and painful internal disputes among us," Gantz warned, however. "I pledge to minimize the disagreement, and work to make the proposal a basis for progress toward an agreed settlement with the Palestinians and the countries of the region while continuing and deepening the strategic partnership with Jordan, Egypt, and other countries in the region."

 

"We are at a fateful hour to determine Israel's image and security and political borders," he asserted.

 

As did Netanyahu, Gantz thanked the Trump administration for standing at Israel's side and taking its security needs into consideration "out of friendship and deep commitment."

 

Reports in the Israeli media have claimed that the deal will be extremely generous toward the Jewish state, recognizing all of its settlements in the West Bank as sovereign Israeli territory and retaining a united Jerusalem under Israeli control, along with the strategic Jordan Valley border region.

 

Sources who have seen the map set to be presented to Netanyahu and Gantz have said, "There's never been anything like it."

 

One potential concession from Israel is rumored to be recognition of a Palestinian state. However, it is widely believed the Palestinians will reject the plan sight unseen, giving Israel a "green light" to annex parts of the West Bank without concessions.

 

 

Prophecy--Beware of the Israel Peace Plan - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com

 

The time is near when President Donald Trump will unveil his long-awaited plan to bring peace between the political entity of violent anti-Israel "Palestinians" and the state of Israel. They are calling it the "Deal of the Century" and it is supposed to meet Israel's vital security concerns and the needs of the Palestinian Authority, which morphed over the years from the terrorist Palestinian Liberation Organization. Every president who has tried to broker peace between these entities has failed and has suffered seemingly prophetic consequences as documented by White House Correspondent Bill Koenig in his book "Eye to Eye-Facing the consequences of Dividing Israel." Concessions to terrorists are never a good idea.

 

Koenig points out that "Despite their good intentions, previous American presidents, and to a lesser degree the international community, are accountable for dividing the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants; promoting a peace plan that would position Israel in indefensible borders; interfering with God's plan of having Jews move home to Israel and Judea and Samaria-the biblical heartland of Israel; and participating in the eviction of Jews from their homes within the biblical heartland of Israel." Koenig documents political, economic and natural disasters that occurred within 24-48 hours after every time the US has meddled in dividing the land for peace.

 

The current US President represents America as a true friend to Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is optimistic about this peace plan, saying, "An opportunity such as this comes once in history and cannot be missed. Today, we have in the White House the greatest friend that Israel has ever had; therefore, we have the greatest opportunity that we have ever had." The Times of Israel reports, "The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the Trump plan and is reportedly threatening to cancel its security coordination with Israel in the West Bank if it moves ahead." If the sovereign state of Israel favors the plan and the terrorist-sponsoring Palestinian Authority rejects it, then the plan might be a step in the right direction-by man's ways.

 

God's ways, however, may not be so accepting. God told Abram in Genesis 12:2-3, "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless you and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed." Israel was miraculously reestablished May 14, 1948, and there is prophetic significance to this. As Koenig writes, there have been 208 weather disasters since 1980 costing the US over $1.1 trillion, "Most of the catastrophes occurred at the time the United States was pressuring Israel to divide their covenant land." The weather disasters are just one example. While optimism awaits the Trump peace plan, the power of prophecy will move as this plan unfolds. We will see how man's plan aligns with God's plan, or not.