I began going to the Middle East and Israel in 1970, making documentary films, leading study tours, and doing “special” work with the Israeli government and army. I was privileged to go some twenty-three trips. The experience left a permanent impression on me about what that part of the world is all about. Many of the trips were exploratory in nature, but too, some were part of my role as a journalist making documentary films. As a journalist during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli military took me into combat on the Golan Heights where I was almost killed by Syrian gun fire.
Below are some typical questions often asked of me, especially in light of what is now taking place between the Arabs and the Jews.
What is the source of the problem in the Middle East?
The real issue, almost ignored by the international media, is religious in nature. While not all Arabs are militant there are religious issues that draw sympathy or at least neutral attitudes from the majority. The militant factions have made it clear they wish to drive Israel into the sea. They are also violently anti-Western and anti-Christian in their intentions.
What groups are causing all the problems?
In the Holy Land, it is the Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Hizbullah. They claim that Israel must be destroyed and try to say that before the state of Israel, there was a “state” of Palestine in the land, but this is not true. It is a historical fact that before the nineteenth century there was no Palestinian-Arab control of the Holy Land. The Ottoman Turks ruled and the Arab populations were but nomadic Bedouin tribes.
While the U.S. has been focusing on Osama Ben Laden’s organization Al-Queda, we missed the bigger picture that includes other militant groups who want to dominate the land of Israel, the entire Middle East, the West and the world.
A traveler to the Holy Land in 1890 said the entire land was devoid of inhabitants. He added, “I found the land silent. The cities were but dust. This melancholy of abandonment weighs heavy on all the Holy Land.” Arab scholar Abdel Razak Kader wrote “the Palestinians know that the marshy plains were sold for gold long before the turn of the century. The Palestinians who are angry with Israel should know that the thorns of their life are of Arab, not Jewish, origin.”
What are some of the important terms we hear about?
Jihad means “a striving,” a “holy war.” It usually refers to a war waged against all non-Muslims, the infidels, until the end of time!
Intifada refers to “a shaking off, uprising, to strike.” It is the most common word used by the Palestinians to call for war against the so-called “occupied territories,” meaning the Holy Land and the Jews.
Iman means the Great Leader. The president of Iran recently warned the world of the coming Imam, the Messiah of Islam, who would subjugate all the world to the Islamic faith—“He is near!” he said!
Shi’ite means “Partisan” and is a reference to the minority branch of Islam. Iran is the primary Shi’ite Muslim nation. The Shi’ites follow Ali who was Muhammad’s son-in-law and husband of Fatima. Ali is accepted as the rightful heir of Muhammad.
Sunni Muslims follow the Hadith, the traditional readings of Islam. The Sunnis claim that they best follow customary practices of the prophet Muhammad. The Shi’ites and Sunnis are in constant conflict in Iraq which makes a full-blown civil war possible.
Didn’t the present problem begin with the Christian Crusades?
Nowhere is there a mandate in the Bible for Christians to kill Arabs. The Crusades of the Middle Ages were fostered and promoted by political “Christendom” not by biblical Christianity. While it is true the populations of Europe were fanned into wanting to go on the Crusade, the bottom line is that the Crusades had nothing to do with true Christianity.
Interestingly, the Arab leaders rarely mention the Crusades of almost one thousand years ago. They are fired up by present-day Muslim ideology and not by the past.
How did the Jews begin to return to the Holy Land?
When the Puritans of England began to study the Old Testament in the Hebrew language, they saw in its pages the hope promised to the Jewish people of a future restored homeland in Palestine. The great scholar John Owen wrote, “the Jews shall be regathered from all parts of the earth where they are now scattered, and brought home into their homeland.” Napoleon in 1799 wrote a clarion call for “the restoration of Jerusalem” for the Jews scattered from Africa to Asia. John Quincy Adams wrote in 1825, “I really wish the Jews again in Judea, an independent nation.” Two outstanding Christian leaders of the nineteenth century, Englishmen Lord Shaftesbury and Lord Alfred James Balfour, called for a homeland to be established in Palestine. This came to pass following World War I. President Harry Truman led the American people to support the creation of a Jewish nation, and in 1948 had the U.S. be the first nation to recognize the newly reborn State of Israel.
Because of America’s continuing support and protection over Israel is why the call of the militants is “Death to America and Israel!”
What is at the heart of the conflict?
Middle Eastern scholar Dr. Randall Price (Ph.D. in Middle East studies, the University of Texas) says the Arab-Israeli conflict is not political but religious. Islam, he says, claims it must subjugate the non-Muslim world, and that all lands once under Muslim possession must be returned. Dr. Price notes that the Qur’an claims that Islam superseded both Christianity and Judaism, and that no negotiations can be made with the non-Muslim to bring about lasting peace. Dr. Price concludes that the aim is to eradicate a Jewish presence from the map of the Middle East!
Why the city of Jerusalem?
The Arabs have made it clear—they want Jerusalem. This is strange because the Muslim priests know that Muhammad never got to Jerusalem, though that is a myth repeated even today. The Muslim leader Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra, a member of the Academy of Islamic Research declared, “Jihad [holy war] will never end!” A Hamas leaflet, dated September 1, 1993, says “We are announcing a war against the Jews which will not end until the flag of Islam is raised in Jerusalem.” The late Yasser Arafat told a group of Arab ambassadors in Stockholm, January 30, 1996, “We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem. We plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a Palestinian state.”
The only other answer to the question, “Why Jerusalem?” is because the city plays such a large role in biblical history. The city is called “The city of the King,” “The holy city,” and the “City of David.”
What next?
It is my opinion that while the present crisis may dampen down, the overall problem will never go away. More than likely something relatively soon may pull the whole Middle East down, and then the entire world with it. The problem is driven by ideology and religion. While some do not like to face the truth, Islam (though not all Muslims) can be extremely militant and hostile in order to get its way. Throughout history, Islam has been called by all observers and historians “The religion of the sword.” Rudyard Kipling wrote about the great divide between Christianity and Islam and put it this way when he said, “The East is East, and the West is West, and the twain shall never meet!”
It is my opinion also that president Bush failed to realize that American style democracy will not likely take root in the Middle East. Most Muslims instead would support a Muslim style theocracy. The world is more than likely to suffer greatly in the coming years.
