Volume 70, Issue 1 ________________________________Bible Prophecy Ministry



The Land of Unwalled Villages


The Land of Unwalled Villages
A commentary by: Darrell G. Young
February, 2004

    At the now infamous September 2000 Camp David Peace Summit that former U.S. President Clinton sponsored between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO terrorist leader Yasser Arafat, Israel made every conceivable attempt to forge a peace treaty with the Palestinians. In the aftermath of Arafat’s stubborn refusal to even discuss any peace prospect, and his emphatic walk away from any further peace talks, the PLO leader chose instead to unleash his multi-faceted terrorist machine. (although he promised to abandon terrorism in 1991 in order to participate in the peace talks) Arafat’s terror campaign has become known as the Al Aqsa war.

Yasser Arafat Rejected any Peace & Chose to Resume His PLO Phased Terror War

    The Arab League’s failure to defeat Israel on the battlefield in 1948, 1967, and 1973 convinced the Arabs that they would not be able to destroy Israel militarily within its post-1967 boundaries. Thus they embarked upon a new three-stage strategy for Israel's eventual destruction. The Arab plan is embodied in the PLO's 1974 resolution commonly known as the Phased Plan. Under this plan, the PLO under Yasser Arafat with backing from the Arab League embarked upon a long range multi-pronged course to destroy the State of Israel using terrorism and international political pressure.

    The Al Aqsa Intifada was not an accidental happening in history. It was a pre-designed and engineered reaction to scheduled Final Status peace talks. It was a devilish scheme pre-arranged primarily by Yasser Arafat. Over 900 Israeli’s have been systematically murdered in attacks carried out by Palestinian terrorists since late September 2000. Thousands of other Israelis have been maimed and injured, many of them becoming emotion riddled terror-scarred victims for life. Arafat’s terrorists have infiltrated Israeli cities and towns and carried out attacks, including suicide bombings, on buses, in restaurants, shopping malls, and even private homes, and against passing cars. No other nation in the world has ever been forced to face such an intense wave of terror, especially in regard to the insidious form of suicide bombings against plain ordinary citizens going about their daily lives.

    In almost all of the cases, the PLO sponsored and trained terrorists have infiltrated into Israel from Palestinian areas in the West Bank. And when Israel responded with its carefully coordinated terror-infrastructure targeted campaign to rout the terrorists, the world blamed Israel for over reacting. When Israel encircled the terror master coordinator Yasser Arafat and his gang of thugs in Ramallah, the world unanimously chastised Israel for threatening to harm him. The Palestinian leadership has done absolutely nothing whatsoever to stop them and has even encouraged them. What’s more each of the recently appointed Palestinian Prime Ministers (Mazen and Queria) has publicly stated that they would not ever do anything to stop the terrorists.

    Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engineered a negotiating policy of reciprocity for security with Arafat. The philosophy of reciprocity failed because Arafat never instituted any measures that he promised. Israel was continually left without any measure of security. Yet, Netanyahu was blamed by the world and finally lost face with the Israeli electorate, and so came his political downfall. Then along came Ehud Barak. Mr. Barak basically called Arafat’s bluff by virtually offering him everything he could ever hope to get, including statehood with Jerusalem on the table. Barak’s bluff and Clinton’s fiasco at Camp David exposed Arafat’s real goals. Arafat, having gotten all he could get by handouts simply returned to the PLO Phased Terror plan to destroy Israel.

Israel Decided to Build A Security Wall

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    So, in May of 2002, as the frequency of the Palestinian suicide attacks increased, the Israeli government decided to begin the construction a wall-fence barrier along the old green line borders (as shown on map) with the West Bank. As the Israeli-Palestinian peace process eroded, leaders of both Israeli political parties, having despaired of a political solution that would bring peace with the Palestinians, made several proposals for security fences to be built along the green line separating Israeli territory and the so-called Palestinian territory, or occupied territory. The green line is the old border of Israel as was established by the 1949 armistice agreements, before Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza in the six day war in 1967. The old green line is crossed by numerous dirt roads and it is impossible to patrol it. Many Palestinians take advantage of these roads to travel to work illegally in Israel or to get between parts of the Palestinian administered territories without being subjected to the wearisome and degrading IDF checkpoints. (check-points set up to check or eliminate the threat of Palestinian terror) The checkpoints have been a dismal failure, thereby demonstrating the need for a security fence. Some also cross in order to carry out terror operations and car theft. Many Palestinians oppose the fences either because of the mentality they represent or because they constitute a recognition of the 1949 armistice green line as a final border. Israelis living along the green line favor the fence to prevent infiltration by suicide bomber, thieves and vandals. Since 1994, Palestinians, sometimes in cooperation with Israeli middlemen, have stolen thousands of automobiles as well as farm machinery, animals and other materials. Porous paths through the hills have made it relatively easy for suicide bombers to cross into Israel.

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    Despite the many pictures being shown in the international media of a tall imposing concrete wall, more than 95% of the 500 miles of security fence and barriers will consist of a chain-link fence system. Less than 5% of the security fence will actually be constructed of concrete. (8 meters in height) The short concrete sections are intended not only to stop terrorists from infiltrating, but also to block them from sniper shooting at Israeli vehicles traveling on main highways. The point must be made that had there been no incessant Palestinian terrorism, Israel would not have been compelled to build a fence to protect its citizens.

    The PLO was pledged to confiscate weapons, arrest terror planners and perpetrators of terrorist acts, stop incitement and participate in security cooperation with Israeli police at the outset of the Oslo process. And yet all these basic steps still remain undone and still require being addressed by the PLO under the current Quartet sponsored Peace Roadmap. Israel’s security fence has only one purpose: to keep the terrorists out of Israel and thereby save the lives of Israel's citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, since it would reduce the so-called “cycle of violence.” About 1900 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the “al-Aqsa Intifada”, compared to almost 900 Israelis. But numbers like these are only used to create an image of lopsided slaughter, with Israel cast as the heavy handed villain.

    Arafat does not mind sacrificing his own people by the hundreds in order to portray to the world a propagandized image of Israeli oppressiveness.

    In 2003, 3,838 terrorist attacks were perpetrated against Israeli targets, in which 213 Israelis (50 members of the security forces and 163 civilians) were murdered. In 2002, 5,301 terrorist attacks were perpetrated against Israeli targets, in which 451 Israeli soldiers and civilians were murdered. Thus, there was an approximately 30% drop in the number of attacks and a drop of over 50% in the number of fatalities over the previous year. The drop in the number of attacks stems from the intensive counter-terrorist actions of the IDF. Since the IDF incursions proved so statistically effective, it is estimated that the security wall could save hundreds of lives on both sides, as it would serve to obstruct Arafat’s terror war machine which he wages through the tentacles of his multi-faceted organizations (Jihadists) that recruit, finance, train and indoctrinate suicide bombers.

UN and Palestinians Take Israel to World Court Over Security Wall

    The International Court of Judgment is the court of the United Nations and is based in The Hague. The ICJ was asked by the UN and the Palestinians to give its advisory opinion on Israel’s security wall. The UN request was proposed by a bloc of mainly Arab and Muslim countries. The UN resolution asked the ICJ to urgently render an advisory opinion on the following question:"What are the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” including in and around East Jerusalem, as described in the report of the UN Secretary-General, considering the rules and principles of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions?" The Palestinians want a ruling that the "wall" is illegal where it crosses into occupied land in the West Bank. The Palestinians also argue that all the land captured by Israel in the 1967 war is occupied territory which cannot be annexed under the terms of the 1907 Hague regulations on the Laws and Customs of War. The 15-judge International Court of Justice has heard many influential world figures, including the Pope castigate Israel’s security fence as an "apartheid wall" that would "discriminate against the Palestinians human rights. The Pope chides Israel for building walls when it should be building bridges for peace. The pope also says that "the sad situation in the Holy Land is cause of suffering for all. John Paul urged all leaders in the region to follow, with the help of the international community, "the path of dialogue and negotiation which leads to lasting peace. Pope John Paul II criticized Israel for building the fence, which he said would keep the Palestinians blocked out. The Pontiff said that many people consider the fence a new obstacle to Middle East peace. Others world leaders say that it endangers "the two-state solution and the creation of an independent Palestinian State". Israel rejects the claim that the land that it captured in 1967 is occupied territory. As for the barrier itself, Israel says that it is a self-defense device, which has no political significance because it could be moved in the eventual event of a negotiated political settlement.

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    In reality the world has willingly turned a blind eye to the fact that Arafat is only worried that his suicide bombers will not be able to enter into Israel to kill and maim more Jews! The Security wall is symbolic of Arafat’s lying and the fact that he hasn’t lifted a finger to enforce any semblance of peaceful co-existence with Israel. The security fence underscores the fact that Arafat has been allowed by the world to threaten Israel, and the world in turn continues to berate Israel for defending itself. The PLO and the UN are comparing Israel to an apartheid State, and that is their agenda. It is a very clever political scheme of the forces of Satan to destroy any mechanism for Israel to ever have security. This is anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism at its height!

Might Ezekiel Have Prophesied about Israel’s Security Wall?

    The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel conveyed some interesting points about the “latter days” when a remnant of Israel would be back in a portion of the Promised Land. He highlights the fact that Israel would be under immense geo-political-diplomatic pressure just to survive in the world, and would have to labor extensively with the world body politic to formulate a security plan for itself. Ezekiel portrays a picture of Israel in the last days (during the great Tribulation-time of Jacob’s Trouble) being a country that believes that it has accomplished a geo-political peace and safety apparatus with the world. Ezekiel describes the Israeli nation as dwelling safely in the land. Apparently at this point in time Israel will have seemingly attained a high level of security confidence in the land, so much so that Ezekiel describes them as requiring no further need of either bars or gates, and living without walls for security. This is certainly not the case today. The phased terror plan of the Arabs has emphatically highlighted to everyone that Israel needs its mazes of walled security. The prophetic scenario depicted here in Ezekiel is still yet ahead. But it causes one to wonder what will happen to compel Israel to feel secure enough in the land to drop its defensive posture, particularly in regards to fence-walls and terrorism. We know from Bible prophecy that the coming world leader known as the Antichrist will somehow miraculously arrange for Israel to rebuild its fallen temple and be made to feel safe in its land for a short while.

Russia is prophesied to invade the land of Israel in the latter days. This invasion will consist of an air assault accompanied by allies from Libya, Iran, Ethiopia, Turkey and the Islamic republics that today make up the former southern region area of the former Soviet Union. (Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, Turkmenistan, etc.) But aside from the impending Russian invasion, let me highlight one fact from this prophecy in Ezekiel 38 that has parallels to the current world debate about Israel’s security wall.

    Ezekiel 38:8-16 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, (air force assault) thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say,I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

A Land of Unwalled Villages

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    Prior to the recent advent of Arafat-PLO styled suicide bombers and terrorism, and Israel’s conceptualization of security walls it was logical to think of this portion of scripture with an ancient mindset. Historically speaking, walls have become symbols of the defensive measures ancient cities and nations took to defend themselves against invaders. Most cities depicted in the Bible had walls to keep out wild animals, thieves, and of course marauders. At night, or in times of stress, the city gates were closed and night watchmen were stationed to enforce the security of the people inside the city. Often when reading this portion of scripture in Ezekiel chapter 38 pertaining to walls we tend to visualize the old fortress type method and design of walls with gates built around the perimeter of a city. As you are probably aware, the Old City of Jerusalem had just such a massive wall built around it.

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    Yet today in our modern world with all of its technical marvels and its high tech military armies, the concept of a barrier wall as conceptualized in ancient times would seem to be an obsolete idea for the defense and security of a people. Eschatologists have usually glossed over Ezekiel’s ancient description of unwalled villages by interpreting it as being a mere symbolism of security. While that is certainly true to a large extent, I can’t help but be struck by the aerial views of the security walls that Israel is constructing today in an attempt to provide security from terrorists for its people. The walls snake along the countryside, dividing villages, and towns, sometimes even slicing communities in half with only a military checkpoint for allowing entry and exit.

    In the process of interpreting prophetic scripture written in ancient times, (with ancient conceptualizations) and comparing them with the prophetic setting today, as Ezekiel emphatically states, “in the latter days” with all of its specialization sometimes requires a constant update and review. I believe that Israel’s present system of a security wall may in fact be one such case. Israel’s security fence-wall today may in fact represent the very walls that Ezekiel was referring to in his discourse on the Russian invasion of Israel. He explicitly states that the walls securing Israeli villages will be removed prior to the Russian air-assault, and will only have been built for security purposes in the era after Israel has been gathered back into the Promised Land from many nations. (therefore it cannot be previous to 1948) The analogy Ezekiel uses is also one that conveys the concept of a security wall separating many villages, instead of a single wall built solely around each individual city.

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    Might we be encroaching near to the day when Israel will feel compelled to forego its recently constructed maze of security walls and fences? If so, then the false peace and safety of the Antichrist cannot be far behind. It is a certainty that the world is not going to permit Israel to retain its security wall. And somewhere just beyond Israel’s covenant with hell (Isaiah 28:15-18) looms the ominous encirclement of Jerusalem by the armies of the Antichrist and also the descending air forces of Russia from the north upon the unwalled villages of Israel.

    From a prophetic standpoint, I can’t help but speculate that the deceptive powers of the world-wide geo-political forces that will eventually empower the Antichrist are already being arrayed against Israel. I truly believe that Yasser Arafat and the horde of terrorist commando’s that are threatening Israel with extinction are simply serving the interests of an anti-Israel global confederation.

    But alas, Israel’s security really and truly does not rest upon the structure of a security wall or upon the structure of a global defense pact. Israel’s security rests solely upon the return of Jesus Christ. Ezekiel had some prophetic words of warning for the many Palestinian terrorists that are seeking Israel’s destruction.

    Ezekiel 28:22-26 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; (Sidon-Canaan) and I (God) will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord. And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

    Ezekiel conveys that in the latter days when Israel is being subjected to the perpetual hatred and maniacal terrorism of its blood thirsty enemies that reside in the ancient lands of Sidon, (lands formerly of Canaan and of the Philistines) that the Lord himself shall come and execute his judgment against them, and they shall no more be a pricking brier and a thorn of grief in the side of the House of Israel. Ezekiel conveys that the judgment is coming upon those that despise Israel. Who despises Israel today? The Jihadists! It’s roots lie in the old perpetual hatred of Esau, and infects the heart of the world under the radical tenets of fundamentalist Islam and other worldwide anti-Semitic philosophies!

    The details of Ezekiel’s account is pending today. The PLO, Hamas terrorist machine that is wreaking death and destruction upon Israel through suicide bombings are literally the pricking brier in the body of the House of Jacob. Yet the Lord is preparing to send forth his beloved Son once again to the Middle East, and his coming to Israel will serve to exonerate His name among the heathen that are gathered together against Israel.

    Israel will survive the onslaught of the Jihadists and the anti-semitism of the Antichrist.

    Israel will plant vinyards, and build houses, and truly dwell safely in the land without walls when Jesus comes!

Focus on Jerusalem Prophecy Ministry
Prophetic news commentary by: Darrell G. Young
February, 2004



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