September and October of this year mark significant anniversaries of three major events in Israel’s modern history, all of which have significance in the battle for the legitimacy of the reborn Jewish nation of Israel – a battle some might say is being lost:
- 29 September: The centenary of the implementation of the British Mandate for Palestine in 1923, which had been ratified the previous year on 24 July 1922
- 6 October: The 50th anniversary of the invasion of Israel by Egypt and Jordan, known as the Yom Kippur War in 1973
- 13 September: The 30th anniversary of the initial signing of the ‘Oslo Accords’ on the lawns of the White House in 1993.
It is out of this battle for Israel’s legitimacy that the Whose Land? documentary series was born. For the purposes of this article we are focusing on the third of these anniversaries. But before looking at the complex political consequences of ‘Oslo’, it is worth examining some of the spiritual ramifications of the Oslo Accords – something that is largely beyond the remit of the Whose Land? series, which is primarily aimed at a secular audience.
A central philosophy in the Oslo Accords was the concept of ‘Land-for-Peace’. It had been tried before and failed. The first time was when the Biblical Land of Israel was under British control during the Mandate.
The Peel Commission in 1937 recommended a ‘two-state solution’. This would have been in breach of Article 5 of the Mandate which states that “no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to … any foreign power.” The next recommendation was the UN General Assembly Partition Plan of 1947. In neither of those instances was the land under the control of the Jewish people, but in 1993 it was. One of the reasons why ‘Oslo’ was destined for failure is that it never had the Lord’s blessing. In Leviticus 25:23 the Lord specifically forbids the ‘selling’ of the Land for any reason, even if it is in exchange for ‘peace’. In 2005 Israel abandoned the Gaza Strip to the PLO, which was subsequently seized by Hamas. Israel has suffered the consequences time and again.
Not only is Israel forbidden from ‘selling’ the land, but in Joel 3:2 the Lord also warns the nations against dividing His land.
Another aspect of ‘Oslo’ that would have displeased the Lord was that the whole process was shrouded in
deception. While, on the surface, the people known today as ‘the Palestinians’ were being offered self- determination through autonomous government in certain areas of greater Israel – and this could be seen as a just cause – the PLO themselves had only one intention and that was the destruction of the Jewish state.
Soon after the Declaration of Principles was signed, Faisal Husseini, who was one of Yasser Arafat’s henchmen, described the strategy behind entering into the Oslo process as a ‘Trojan Horse’ in order to fulfil the 1974 Phased Plan to take over Israel piece by piece. Many Bible- believing Christians, even back in 1993, realised that this was exactly what was going on. Arafat himself confirmed this not long after the Oslo Accords were signed. He said that the agreements were nothing more than a ‘Hudabiyah’ – a temporary arrangement intended to effectuate Israel’s ultimate demise. The Arabic term refers to a ten-year truce that the prophet Muhammed signed with the Quraysh tribe who controlled Mecca, which, when it became militarily opportune, he breached soon afterward. What the Quraysh were to Mecca, the Jews are to ‘Palestine’. For the PLO, Oslo was made to be breached.
On the 30th anniversary of Oslo we released Episode 15, which tells the story of the signing of the Accords and the immediate consequences, which include the Camp David Summit of 2000 that Yasser Arafat walked out of. He then immediately mounted the terror campaign against Israel known as the Second Intifada. In the following five years well over one thousand Israelis were slaughtered by terrorists coming from Palestinian Authority-controlled areas. You can view Episode 15 here:
All episodes released to date can be seen on the Whose Land? YouTube channel: YouTube.com/@whoseland
The remaining four episodes of Whose Land? Part Two will all feature the legacy of ‘Oslo’. They examine the comprehensive violation of the Oslo Accords – not only by the PLO, which is the main governing body of the PA, but by many other nations in the world – and especially the European Union and the United Nations and its various agencies.
Right now Israel is ‘in the dock’ once again with the International Court of Justice in the Hague. This follows another request by the UN General Assembly for an Advisory Opinion on the following question:
What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of … Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?
While this Advisory Opinion is not likely to be delivered to the UN until next year – if the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the ICJ on the construction of the Security Barrier is anything to go by – Israel faces nothing short of a ‘Kangaroo Court’. During the Second Intifada Israel built the barrier to prevent the wholesale murder of Israeli citizens by Palestinian terrorists coming in from Gaza and ‘the West Bank’.
In Episode 16 – which can be viewed on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/@whoseland – our team of international lawyers expose the legal corruption of the 2004 case against the Jewish state.
The Court determined that the barrier, which the Palestinians had branded as ‘the apartheid wall’, was ‘illegal’ because ‘Palestine’ is not a state (the International Criminal Court should take note of that!), and therefore Israel had no right of self-defence against attacks.
In February 2004 Christians for Israel (C4I) organised a massive demonstration outside the Palace of Peace in The Hague where the ICJ sits. Some 4,000 Christians, each carrying a photograph of an Israeli murdered by Palestinian terrorists, demonstrated outside the court precinct. To make the point, C4I had a bombed-out bus flown in from Jerusalem and parked it across the road from the Court. 20 people had been killed in that particular atrocity, including 7 infants and children.
Nevertheless, the International Court of Justice effectively condoned the murder of innocent Israeli citizens, even though the Security Barrier caused more than a 90% drop in deadly terrorist attacks originating from ‘the West Bank’ and Gaza.
It is interesting to note that the dissenting judge on the bench – Judge Buergenthal – noted that the ICJ’s Opinion failed to address any of the facts or evidence. Moreover, the Court determined that the Israeli ‘settlements’ in Israel’s Biblical heartland, including its ‘occupation’ of its ancient capital city – the Old City of Jerusalem – were ‘illegal’. This of course, is at the centre of the current case being waged against Israel.
Are we not witnessing a fulfilment of Zechariah 12:3 “I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples”?
Episode 17, expected to be released later in October, will specifically focus on the legality of the so-called settlements in Judea and Samaria. Our illustrious on- camera presenter, Colonel Richard Kemp, poses the question: “Is the term ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory’ based on international law? Or is it simply anti-Israel propaganda?” Dr Alan Baker, one of Israel’s ‘Oslo’ negotiators and co-author of the Levy Report on the legality of settlements, gives a unambiguous answer!
God-willing we hope to have all of the Part Two episodes of Whose Land? out by the end of the year. As we continue to engage in this battle for the legitimacy of Israel’s right of domicile in the whole of Eretz Yisrael, we must remember that ‘the battle belongs to the Lord.’
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