Struggle for the Control of Jerusalem

Johan Malan, University of the North, South Africa

Abstract: The struggle for control over Jerusalem emanates from the kingdom of darkness and is aimed at preventing the prophesied future intervention by God in the destiny of this city and of the world.

The kingdom of heaven is closely associated with the city of Jerusalem. God promised to elevate the city to the level of world capital during the millennial reign of Christ. In view of the glorious future of Jerusalem, the kingdom of Satan is committed to a relentless struggle to gain control over this city and to use it as one of the main centres for the Antichrist’s world government. The great end-time struggle for the control of Jerusalem has begun. Not only Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) are involved in this deepening struggle but all the Arab countries in the Middle East as well as Muslim countries in the rest of the world. Eventually, all the nations of the world will be drawn into this struggle.

All the nations who endeavour to end or restrict the Israeli control of Jerusalem are heading for great shame and defeat because they wilfully despise biblical injunctions about this city. They will be allowed to lay siege to Jerusalem but there the Lord will enter into judgement with them:

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zech. 12:2-3).

When the armies of the nations are deployed around Jerusalem, the wrath of God will be poured out over them because of their commitment to defeat Israel with a view to dividing their land and allocating a major part of it to their enemies who unjustly claim it. These nations will pay a high price for their ignorance and arrogance:

"For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land" (Joel 3:1-2).

God gave the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem to the Jews – not to the Palestinians (Deut. 10:11; 1 Kings 11:36). The name of the land is ‘Israel’ and not ‘Palestine’ while the city is ‘Jerusalem’ and not ‘Al Quds’.

One of the strongest mobilising cries of soldiers of the Muslim jihad (‘holy war’) throughout the centuries was Al Quds! – Jerusalem! They regard it as their city. In spite of the Israeli-PLO Peace Accord it is still one of the main objectives of the Muslims to conquer and control Jerusalem.

A false peace

The peace accord between Israel and the PLO is bad news to all Israeli's. It will not produce the peace that everybody has hoped for. Peace accords of this nature are part of a long standing military strategy in the Islamic world. They only engage in a practice of this nature to restore their military strength for the final victory. In his Book The great deception – Philistine (1995:100-101), Ramon Bennett says:

"It was Mohammed himself who laid the foundation for Islam to build a history of making peace with an enemy in order to attack at a later, more opportune time. In 628, Mohammed made a peace treaty with the Kuraish tribe in Mecca in order for Moslems to worship at the Ka'abah. Two years later, when he had gained more followers and was considerably stronger, he abrogated the treaty and attacked the Kuraish people, slaughtering every male among them. This agreement between Mohammed and the infidels of Mecca is known as the Truce of Hudaybiyyah. This truce became a model and precedent in Islamic law for all agreements with infidels: never permanent, never lasting more than 10 years (with a possibility of another 10 years extension, no more). Islam is not permitted to stop its war against non-Moslems for more than this period.

"In the Arab-Islamic teaching concerning peace with non-Moslems, the peace is an entirely Islamic affair: it is initiated by the Moslems when they feel it is a necessity, and anticipate its practical benefits; and they end it at their will whenever they feel they should or can. Even when peace treaties are entered into by the Islamic people with non-Moslems, the enemy remains an enemy. In the Islamic thought and teaching, it is permissible to conclude peace treaties for practical reasons, on the road to ultimate Islamic victory. The Islamic concept of peace is therefore the cessation of hostilities until such time the conditions favour resumption of hostilities that will ultimately lead to Islamic victory.

"The truce is part of Islam's long-term policy of war – it is an integral facet of Islam's drive to bring the world into complete subjection. According to Islamic law books, 'war could be interrupted, when expedient, by an armistice or truce of limited duration. It could not be terminated by a peace, but only by victory.'

"When the enemy is too strong, as Israel has proven again and again, a truce may be made for a limited time. The enemy understands such a truce as peace, but Arafat and all Arabs see peace as a weakness to exploit. The Israeli-PLO Peace Accord, therefore, is a tactical move in an overall plan."

Yasser Arafat has explicitly likened the Israeli-PLO Peace Accord with the false peace agreement between Mohammed and his own tribe who would initially not allow him back in Mecca to worship there after he had left for Medina and founded the Islamic faith. The present peace accord is, therefore, just a way of gaining time to prepare for war. While Arafat talks peace with Israel he despises them in his heart and continues to mobilise international support for his struggle against Israel.

Revolutionary constitution of the PLO

The constitution of the PLO is a revolutionary document which openly promotes an armed struggle against Israel, even among Palestinian children. The following articles, or sections of articles, clearly demonstrated this approach:

Article 7. It is a national duty to bring up individual Palestinians in an Arab revolutionary manner. All means of information and education must be adopted in order to acquaint the Palestinian with his country in the most profound manner, both spiritual and material… He must be prepared for the armed struggle and ready to sacrifice his wealth and his life in order to win back his homeland and bring about its liberation.

Article 8. The phase in their history through which the Palestinian people are now living, is that of national struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Thus the conflicts among the Palestinian national forces are secondary, and should be ended for the sake of the basic conflict that exists between the forces of Zionism and of imperialism on the one hand, and the Palestinian Arab people on the other. On this basis, the Palestinian masses, regardless of whether they are residing in the national homeland or in a diaspora, constitute… one national front working for the retrieval of Palestine and its liberation through armed struggle.

Article 9. Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. Thus it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle, and to work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it.

Article 15. The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national duty and its attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine…

Article 22. Zionism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist, and colonial in its aims, and Fascist in its methods. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and a geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, unity, and progress. Israel is a constant source of threat vis-a-vis peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Since the liberation of Palestine will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence and will contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East, the Palestinian people look for the support of all the progressive and peaceful forces and urge them all, irrespective of their affiliations and beliefs, to offer the Palestinian people all aid and support in their just struggle for the liberation of their homeland.

Article 23. The demands of security and peace, as well as the demands of right and justice, require all states to consider Zionism an illegitimate movement, to outlaw its existence, and to ban its operations… (end of excerpts from the PLO constitution).

The ‘unholy’ war

It is obvious that the national feeling of the Palestinians is cultivated on the basis of bitter hatred towards Israel. From a young age, this revolutionary spirit of warfare and revolt is instilled in children. The same disposition prevails among most of the Arab Muslim states in the Middle East. To them, it is a ‘holy’ mission to destroy Israel from the face of the earth and to ensure that the domes of Islam’s sanctuaries will forever remain the central feature of Jerusalem’s skyline. In their ‘unholy’ war (jihad) they conspire together, not only against Israel but also against the God of Israel:

“…Thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people… They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against Thee: the tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them… who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession” (Ps. 83:2-7, 12).

The descendants of the ancient enemies of the kingdom of Judah are still in the Middle East. After the restoration of the Jews to the land of their fathers, their enemies have resumed their campaign of extermination against Israel. Since independence in May 1948, modern Israel was involved in five major wars against Arab nations, and since 1982 in the on-going Palestinian uprising, referred to as the Intifada.

The PLO enjoys increasing support among many nations of the world for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem, or at least East Jerusalem, as its capital. Certain leaders, like Saddam Hussein of Iraq, are preparing for a war against Israel to expedite Palestinian independence with sovereignty over the entire Jerusalem.

According to the Bible, this will be a suicidal venture:

“And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour” (Zech. 14:12-13).

Rebellion against God and His Word always has fatal consequences to the perpetrators. As for the descendants of Abraham, the Jewish people, God said: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee” (Gen. 12:3).

At the second coming of Jesus Christ, not only a remnant of Israel will be saved but of all the nations. Then, all of them will serve the Holy One of Israel by common consent. Israel and its Arab neighbours will set a noble an inspiring example on how Christ should be honoured and worshipped (Is. 19:23-25) and Jerusalem will be the capital of the world:

“At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart” (Jer. 3:17).