WHY HAS AMERICA BEEN SO BLESSED OVER THE YEARS? Obviously, because this nation was founded on Christian principles taken directly from the Word of God. But in addition, I believe a major part of the answer lies in a verse of Scripture found in Psalm 122:6- "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the welfare of all its inhabitants. They shall prosper that love thee." America has prospered largely because we have blessed Israel, have prayed for Israel, have been a friend to Israel. Anti-Semites claim that the reason for the bond between our nations is that Jews somehow "control" our government. Given the small percentage of our population which are Jewish, that claim is obviously unfounded. No, the United States has always supported Israel because it is the right thing to do, because God has told all nations to do so.

We may be in danger of losing that special blessing. The United States has always proudly proclaimed that we do not negotiate with terrorists. However, recently we have been negotiating with the head of a terrorist organization far larger than that of Osama bin Laden. In fact, this terrorist organization controls and supports numerous terrorist organizations. I am speaking, of course, of the Palestinian Authority headed by Yasir Arafat. The Palestinan Authority wants the world to recognize it as a State in order to legitimize other organizations from which it grew, and with which it is still connected. These organizations include the P.L.O., the Palestinian Liberation Front, Hamas, and many others which Arafat and his current gang of thugs have led or supported.

If Arafat and his supporters in the international community have their way, the security of Israel will be utterly compromised. Article 15 of The Palestinian National Covenant states, in part, that it is "...a national duty to repulse the Zionists, and to purge the Zionist presence from Palestine." It is the stated intention of Israel’s Arab neighbors to abolish the nation of Israel and murder every Jew. Arab leaders have proclaimed their intention of finishing what Hitler started. They claim that they need to prevent "Expansionist Israel" from "...taking over the Middle East." Since the Arab nations occupy 640 times as much land as does Israel, and the Jews are outnumbered by over fifty to one, such Arab fears seem more than ridiculous. For a graphic representation of what Israel faces in its fight for survival, click on http://www.masada2000.org/historical.html .

Recent actions of the United States government amount to nothing less than negotiating with terrorist organizations. The outcome of these negotiations could place Israel in mortal danger. I believe that a combination of two factors has motivated this radical change in the stance of our government. First, our politicians believe that the electorate is tired of the constant conflict in the Middle East and want it resolved quickly. Second, our government needs the support of Arab nations in the fight against terrorism, and the Arabs have made Palestine the key to their support. Neither of these legitimate concerns should deter our leaders from recognizing and protecting Israel’s legitimate right to exist on its own land.

Israel’s right to its land stems from its original "deed," signed by God in the Bible. This right was reaffirmed in a Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 29, 1947. Let’s examine both the ancient and the modern history to demonstrate Israel’s rightful claim to its homeland.

In Genesis 15:18 we read, "On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: ’To your descendants I have given this land...’" In Genesis 12:3 we see, "I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse." These and other Scriptures too numerous to list comprise the deed by which God granted title to the land of Israel to the Jewish people forever.

Regardless of what some may say, history records that there has always been a remnant of Jews living in Israel, even after the Romans renamed the land Palestine. Yes, the majority of Jews were dispersed by persecution the world over, but there has never been a time when there was no Jewish presence in Israel/Palestine. And the dispersed Jews have never forgotten their land. For two thousand years, and to this day, Jews everywhere have faced toward Jerusalem when reciting their daily prayers. The Passover Seder meal is always concluded with the fervent prayer and promise of, "Next year in Jerusalem!"

Skipping forward a few years, in 1917 the British Government, which then controlled the deserts and malaria-infested swamps known as Palestine, declared in the Balfour Declaration its support for the establishment of a "Jewish national home in Palestine." There were a tiny number of Arabs and even fewer Jews living in Palestine at that time. The British hoped that if the Jews returned to their historic land they could make the land into something worthwhile. And indeed, waves of immigrating Zionists rebuilt the land that the Arabs had neglected. Through their efforts the land blossomed and Israel became the miracle we know today. "For the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden..." (Isaiah 51:3).

Under pressure from Arab nations and their sympathizers, Great Britain broke its word given in the Balfour Declaration by taking three quarters of the land promised to the Jews and giving it to Arabs. The small sliver of land from which the Arabs want to drive the Jews today is just twenty-five per cent of what was then known as Palestine. Keep in mind that before the Israelis brought prosperity to Israel by their hard work and ingenuity, there were only a handful of Arabs living in Palestine. The millions of Palestinians that currently live there came from other Arab countries seeking jobs created by the transformation of Israel by the Zionists.

On May 14, 1948, acting under authority of The U.N. and (more important) of the God of the Universe, Israel declared itself an independent State. The very next day five Arab nations invaded Israel. Over the fifty-three years since then, there have been dozens of attempts by Arab nations to "drive the Jews into the sea," but Israel said, "No one is going to take away our homeland." Six million Jews, one third of them little children, had been killed by the Nazis and the indifference of many Europeans. One third of the Jews in the entire world had been murdered during the Holocaust! Anti-Semitism was rampant the world over, and Israel was their only home. So they fought with the fury of a people who had nowhere else to go, and repeatedly crushed enemy forces far superior to them in weapons and numbers.

Today, Israel again faces a formidable foe. That foe is world opinion. The one country that has been most victimized by terrorism may be sacrificed in the name of fighting terrorism. If your child was being beaten bloody by a bully every day, would you tell him to stand there and take it? Of course not! The United States is rightly pursuing the Islamic fanatics who attacked our nation with every weapon at our disposal. But as we do so, Colin Powell is saying to Israel, "Don’t fight back. These are just poor freedom fighters (not ’terrorists’). Give them even more land, and they will be nice to you."

At one point in history, the Arabs had one of the most advanced civilizations the world had seen. Today, most are backward third-world countries, and, were it not for oil, they all would be. The Roman Empire once ruled the then-known world with an iron fist. Now it is reduced to one small socialist country with some beautiful cities for tourists to visit. Britannia once ruled not only the seas, but nations far and wide. Today Great Britain is not so great. The common denominator of these three is that they all betrayed Israel. The world needs to learn, if not from history, then from the Bible, that God will bless those that bless Israel, and curse those that curse her.

RESOURCES:

Read an inspiring article written on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Israel at www.chosenpeople.com/docs/Curious/AboutUs2/Articles/MorningStar/LivingMiracle.html .

Focus on Jerusalem ( www.focusonjerusalem.com/maproom.html ) has excellent maps and historical facts of the Jewish homecoming demonstrating the betrayal of Israel by Great Britain.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which Senator Joe Lieberman has called, "The best-kept secret in the United States.": Their website is at www.ifcj.org.

A passionately written and well-researched article, "Jewish Links to the Holy Land," by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein can be found at http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/biblejew.html .

VOLUNTEER RESEARCHERS NEEDED. All of the work on Conservative Truth is done by volunteers who believe in what we are doing. This includes our writers, our Editorial Board, and yours truly. I spend a lot of my time doing research, when I should be writing. If you know your way around the Internet, enjoy doing research, and would like to help, please contact me at Editor@ConservativeTruth.org . Thanks, Tom.

SEPTEMBER 11 WEBSITE. I have seen dozens of websites that memorialize the tragic events of September 11, but I have found one that does more. In addition to giving honor to those who served so valiantly in the aftermath of the Attack on America, in also inspires and uplifts. The poetry, music and images by Marcia Phyfer will leave you feeling better for having visited this site: www.OurChristianNation.org/remember.htm . (Send this link to your friends. Over 4 million people visited Marcia’s "America the Beautiful" website.)