On December 10, 1994, three men stood on a platform in Oslo, Norway to receive an award recognizing their efforts toward building peace. Emblazoned gold medals, as well as financial recognition, were given to the winners of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. The recipients were Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasir Arafat.
In their acceptance speeches, all three restated their continued commitment to the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. During his speech, Mr. Arafat not only expressed his commitment to the existing accord, but also indicated his desire to expand both the settlement territory and the role of the Palestinians in the peace process.
Yasir Arafat ill-equipped to govern
The leader of the new Palestinian nation is 64, having spent most of his adult life as a leader of revolutionary forces. Yasir Arafat has run the P.L.O. as a disorganized dictatorship. While he is expert in manipulating the international press and in using terror, he has never run a government, participated in the electoral process or paid even minimal attention to the conventions of bureaucracy. He has always made his decisions in secret with the concurrence of a few aides and has never been accountable to anyone outside his own organization. In every place where the P.L.O. has tried to establish a stable and permanent home — Jordan, Lebanon, Syria -it has failed. In July 1994, Mr. Arafat
was no longer required to lead a revolution. Instead, it was his mandate to lead a nation of people attempting to rebuild.
Daunting problems
“In coming to Gaza, Arafat took on responsibility for a deeply sick society” quoted The New York Times, November 27, 1994. The article enumerated some of the problems.
- Of the Gaza strip’s 850,000 residents, approximately 643,000 are refugees who have spent more than half of their lives in extreme poverty living in camps built decades ago as temporary housing. The population density in these camps is among the highest in the world being 100,000 per square kilometer in one case.
- The postal system in Gaza has collapsed. There are no stamps and no way to send a letter.
- There is no coherent system for handling the 720 tons of solid waste created daily. In most neighborhoods, residents rely on donkey-cart trash haulers.
- Water in the strip is scarce and heavily polluted. In the camps and in some of the poorer neighborhoods, sewage and waste water runs in a thick, greenish-brown porridge consistency through shallow gutters cut into concrete alleys. It collects in great open pools situated in low areas or runs into the sea where Gazans swim and fish.
- The storm drain and sewage treatment systems were long ago overwhelmed.
- Apart from rain, the sole source of fresh water is an underground reservoir. With Israeli settlements, farmers, refugee camps and four major cities drawing from it, the aquifer is being depleted at more than three times its annual rate of replenishment. As a result, the reservoir is becoming contaminated by salt water.
- United Nations technicians believe that, barring drastic measures, most of Gaza’s water will be too brackish to drink within a few years.
- Gazans are annually importing $1.5 to $2 billion in goods from Israel. Most nations allow foreign citizens to purchase goods exempt from sales tax provided the goods are exported out of the country. The Israeli-Palestinian accord did not address this issue. As a result, the Gazans continue to pay Israel’s 17% value-added tax, thus contributing about $300 million per year to Israel’s government coffers.
Fighting, not peace
A calm came upon the area for 30 days after Mr. Arafat took control of Gaza. Within a month, however, Hamas and the Islamic Holy War had resumed terrorist operations. In August, Hamas operatives, disguised as settlers, picked up two Israeli Defense Force soldiers who were hitchhiking and killed them. A few days later, members of the same group were involved in a shootout with police in Jerusalem. Shortly after that, Hamas gunmen killed one Israeli citizen and wounded another six in two drive-by attacks on the road outside a Jewish settlement.
The pace of incidents quickened in September and again in October. In October, Hamas killed two and wounded 13 in a Jerusalem street attack; they kidnapped, exhibited and killed an Israeli soldier and exploded a bomb on a downtown Tel Aviv bus, killing 22 and wounding 46. All told, 90 Israelis have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists since Arafat and Rabin signed the deal that won the Nobel Peace prize.
A call to arms
Even during the 30-day quiet period, a rally was held in Gaza’s largest city, Jahaliya. Sponsored by Hamas, the rally called for the destruction of both the Palestinian leader and the Israelis. “My brothers, the battle hasn’t started yet!” shouted Muhsin Abu Ita, llamas street leader and the featured orator. “As long as there are prisoners in Israeli jails, as long as the Israelis exist in our land, as long as there is a single settler on our land, the battle isn’t finished!”
Abu Ita then moved directly to challenge Arafat on the central issue, his pledge to disarm the Hamas. “The Islamic movement will never hand over its weapons,” he declared. “And the fighters of the Islamic movement ask your blessing to use those weapons in the fight for our freedom.” This informal rally drew 20,000 people, more than the 15,000 who attended Arafat’s homecoming speech.
The Messiah is needed
The task facing the Palestinian people seems insurmountable. Lasting peace can only come to the land through divine intervention. Let us pray that day may come quickly. Meanwhile, scripture reveals a time of peace and safety in the land preceding the invasion of the northern host. Let us continue to watch Israel closely, keeping the prophetic picture in clear focus.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One