2007-09-24 By Walid Shoebat

My grand father Daud was the Mukhtar (chieftain) of the Shoebat clan in the village of Beit Sahur of the district of Bethlehem. He had owned much land in his village and as a landowner and "Mukhtar" he entertained Arab leaders with feasts and songs, hiring special cooks for the preparation of lambs and delicate dishes for men of great stature. Men like Abdul Qader Al-Husseni leader of the Palestinian Revolution and Haj Al-Ameen Al-Husseni the religious grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who was a staunch friend of Adolf Hitler.

1.      Introduction

2.      Turning The Tables Around to See In The Eyes of a Jew

The Unlikely Scenario

We Are All Prejudice

3.      The Land – Who Ruled It?

Did The Arabs Rule The Land?

A Land of Desolation

The Palestinians, Are They Ishmaelites or Philistines?

The Jews of Russia

Who’s Land – Ishmael or Isaac?

The New Testament Ends Land Issue

The Prophecies of Israel Fulfilled in the Past

Bible Confirmation

4.      Israel’s Victory Against the Arabs – Psalm 83, The Most Ignored Prophecy

The Persecution of the Jews By The Arabs

The Dark Era on Jewish Life under Thimmidude

5.      The Nazi – Islam Connection

Nazi – Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Arabia Prior to 1948

Let’s Not Forget The Armenian Holocaust                                         

Nazi – Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Palestine Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Morocco Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Morocco After 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Yemen Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Tunisia Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Libya Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Algeria Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Syria Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Egypt Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Iran/Persia Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Iraq Prior to 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Iraq After 1948

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews in Spain by the Muslims

Nazi Islam Connection, The Persecution of Jews – Conclusion

6.      What Do The Palestinians Teach in Schools, Media and Mosques?

The Jews – Guilty For Any Trumped up Charge

Libelous Accusations

The Jews Are Illegitimate

The Jews Are The Devil

The Jews Are Racist

The Jews Spread Disease

The Jews Spill Blood

The Jews Are Leaches

The Jews Are Shylocks

The Jews Are Blood Suckers

The Face of Peace

Historical Fabrications

Palestinian Schools

The Muslim Clergy In Jerusalem

The Palestinian Media

Jews Are Nazis

Military Officials

Ministry of Justice

The Civil Authority

The Holocaust Denial, A Fabrication

Arafat Revealed

His Continued Ties With Terrorism

Did The Jew Steal The Land

Jewish Land Purchases

Who Truly Scattered The Palestinians

Jewish Terrorism?

Blamed No Matter What

Dayr Yaseen – A History of A Lie

Dividing Israel – Theological or Political Issue

Dividing Israel – What The ‘Nations’ Are Doing

7.      Christians and Jews Persecuted Together

Martin Luther – The X Catholic Monk

The Persecution of Jews by ‘Christendom’

Zionists – Christians and Jews

Gentile Christians – Should They be Zionists

Replacement Theology – History

Replacement Theology – The Opinion of the Masses

Replacement Theology – Who is a Jew

Replacement Theology – Who is “Israel of God”?

Who Wanted to Kill Who?

Bible Prophecy – Who Should Interpret It?

Bible Prophecy – If Only the World Can See

Bible Prophecy – The Golden Gate – Is it Just a Gate?

Bible Prophecy – Israel by Divine Right

8.      The Coming Islamic Alliance of Nations Against Israel

9.      Bible Prophecy – An Amazing Prophecy – Tyre

10.  Who Causes Division

What is Meant by ‘Chosen People’

Tears for Peace, Not for Land

11.  Bible Prophecy Ignorance – The Danger

Is God Through with the Jew

Who’s Temple Mount

The Eastern Gate

12.  EMEU, Al-Sabeel, Al Bushra, Abuna Chacour – What Are Their Ecumenical Goals?

13.  Conclusion

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INTRODUCTION

It is rarely mentioned that the grand mufti of Jerusalem was with Adolf Hitler on the eve of the "Final Solution" to the world's "Jewish Problem" on November 21, 1941 (see photo: *, *, see also *, *, *, *). One of the Grand Mufti's accomplishments was a letter written to Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs asking him to stop the immigration of half million Hungarian Jews. The letter was honored and all were put to death in the extermination camps. That was a shame. My grand father being a friend to such a man is a shame I cannot change, the only thing I can do is to teach my children to love Jews like any other.

My grand father also survived a mock trial by Abdul Qader Al-Husseni the leader of the Palestinian revolution for selling land to Jews. The facts are many were selling land but to the revolution this constituted treason. Selling land to immigrant Jews was forbidden while it was a norm for someone like Haj Al-Ameen Al-Husseni to sell his soul to Satan by collaborating with Hitler and enticing the masses to kill and pillage Jewish immigrants. But as usual the innocent is butchered while the guilty is set free.

My grand father liked everyone, he had no problem selling land to Jewish or Christians immigrants - the village had much land with only a handful of families that immigrated in the last decade prior to the 1948 war. Yet he was not free to do with his land whatever he wished, so the mock trial went on with Abdul Qader Al-Husseni and his men, after kidnapping my grand father and taking him to the village of Al-Khader.

A few moments later and after someone summoned my great grand father Abdullah Ali, known for his great physical strength, bravery and courage, walked in on the scene in which a rope was prepared and my grand father standing ready for the execution. Abdullah Ali pleaded for his son-in-law's life. My grand father was given his last warning, and so he was set free.

Today, I believe that many who are blind to truth will accuse us folk who change our minds with high treason and quickly give us a mock trial. To such people I ask: Don't we all deserve a fare and just trial, yet many are judged without even examining the facts?

The Holocaust was not the only shame people ever committed, the greatest man of history the Jewish Rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef one day was put on trial, and His testimony was not even taken, yet He was condemned to death like a criminal in a world that stood silent. Must we all do the same? How can mankind be so truth-seeking, and full of justice and do such a thing? Then to later on, slap the guilt of such evil doing on the Jews alone, when it was clear that the first believers and supporters of this Jewish Rabbi were practically all Jews who stood at the cross weeping while the rest mocked? Yet the Jew unwillingly earned the title "Christ killer" when the Bible clearly states that we "all" killed Christ, each and every sinner, for He came to die for our sins.

To me the truth exists, but before we can be able to find it, we need a process of clearing the murky waters between Jew and Gentile by carefully examining the facts. It is then when we get to see what God really wants us to be. I have seen so many anti-Israel material these days, speaking only half truths, and without presenting the other's case, I took it upon myself to speak out and write, for I hate mock trials. (The Author)

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TURNING THE TABLES AROUND TO SEE IN THE EYES OF A JEW

A common Palestinian's opinion:

"I like Jews but I hate Zionism"

"I have nothing against Jews, but I don't like Israel."

I used to hate words like "Yerushalayim", "Shalom", "Yesrael", or anything Jewish as I considered them foreign words forced into my homeland of what I and my people called "Palestine". To me Israel was an occupier, an oppressor, a thief in the night who snuk in one day to rob me of my home, heritage, and land.

I hated the Jews in Israel and was determined on their destruction, to the point that I resorted to rioting and terrorism. By any means Israel must be terminated. Later on, and for unknown reasons I wanted to put myself in the shoes of a Jew and started studying the Bible. I realized then that studying an important portion of scripture made me see things from the eyes of a Jew who was put on a mock trial, His name was Yeshua ben Yosef identified by gentiles as the name of Jesus of Nazareth. I concluded that the only way to reach peace in this turbulent world, is for us to remove ourselves for a while, enter behind the eyes of this Jewish Messiah, see how He sees, feel the way He feels, and understand how and why things are the way they are.

I began to see things differently, having lived in the Holy Land I failed during all these trips to Jerusalem, to see why the Jews were only allowed a Wailing Wall as the holiest place for them. Why was the Jew not allowed to worship on the Temple Mount or even be allowed to rebuild it - if the Muslim world has Mecca, the Catholic world has the Vatican, and many Christian pilgrims are allowed to visit all the holy sites, yet the Jew is barred to have a Temple, especially when the Temple was originally theirs? The world would be in uproar if someone other than Muslims were to take over Mecca!

We have seen in history the numerous wars of the crusades over allowing the Christian pilgrims to visit their holy sites in Jerusalem but here we have Jews in Israel having the upper hand, being more powerful than their enemy, yet they allow their most holy site to still be trodden down by the Muslim Gentiles, especially when Sheik Ikrimeh Sabri, Jerusalem's Grand Mufti, preaches daily sermons from Israel's first and foremost holiest site calling for the destruction of the Jews. These folk have to listen to the loud speakers while they worship outside under the weather elements, and in the bottom western side designated for the Jews, to only hear that the Wailing Wall area is in reality an Islamic site called "Al-Buraq", and it too belongs to the Muslims: "The 'Al-Buraq' Wall [the Western Wall] is a part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jews have no relation to it, whether or not a decision to expropriate it was made." (Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Ikrama Sabri in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, November 22, 1997.

While Mecca is the only place demanded for Muslims in the Quran, Judaism is the only religion in which the city of Jerusalem is an inseparable part of religious faith. Jews alone are mandated by biblical law to celebrate their religion in Jerusalem. Muslims refer to some tradition of extra "Haj" requirements to visit Jerusalem, yet such practice seem to have never been followed from time immemorial. Jerusalem seems to have gained importance only when the Jews laid claim to it.

How is it that the Jew and under all the circumstances, must remain silent? Why is it that much of the world is in denial when the facts are that the Temple Mount is known to have had the first and second temples built on that site by Jews and for Jews? Does a Muslim mosque on the Temple Mount make it null and void of it being Jewish?

Then you have the Palestinian prominent historian Jarid Al-Kidwa announced from the Palestinian TV that: "The stories of the Torah and the Bible did not take place in the Land of Israel--they occurred in the Arabian peninsula, primarily in Yemen. The identity of our father Ibrahim [Abraham] who is mentioned in the Koran is clear. From the Koran's description of him it arises that he lived in the southern Hejaz [Saudi Arabia], near Mecca." Mr. Al-Kidwa also announced that the Arab in reality has the true Jewish blood while the Jew is from a Khazarian race.

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THE UNLIKELY SCENARIO

Assuming that the Jews decided for one reason or another to agree with Mr. Al-Kidwa that Mecca has really been built by the their father Abraham, and some day they fought an Arab resistance which prohibited the Jew from worshiping in Mecca and Israel decided to take over Saudi Arabia, put their Kohanim Ha-Gadol (High Priest) over that holy site, take out everything Arabic, and have Hebrew calligraphy written all around the Cabba's wall, and make it an abomination for any Muslim to set foot on it's ground. Yet can this scenario be allowed in the Muslim and Christian world? This would be unthinkable!!! Things are different when we turn the tables around.

Now let us assume that the Arabs decided after all these harassments, to overcome the Jew and take back Saudi Arabia, will the Mullahs of Islam stand silent and allow all this sacrilege to continue? What would you assume that Arab and Muslim masses will do to these Jews? It could be possible that Mecca's Grand Mufti will make an exception to allow the sacrifice during the Haj be both sheep and Jew. Yet, the Jew who has never taken over Mecca or occupied and Arab nation, suffers such things, and dares to remain silent, and instead of his outcry, he is being sacrificed throughout history for simply being Jew.

We have seen throughout history and during every war against the Jew in the Middle East the cry of the Arab leaders to kill the Jew were ever they are found. Even after they are dead they seem not to escape the wrath, in their holiest city 2,500-year-old Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, a road was dug through it using Jewish tombstones for a pathway to the Arab Legion army latrine. Yet the Jew have not revenged, he remains silent. This silence in front of a world of false accusers is quite amazing.

Studying The Bible taught me more then how it is like to be a Jew, but how to look at things after clearing the murky water. Being a Christian from the Bible's perspective is in reality being a "Spiritual" Jew. Christianity is not a new religion, it is simply the original Jewish faith fulfilled in Messiah. It is only then I realized that the way to true and everlasting peace, is to see how God in the Bible is able to reconcile between Jew and Christian. I started to realize that God is indeed a God of peace and that the God of Islam is indeed bent on destructing the Jew. The Bile did not have a single verse calling the Christians to destroy Jews, yet the tyrants of Christendom spoke on their own accord and the Muslim God was not the same God mentioned in scripture. How is it then that Christendom claims to follow God's commandments, yet from long ago they failed to have peace with the Jew?

That facts are - many Christian movements have always existed throughout history, these "spiritual" Jews followed the Bible, and not only were successful to make peace with the Jew, but aided them to obtain freedom at last. True Christianity will always reconcile between Jew and Gentile. But with this reconciliation always comes persecution and mock trials.

It is after I removed the scales from my eyes, replacing my prejudiced heart, and study the simple facts, I decided to become a Christian. It's a long testimony, but now I am amazed, and still have a difficult time believing that I became quite the opposite of everything I was taught and believed in. Whatever Popes declared or Martin Luther wrote against the Jews was the works of their own hearts and had nothing to do with our Lord.

Today, I love Hebrew, the Jews, and Israel and ready to fight for her rights of existence as long as their is still a breath left in my life. Before you judge me, or accuse me of madness or treason, please put me on trial and read my lines and weigh the facts to see for yourself if what I am about to share is based on factual evidence.

Defenders of Jews in Germany during Adolf Hitler's reign was looked upon as traitors, but after the evil episode was over, these folk were recognized as righteous gentiles. So why do people prefer to live a nightmare through to realize their errors? Why not wake up before it even starts? The Middle East and the Islamic World in general are bent on destroying Israel, why not wake up and stop the repetition of history against the Jew?

My conclusion of all of my life's research is this: Simply put, there is no freedom of speech, thought, or religion in any Arab or Muslim nation. These nations once taken over by Islam, they have little difference in their ways from communism. Most of all, it has the same inclination to export its ideas. It does not respect national borders, and the end justifies the means: "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption.... " (2 Peter 2:19). I have learned that once I expressed my opposing views and exercised these rights my own people the Arabs and Muslims who claim to fight for freedom, were the first to condemn me. In a debate over my thoughts with a group of Muslims and Arabs on the internet, out of the whole group, everyone but one lady declared that I must be killed as a result of my "Apostate" opinions. Finally I have learned what it is like to be a Jew.

The brainwashing of the Arab and Muslim masses by Islam's propaganda has produced narrow minded cookie cut mentality, similar to what we see in Communist and Nazi regimes, who think that their struggle is a struggle of justice, but always and ignorantly following a lie and walking into the traps of evil tyrants. The sad thing is, once they rid one tyrant, another more evil one seems to crop up. The truth is, people have no right to complain since the tyrants they seem to get is in reality the representation of their own hearts - they condemn others, so they themselves are condemned. Corruption only begets more corruption, and evil only begets more evil, it will never stop until we have a change in heart.    

This book is written in simple English. Classical language, and perfect grammar are not the key to finding truth or peace, since many evil books were written with perfect grammar, and excellent style, yet a book is not to be judged by it's cover, or colored photos but by it's content.

Art could be deceptive, when I first read the Bible I was turned off by the simple language it was written in, the simple statements and declarations. No fancy words, no classical language, blunt, and to the point, yet it was filled with detailed facts, amazing prophecies, and an extremely accurate set of records on ancient history and future history as well. It seems that God wanted it communicated to every simple man on the face of this globe.

The Author

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WE ARE ALL PREJUDICED

A Palestinian's opinion:

"I am not prejudiced, I only hate Jews who want to live in my land".

One day I decided to take my wife and children for a visit to the Tolerance Museum in Los Angeles California, the end result that it was proven to us, beyond any doubt, that we are ALL prejudiced.

Today I am of the opinion that people in general are not truth seekers, since most people constantly try to fit the facts to match their wishes. Theology has been used by many; the KKK have found in the Bible reasons to hate black and Jew, the Pogroms found in the Bible reasons to commit atrocities towards the Jew, and even schemers are seen daily on TV using the Bible like the old medicine man, offering healing, signs, and wonders.

I believe that most convictions have nothing to do whatsoever with facts, the truth is, we are driven by culture and upbringing. It is these that drive the minds of the masses and not the claim that we all are truth seekers. Tradition plants a certain state and condition in our hearts to the point of even slightly or greatly bending the facts in order to fit and justify our traditional goals.

To me everyone is prejudice. If everyone really seek pure fact or even true justice, why is it then that almost every German stood behind Hitler? Almost every Palestinian Muslim stood behind Hitler's great friend The Mufti Haj Al-Ameen Al-Husseni President of the Supreme Muslim Council who called for the death of every Jew be it civilian or soldier? Why is almost every Palestinian you speak to on the streets of the West Bank anti-Israel? Even in the Christian communities who supposed to be "truth" seekers, and God pleasers, almost all Christian Arabs are for a Palestinian State against Israel, even with all the scripture written concerning Israel? Could really it be that both the pro-Israel and anti-Israel are right? Does God have two different and opposite opinions?

Again I say it, it is a condition of the heart. If we only lay our feelings, thoughts, and whatever we learned aside, and look at scripture which was written to be understood by simple peasants and farmers in it's simple and clear words. If God wanted to send us a message, he must make it simple. God's Word requires no attorney, high priest, enlightened spiritists, Vatican, or Seminary graduates, to make to us clear what God made clear already. God is in the business of making strange declarations, promises. He is the only one that could fulfill them, and in very strange ways as well.

God is in the business of making predictions and seeing them come through, to make it known to man that He alone is in control and despite what we like and wish, He does things His "strange" way and unlike man's "logical" ways. Don't men ever think, that if God did things our ways He would be human?

The world will never stop producing sinister minds. The masses with mediocre discernment are no match to professional deception. Today, we still have plenty of mini Hitlers, and religious deception is on the rise. No wonder God warned us to be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  

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THE LAND - WHO RULED IT?

"For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory...I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence. (The Bible, Isaiah 62:1-2 & 6).

The Bible describes Israel as:

"land upon which the eyes of God are always turned" (Deuteronomy 11:12).

Islam describes the Jewish end as:

"The Last Hour would not come till the Muslims fight against the Jews, and the Muslims will kill them until the Jews hide themselves behind the stones and trees, and the stones and trees would speak up saying: "O Muslim! O slave of Allah! There is a Jew hiding behind me; come and kill him." The _Ghardaq_ tree would speak, for it is the tree of the Jews." (Muhammad the prophet of Islam, narrated by Abu Hurraira).

Mark Twain describing the Jews wrote:

"If the statistics are correct, the Jews represent merely one percent of humanity - an irrelevant spark in the light of the Milky Way. Normally speaking, the Jews should hardly be heard of, and yet we heard and hear of them again and again. They can rival any people on earth in fame, and their significance in economy and trade are in no ratio to their population. Their contribution to the list of great names in literature, natural science, art, music, finance, medicine and profound learning is just as amazing. They have done extremely well in this world - with their hands tied behind their backs. They could rightly be proud of themselves. The Egyptians, Babylonians and Persians came into power, filled the earth with their glory, but perished. The Greeks and Romans followed, "made a lot of noise," and then disappeared. Other nations rose up, their torches burned for a while, and then they were extinguished, and today they sit in the twilight or have completely disappeared. The Jews saw it all. They beat them all, and are today what they always were, showing no decay, no aging, no weakening, no decline of energy, no blunting of their wide-awake dynamic spirit. Everything is mortal except the Jew. All other powers perish but he remains. What is the mystery of his immortality? " (Mark Twain, 1899).

Pope John Paul II opinion:

"[The] Shepherds Of Bethlehem are your ancestors" (Pope John Paul the II speaking to a crowd of Palestinian Arabs in Dehaishe near Bethlehem, March 22, 2000)

A common Palestinian opinion:

"We didn't kick out the Jews the Romans did, and the Arabs came there later, so why the Arab has to take the heat?".

"The land was always ruled by Arabs, what gives the Jews the right to rule it?".

A common Palestinian claim:

"The Arabs owned and governed the land for a millennium.".

"The land was Arab with majority Arab population from time immemorial".

"The land is Arab Palestine not Jewish Israel".

"The country was inhabited by Arabs throughout the centuries, in 1948 when Israel was established there were thriving cities like Jerusalem, Yaffa, Hebron, Lud, and many others.".

PLO TV: "all the events surrounding Kings Saul, David and Rehoboam occurred in Yemen, and no Hebrew remnants were found in Israel, for a very simple reason--because they were never here." (Al-Kidwa, Palestinian Historian on Palestine TV)

Solomon's opinion: "He who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him." (Proverbs 18:17).

Matthew 23: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.", predicting the destruction of the Temple and the Diaspora. This could not have been any other desolation like the Babylonian desolation, only the Diaspora could fit this description in Matthew 23.

Ezekiel 36: "The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like a garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited." .

In a book "Whose Promised Land?" by Colin Chapman, the author asks as to the validity of the Jewish claims. Although one cannot tell a book by the cover, in this case it is easy to see that when one questions the commonly known title to Israel "The Promised Land", it would be obvious to see where the author is driving at.

The difficulty in examining one sided arguments is that there is no one else to introduce the missing elements needed but hidden by biased thinking.

While the cover is proposing that both views are examined "What are the claims and counter claims", as the author puts it, a cross examination as suggested by Solomon in Proverbs 18:17 will shed different light on the the author's arguments.

While Mr. Chapman only presented brief summary on the history of the land, we insist to include main elements not known or for whatever reason ignored or forgotten by the author.

In chapter one 16 1.6 the title "Palestine under the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks", while there was never a name "Palestine" during any of these empires, yet it is presented as a historical fact.

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DID THE ARABS RULE THE LAND?

To give the Arabs the credit of hundreds of years ruling the land he sums up two dynasties in section 1.9 titled: "Palestine under the Arabs and Seljuk Turks (632 - 1096)", stretching the times of the Arabs by combining the two together.

To make things more murky, and since he realizes how short the Arabs lived in the land, instead of openly admitting the fact that Arabs have only ruled less then a century he writes: "While the Palestinian Arabs cannot claim to be 'pure Arabs', they can maintain without any doubt that their ancestors - however mixed racially they may be - have been living in the land for thirteen centuries at the very least (i.e since the seventh century AD)".

The great historian David George Hogarth who was described by Arab writers as "one of the greatest authorities of his time on Arabian history" said: "Arabs governed Arabs, through Arabs on an imperial scale for much less than a century. It is just the Umayyad Caliphate -- the Damascus period and no more".

The exaggeration even gets worse, once a top official of the Palestinian Authority is asked. In an interview between Zola Levitt and Mr. Husseni, a right hand man to Yasser Arafat, in a Zola Levitt Television program, Mr. Husseni bluntly claimed that the Palestinians originated from the Jebusites before Abraham moved to Israel, he clearly changed the historic fact to an American audience who lacks in Eastern History.

Contrary to these arguments which plague the schools of the West Bank, today's Palestinians are immigrants from many nations: "Balkans, Greeks, Syrians, Latins, Egyptians, Turks, Armenians, Italians, Persians, Kurds, Germans, Afghans, Circassians, Bosnians, Sudaneese, Samaritans, Algerians, Motawila, Tartars, Hungarians, Scots, Navarese, Bretons, English, Franks, Ruthenians, Bohemians, Bulgarians, Georgians, Syrians, Persian Nestorians, Indians, Copts, Maronites, and many other" (DeHass, History, p. 258. John of Wuzburg list from Reinhold Rohricht edition, pp. 41, 69).

It was only starting in 1878 that harsh conditions forced many groups to immigrate into Palestine: "Circassian, Algerians, Egyptians, Druses, Turks, Kurds, Bosnians, and others. 141,000 settled Muslims living in all of Palestine (all areas) in 1882, at least 25% of those 141,000 were newcomers who arrived after 1831 from the Egyptian conquest." (Ernst Frankenstine, Justice for my people, London, Nicholson and Watson, 1943 p. 127).

"The Arab Muslims took the land from the Byzantines, later came the Abbasids who entrusted the land to Iranians, who trusted mercenaries, at first Persian, then Turk, Circassian, Kurd -- any race but the Arabians" (Hograth, Arabs and Turks).

After the Turkish Ottomans the British fought the Turks for supporting the Nazis, and legally created the State of Israel. There was never a call for National Palestine except after the Jews got that land. The Arabs then out of jealousy called to wipe out all the Jews which resulted in Arab defeat as the Bible already predicted.

In 438 CE There is conclusive historical and archaeological evidence that there has been an unbroken Jewish presence in Jerusalem since 438 CE, 200 years before the Arab conquest in 638 CD.

The Jewish claim, therefore, is not based on biblical and historical rights alone. Jews have always been permanent residents of Jerusalem. Since 1820, the Jews constituted the largest single community there. Despite persecution and oppression, the Jewish presence in Jerusalem was interrupted only twice: under Byzantine rule between 135 and 438 CE, and during the Crusader Kingdom, which lasted from 1099 to 1187 CE.

Despite volumes of historical accounts on Israel's desolation Chapman concludes: "Given the situation of Palestine at the end of the nineteenth century - with 5 per cent Jews and 95 per cent Arabs living under the Ottoman Empire", he lashes at Theodore Herzl "But I cannot see how he [Herzl] can be excused for describing Palestine to European audiences as 'a land without a people'" (Chapter 5, p224).

In the entire history of Arab and Muslim conquest of the land, and with the claim for the Temple Mount as the third most holy place, never was any significant Islamic school established, or Jerusalem made to a capital, or a valid state set up for the Arabs. The city of Jerusalem was never visited by any Arab leader besides the kings of Jordan, and even the "Sunnah" requirement of the Haj was not practiced by Muslims which required visiting Jerusalem. Even running water and electricity was never established. There was never a call for a Palestinian State in all Arab history only after the Jews got it. Yet the Jews made all the "nevers" possible when they made this ignored land a nation. They made Jerusalem a capital, opened the holy places to all three religions, and built it like never before. Yet only then the Muslim and Arab world are crying for it. Why only after the Jew got it?

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A LAND OF DESOLATION

What is left out by many who argue this issue is that prior to the 1800's the land was hardly inhabited except for very small pockets of population scattered throughout the country.

The fact from history contradicts the propagandists of today, the land was not a thriving nation in the past 2000 years or so.

The Diaspora of the Jews which was prophesied by Christ and the prophets before Him left Israel a land of desolation. Besides small spots of population, the land was mostly empty. One historian after the other agrees to a major fact the Bible already predicted long ago:

Dio Cassius describing Israel when it was destroyed by the Romans: "Of their forts the 50 strongest were razed to the ground, 985 of their best known villages were destroyed.....Thus the whole of Judea became desert, as indeed had been foretold to the Jews before the war. For the Tomb of Solomon, whom these folks celebrate in their sacred rights, fell into it's own accord into fragments, and wolves and hyenas, many in number roamed howling through their cities" (History of the Romans, lxix, 12-14 cited by DeHass, History, pp 55-56).

In 1590 A.D, an English visitor to Jerusalem road wrote, "nothing there to be seen but a little of the old walls, which is yet remaining and all the rest is grass, mosse and weeds much like to a piece of rank or moist grounde." (Gunner Edward Webbe, Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement page 86).

In 1697 Tiberius was being resettled by Jews from Papal states, whose immigration was approved by a Papal bull, Nazareth was continuing it's decline. A Franciscan Pilgrim writes: "A house of robbers, murderers, the inhabitants are Saracens...it is a lamentable thing to see thus such a town. We saw nothing more stony, full of thorns and desert.". (DeHass, History, p337, citing The Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement, 1925, p197).

In the mid 1700's, British Archeologist Thomas Shaw wrote that the land in Palestine was "lacking in people to till it's fertile soil." (Thomas Shaw, Travels and Observations, London 1767, p331).

1793, Count Constantine F. Volney claimed that the population of Jerusalem was less then 14,000; Hebron had 900 men, and Bethlehem had only 600 adult men."

J. S. Buckingham described his visit of 1816 to Jaffa, which "has all the appearances of a poor village, and every part of it that we saw was of corresponding madness.".

Buckingham described Ramle, "where, as throughout the greater part of Palestine, the ruined portion seemed more extensive then that which was inhabited.". After a visit in 1817 - 1818, travelers reported that there was not "a single boat of any description on that lake (Tiberius)". (J. S. Buckingham, Travels in Palestine, p 146).

French poet, Alphonse de Lamartine, 1835 A.D writes: "Outside the gates of Jerusalem we saw indeed no living object. Heard no living sound. We found the same void, the same silence that we should have found before the entombed gates of Pompeii or of Greece. A complete eternal silence reigns in the town, in the highways, in the country; the tomb of a whole people.".

British Counsel in Palestine reported in 1857: "The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is that of a body of population".

In 1863 Samuel Clemens writes: "a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but given over wholly to weeds - a silent mournfull expanse .... A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace wih the pomp of life and action... We never saw a human being on the whole route." (The Innocence Abroad).

In 1867, Mark Twain described the Jezerel Valley now verdant in Galilee as being devoid of a single village; the Galilee "unpeopled desert; Jericho is a moldering ruin; Bethlehem as untended by any living creature"; and "renowned Jerusalem itself a pauper village." "Palestine sits in ashes," he lamented. "It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land....Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes.... desolate and unlovely...it is a dreamland...desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds-a silent mournful expanse....A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action....We never saw a human being on the whole route....There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.". (Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, pp. 349).

Historian and writer De Haas records: "The real source of the interest in the problem was the condition of Palestine; empty, silent, waste, ruin between 1840 and 1880" (De Haas, History, p. 407).

In 1840, Jerusalem's population of 15,000 of whom 8,000 Jews, 4,500 Muslims, and the rest Christians. (No. 238, report of Commerce of Jerusalem during the year 1863, F.O. 195/808, May 1864).

The Arabs unfounded claim that Jerusalem was always predominately Arab-Muslim territory is negated by the statistics:

1844 Jews 7,120 Moslems 5,000         Christians 3,390

1896 Jews 28,112 Moslems 8,560       Christians 8,748

1922 Jews 33,971 Moslems 13,413     Christians 14,699

1948 Jews 100,000 Muslims 40,000    Christians 25,000

1967 Jews 195,700 Muslims 54,963    Christians 12,646

1983 Jews 300,000 Muslims 105,000 Christians 15,000

(Turkish Census 1844; Calendar of Palestine 1895; British Census 1962; Israel Central Bureau; Jerusalem Municiplality Report).

In 1880, the American consul in Jerusalem reported the area was continuing its historic decline. "The population and wealth of Palestine has not increased during the last forty years," he said.

These numbers are also confirmed by the British Consul in Jerusalem 1863 report.

De Hass writes: "The real source of the interest in the problem was the condition of Palestine; empty, silent, waste, ruin between 1840 and 1880" (De Haas, History, p. 407).

Carl Herman Voss writes: "In the twelve and a half centuries between the Arab conquest in the seventh centuries and the beginning of the Jewish return in the 1880's, Palestine was laid waste. It's ancient canal and irrigation system were destroyed and the wondrous fertility of which the Bible spoke vanished into desert and desolation...Under the Ottoman Empire of the Turks, the policy of disfoilation continued; the hillsides were denuded of trees and the valleys robbed of their topsoil" (The Palestine Problem Today, Israel and It's Neighbors, Boston, 1953, p. 13).

1889 Thirty thousand out of 40,000 people in Jerusalem are Jews.

Ernst Frankenstine "It was in 1878, Harsh conditions forced many groups to immigrate to Palestine; Circassian, Algerians, Egyptians, Druses, Turks, Kurds, Bosnians, and others. 141,000 settled Muslims living in all of Palestine (all areas) in 1882, at least 25% of those 141,000 were new comers who arrived after 1831 from the Egyptian conquest." (Ernst Frankenstine, Justice for my people, London, Nicholson and Watson, 1943 p. 127).

All these people came no less than 150 years ago and were not even Arabs, and even the Arab immigrant clans like Al-Nashasheebi, Al-Khalidi, and Al-Husseni settled in Palestine in the same period and were given the status of "Efendi" which made them an upper class taking over the lands while the rest of the lower class "Falaheen" were exploited.

There is left little doubt from the historic and biblical facts that the land remained a desolation.

The great majority of what are called "the Palestinian Arabs" in fact are of a very recent origin starting in the nineteenth century by recent immigration from many nations most of which are not even Arab.

And recent history:

The Report of the Palestine Royal Commission quotes an account of the Maritime Plain in 1913:

"The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track suitable for transport by camels and carts...no orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to be seen until one reached [the Jewish village of] Yabna [Yavne]....Houses were all of mud. No windows were anywhere to be seen....The ploughs used were of wood....The yields were very poor....The sanitary conditions in the village were horrible. Schools did not exist....The western part, towards the sea, was almost a desert....The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. Many ruins of villages were scattered over the area, as owing to the prevalence of malaria, many villages were deserted by their inhabitants.".

Lewis French, the British Director of Development wrote of Palestine: "We found it inhabited by fellahin who lived in mud hovels and suffered severely from the prevalent malaria....Large areas...were uncultivated....The fellahin, if not themselves cattle thieves, were always ready to harbor these and other criminals. The individual plots...changed hands annually. There was little public security, and the fellahin's lot was an alternation of pillage and blackmail by their neighbors, the Bedouin."

Surprisingly, many people who were not sympathetic to the Zionist cause believed the Jews would improve the condition of Palestinian Arabs. For example, Dawood Barakat, editor of the Egyptian paper AlAhram, wrote: "It is absolutely necessary that an entente be made between the Zionists and Arabs, because the war of words can only do evil. The Zionists are necessary for the country: "The money which they will bring, their knowledge and intelligence, and the industriousness which characterizes them will contribute without doubt to the regeneration of the country."

Even a leading Arab nationalist believed the return of the Jews to their homeland would help resuscitate the country. According to Sherif Hussein, the guardian of the Islamic Holy Places in Arabia:

"The resources of the country are still virgin soil and will be developed by the Jewish immigrants. One of the most amazing things until recent times was that the Palestinian used to leave his country, wandering over the high seas in every direction. His native soil could not retain a hold on him, though his ancestors had lived on it for 1000 years. At the same time we have seen the Jews from foreign countries streaming to Palestine from Russia, Germany, Austria, Spain, America. The cause of causes could not escape those who had a gift of deeper insight. They knew that the country was for its original sons (abna'ihilasliyin), for all their differences, a sacred and beloved homeland. The return of these exiles (jaliya) to their homeland will prove materially and spiritually [to be] an experimental school for their brethren who are with them in the fields, factories, trades and in all things connected with toil and labor."

1911 Baedeker's guide reports Jerusalem's total population as 70,000, i.e., 45,000 Jews, 15,000 Christians and 10,000 Muslims.

King Hussein foresaw, the regeneration of Palestine, and the growth of its population, came only after Jews returned in massive numbers. The Jewish population increased by 470,000 between World War I and World War II while the non-Jewish population rose by 588,000. In fact, the permanent non-Jewish population increased 120 percent between 1922 and 1947.

This rapid growth was a result of several factors. One was immigration from neighboring states-constituting 37 percent of the total immigration to pre-state Israel-by non-Jews who wanted to take advantage of the higher standard of living the Jews had made possible. The Arab population also grew because of the improved living conditions created by the Jews as they drained malarial swamps and brought improved sanitation and health care to the region. Thus, for example, the Muslim infant mortality rate fell from 201 per thousand in 1925 to 94 per thousand in 1945 and life expectancy rose from 37 years in 1926 to 49 in 1943.

In fact, the non-Jewish population increased the most in cities with large Jewish populations that had created new economic opportunities. From 1922-1947, the non-Jewish population increased 290 percent in Haifa, 131 percent in Jerusalem and 158 percent in Jaffa. The growth in Arab towns was more modest: 42 percent in Nablus, 78 percent in Jenin and 37 percent in Bethlehem.

As Hussein foresaw, the regeneration of Palestine, and the growth of its population, came only after Jews returned in massive numbers. The Jewish population increased by 470,000 between World War I and World War II while the non-Jewish population rose by 588,000. In fact, the permanent Arab population increased 120 percent between 1922 and 1947, only when the Jews settled the land.

For the last 40 centuries, Arabs ruled the land less then one century. If time is to be used as a valid claim, and I supported the Arab movement, I'd rather drop this claim and find another answer.

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THE PALESTINIANS, ARE THEY, ISHMAELITES, OR PHILISTINES?

Common Palestinian claim:

            "Today's Palestinians are the descendants of the Canaanites".

            " We know that there wasn't any Canaanite holocaust. What happened to their descendents?"

            "Palestine is in the Bible: "Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;"" [Joel 3:4]

Palestinian claims vary depending on the issue. If the question is about who was there first, then the Canaanite claim is proposed to show that the Palestinians were there before, and if the question is who legally deserve it, then the Arab issue is brought up. So it all depends on what type of propaganda is being promoted, yet both views are in great error.

With the biblical evidence confirmed by history and decades of archeological research, the Bible has been proven the most accurate book on Middle Eastern history. In it is recorded God's plan for Canaan and it's peoples. In Exodus 33:1-3:

     "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants. I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites".

Num 21:2-3:

             "Then made this vow to the LORD: "If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities. The LORD listened to Israel's plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah". And today the Palestinian people cling to the idea that they are a descendant of the Canaanites, Jebusites, and Philistines."

Why do many Palestinians cling to being Canaanite anyway? The first occupation of Canaan (the Promised Land) by the newly created nation of Israel resulted in the revelation to man that God was One God: "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is One." This was a startling revelation in the midst of the nations who were worshipping innumerable "gods", yet clinging to the rejected heathen tribes prior to Israel is not any honor. So why does Yasser Arafat and his cabinet insist that they are of Canaanite and Jebusite origin? At the same time they also insist that they are Arabs as well and even to the extent of making Jesus a Palestinian revolutionary.

How could Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians be Canaanites and Arabs at the same time? Even the Christian educators of today's Palestine are plagued with Replacement Theology propaganda, in corresponding with Mr. Bishara Awad, Dean of Bethlehem Bible College he argues: "You must try reading the New Testament, not the Old when looking at such things [Israel in Prophecy]."

As far as Joel 3:4, a biblical verse that cursed the Philistines is used to prove the mention of Palestine. The Hebrew word translated in some versions for Palestine is "Palasheth" which is Philistia the land of the biblical Philistines, a non-Semetic people who lived in a small portions SW on the coast land, they only included Joppa, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza. This claim certainly will cause a major problem since today's Palestinians claim to originate themselves as Semetic Arabs while this group is non-Semetic. This contradiction should be a major problem for Arab propagandists. To claim a land of promise by misusing scripture attributing the land of promise to Ishmael, then to show that they existed in the land before the Jews by jumping on the bandwagon of being Philistines is a death blow for the Palestinian argument.

To address today's Israel as the land of the Philistines would require a recreation of the other seven nations that made up the land of Canaan. How does one relate today's supposedly Semitic Palestinians to the non-Semitic Hevites, Perazites, and Jebusites?

No one today can even trace any culture, language, religion, family origin to any Canaanites from Palestine, especially when there is ample historical evidence showing the "true" origin of today's Palestinians as we have shown.

In 135 A.D by Emperor Hadrian applied the term Palestine to the Land of Israel as a propaganda ploy to erase Israel his enemy and place Israel's enemy instead The Philistines with a new Latin twist (Palestine). He replaced the shrines of the Jewish Temple and the Sepulchre of Christ in Jerusalem with temples to pagan deities. Hadrian was an enemy of the Bible, the question would be, if we support Hadrian changing the name to Palestine, why then not support the other changes, and convert the holy places to pagan shrines or at least the pagan names that he forced on these places?

Christian Arabs who focus only on The New Testament instead of the Old ignore the fact that In the New Testament, the term Palestine is never used, only Israel, and no matter how they look at scripture it always seems they have a problem fitting it to support their political agenda. Even in the End Times, believers in the Israel areas are asked to: "But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say to you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man shall have come. (Matt. 10:23)

So the land is clearly Israel before the coming of our Lord, while He came (Matt. 2:20-21), and just before His second coming as we have seen in Matt 10:23.

And for Bishara Awad the Dean of Bethlehem Bible College who asks believers to look at the New Testament since Israel is replaced by the church, the Lord says in The New Testament:

"Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew." (Romans 11:1-2).

"Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divideth the sea when its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.".

This shall put the whole matter to the rest. 

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THE JEWS OF RUSSIA

Common opinion:

"The Jews of Russia and Eastern Europe are originally Khazars from Turky who converted to Judaism in the 8th century".

PLO Television:

"Most of the Khazars [a Turkish tribe that converted to Judaism in medieval times] are the Ashkenazic Jews who arrived in Palestine. As Allah is my witness, in my blood flows more of the Children of Israel and the ancient Hebrews than in the blood of Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu." (Palestinian Arab historian Jarid al-Kidwa, PLO TV)

The Jews of Khazaria recounts the eventful history of the Turkic kingdom of Khazaria, which was located in eastern Europe and flourished as an independent state from about 650 to 1016. (The Jews of Khazaria by Kevin Alan Brook)

Ancient communities of Jews existed in the Crimean Peninsula way before the Khazars moved to the area, a fact proven by much archaeological evidence. It is significant that Crimea came under the control of the Khazars later on. The Crimean Jewish communities were later supplemented by refugee Jews fleeing the Mazdaq rebellion in Persia, the persecutions of Byzantine emperors Leo III and Romanus I Lecapenus.

Before the Khazars moved to Crimea original Jews came to Khazaria from modern-day Uzbekistan, Armenia, Hungary, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and many other places, as documented by al-Masudi, the Schechter Letter, Saadiah Gaon, and the Arabic writer Dimashqi.

Jews from the former Russian Empire are descended from a mixture of Khazar Jews, German Jews, Greek Jews, and Slavs. (The Jews of Khazaria by Kevin Alan Brook).

Also, this argument by no means discounts the Israeli nation as being foreign. The Jewish people never assimilated into the gentile world while the Khazars was quite different, it was a gentile nation who assimilated to follow the Jewish faith.

If the Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia descended strictly from the Khazars what can be said of the recent genetic research showing the lineage of the Kohanim?

Prof. Karl Skorecki, a senior nephrologist (blood specialist) at Rambam Hospital in Haifa is the head of molecular medicine at Israel's Technion's medical school. He and his colleagues published their findings in Nature, a British science journal. This new genetic research shows the vast majority of kohanim, the Jewish priestly class, to be descended from a single ancestor-scientific confirmation of an oral tradition passed down through 3,000 years .

A worldwide project has been conducted using cutting-edge genetic technology proved that at least 70 percent of kohanim families (5% of Jewish men), have a common set of markers on their Y chromosome, the chromosome every male receives almost unchanged from his father -and, in effect, from his father, and father's father before him. This genetic evidence was found in kohanim from both the Ashkenazi (European) and the Sephardi (Spanish and Middle Eastern) branches of the worldwide Jewish population. This is a strong proof that the Aaronic priesthood existed in the distant past as the Bible relates.

This provides fascinating evidence that the Jewish priesthood predated the division of the Jewish people into the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi branches, these two major ethnic groups, which occurred approximately a 1,000 years ago during the Middle Ages.

The researchers' concluded that the tradition of the Jewish priesthood (kehunah), has a genetic basis that does point to a single ancestor - possibly Aaron.

David Goldstein, an expert in the field of evolutionary genetics at Oxford University, stated: "It looks like this chromosomal type was a constituent of the ancestral Hebrew population,"

"It was incredibly exciting to find something that could be tracing paternally-inherited traits over 40 to 50 generations, three or four thousand years of history. This is the first time ever we have been able to make a correlation with the ethnographic record over this time scale. Some people keep records that go back three, maybe four generations. But 50 generations!" . . . 

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WHOSE LAND – ISHMAEL OR ISAAC?

Common opinion:

"God promised the land to Abraham and his seed. Since Ishmael is his seed, they too have the right to the land of Israel."

"Ishmael was Abraham's seed [Genesis 21:13]. To whom was the promise of the land made? To Abraham and his seed, no exceptions [Genesis 12:17, 13:15, 15:18]. Thus now, even from the Bible, the Arabs are included in the promise".

"Does God play favorites?"

"Is God a Zionist because He has been supernaturally assisting the Jews?"

God uses the word "My" in two connections: "My people Israel" and "My land". In each case He, in a particular way, identifies Himself with them:

"I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:7-8)

God promises to give the whole land to Abraham and his descendants for an everlasting possession. This is established by a covenant of God and God declares in Psalm 89:34 His covenant He will never break. But to which of his descendants? Ishmael? Isaac? or both?

Mr. Chapman tries in his book to connect the land by Ishmael since he is a descendant of Abraham.

The Bible clearly puts to rest the issue when God told Isaac:

"Stay in this land (the land of Israel) for a while and I will be with you and bless you for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 26:3-4).

Yet later on, God restricts the same promise to Jacob (Israel) alone:

"The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you and I will give this land to your descendants after you." (Genesis 35:12)

Notice that the promise runs through a certain, specific line - from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and on to their descendants. In Psalm 105 the psalmist uses the following terms to describe the extent of God's commitment to this purpose: covenant, word, command, oath, decree and everlasting covenant. There is no language used in the Bible that could give stronger emphasis to God's commitment.

"He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the Word He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the oath He swore to Isaac, He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: 'To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.'" (Psalm 105:7-11)

So all three connect, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) forever. The word "everlasting" makes null and void any other claim to the land. To say that the land is no more an issue is in contradiction to God's word regardless how angry people get over God's decision. If we believe the Bible to be the Word of God, there can remain no doubt as to God's purpose for the land. Furthermore, nothing has changed in God's purpose from the time that it was spoken until this time of restoration which was predicted by Jeremiah:

"Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will bring My people, Israel and Judah, back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess, says the Lord." (Jeremiah 30:2-3)

While if we look at the context of scripture, we can easily see who this seed is:

"But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant; I have chosen you and have not rejected you." Isaiah 41:8,9 Jacob was chosen, not Ishmael or the Arabs.

"Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divideth the sea when its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever.(Jer 31:35).

By this we know that the seed of Abraham is meant Jacob, and the land is Israel, as it is exactly mentioned and fulfilled by most of the Biblical Prophecy in both Old and New Testaments.

If Ishmael's promoters way of confused argumentation is accepted, Jesus the seed of promise can end up being an Ishmaelite, since God told Abraham concerning the Messianic blessing that out of his seed the whole world will be blessed (Gen 22:18).

Yet ignorance of scripture is not an excuse with God, since the rest of scripture as we presented directs us to the rest of the story as to whom this seed will be. The same way the promises of the land in the Abrahamic Covenant is strictly given to Jacob who was later called Israel. I don't need to quote more verses here, since the entire Bible is written with this promise in God's mind.

The Bible concentrates on Israel as the Chosen Nation, the repository of the Covenants, the channel of the Messianic Hope, the custodian of the divinely approved Temple, the keeper of the oracles of God, and the capital nation of the returning crucified and risen King of Kings. Thus page after page, book after book in the Old and New Testaments deal with these issues that mean little or nothing to world powers or historians. Israel is the central theme of the Bible. "Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, to which they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land (Ezek. 37:21).".

So these promises of land and return clearly involves Israel not Ishmael. The question is why are these Christians trying to fit the Bible to match Muslim claims? Even a book like the Quran was vague as to who was the child of promise was, but the Bible was so clear it left no doubt. The only doubt is left, are what the false seeds Replacement Theology are trying to plant.

The statement by Pope John Paul II that the "shepherds of Bethlehem" when Christianity was founded, 2000 years ago, were the "ancestors" of today's Palestinian Arabs was false. In fact, those shepherds were Jews, not Arabs.

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THE NEW TESTAMENT ENDS THE LAND ISSUE

Common opinion:

"Jesus never mentioned Israel being in the land, this is a Christian Zionist invention."

In page 136, Mr. Chapman writes: "He[Jesus] said nothing at all about what would follow the times of the Gentiles, and didn't give any clue about the significance of Jerusalem coming once again under Jewish rule".

At first, in Christian theology Jesus is author of all scripture and everything created: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Tim 3:16-17).

We cannot isolate Jesus first mission (redemption) from the rest of scripture concluding that God did away with the rest of scripture fulfillment.

Israel will be His focus prior to and after His second coming written in much detail. In fact ALL the Bible, OLD and NEW Testaments with the prophets, Christ, and the apostles when speaking in the context of Christ's second coming, in ALL scripture Israel is in the land as they were in His first coming.

This is so obvious in every verse and every prophecy:

Was not Christ to rule Israel Matthew 2:6: "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

So when Christ is to rule Israel in this verse were would Israel be? This "two fold" prophecy with the rule over Israel part is obviously of His second coming with Israel in the land.

Even the Replacement Theology advocates would agree that this is a two fold prophecy, yet they will not accept the "other" "two fold" prophecies?

One could question: "But these verses pertain to the Jews returning after Christ establishes His Kingdom, not before".

Is that so?

Matthew 10:23: "But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes."

Another "two fold" prophecy. Obviously when Jesus says "until the Son of Man comes" pertains to His "second" coming since He is there talking to them. How is it then the believers will not "finish going through" until "The Son of Man comes"?

And who is He telling them to witness to? None other than Jews "But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."(Matt 15:24).

And what where is Israel before "The Son of Man comes"?

What did Jesus tell the Jews of their Disapora?

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matt 23:37-39).

Jesus was talking to them of Jerusalem while He was in Jerusalem, and He will not return to establish the Kingdom unless they are in Jerusalem crying "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord". This return to Israel with Jews in it, is emphasized by every prophet in the Old Testament and all the way into the Book of Revelation.

Matthew 19:28: "And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

Where is Israel being judged in this verse? And where will His glorious Throne be?

"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 anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart." (Jeremiah 3:17)

The Church will return with Christ to Israel, and will rule with Him for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-5). Christ and the disciples will rule over the 12 tribes of Israel in the restoration. Thus, Israel has not been forgotten in God's plan.

To add confusion to his readers Mr. Chapman on the next page states regarding Luke's testimony "we had hoped that he[Christ] was the one who was going to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21), and quoting Luke 24:25-27 regarding the fulfillment of the scripture in His Messiaship to which he concluded that "He wanted them to understand that all that the prophets had said about Israel and it's redemption had been fulfilled in himself", yet without supplying any verse to this statement he isolates Luke 24:25-27 and since it has no mention of Israel's redemption to mean that Israel's national redemption is no more, by that a return to the land is null and void.

How could a return be null and void when Christ spoke of predictions about the future of Jerusalem:

"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem would be trampled down by the Gentiles [non-Jews], until the fullness of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24).

While Replacement Theology advocates claim that the "fullness of the Gentiles" is the end of Israel, Christ clearly made this verse plain that a Jewish rule (non-Gentile) is what is destined for Israel. Any attempt to make this fit the Church of Replacement Theology requires surgical procedures to scripture which will prove fatal to whomever tries it.

Let's look at the context of the verse in Luke 21:24. Jesus is speaking concerning Jerusalem and Israel, it's destruction, desolation, Diaspora, and return. The part the author ignores is the previous verse, in context we can see clearly: "And they [Israel] will fall by the edge of the sword[destruction], and be away captive into all nations[Diaspora], and Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles[desolation] until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled[end of Gentile beginning of Jew]".

This is confirmed leaving no doubt in Romans:

"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Rom 11:25-27)

This national redemption is confirmed perfectly when the Times of the Gentiles is fulfilled. Reading the passage in context and the previous verse in Romans 11 sheds much light here. Jesus is giving them the 'full' picture, He is showing them the 'full circle' of events in one single sentence; fall, desolation, Diaspora, then Return. This "full circle" scenario is strictly and only for Israel and the Jewish people.

The Gentile world will end in judgment, Joel chapter 3 is strictly over Israel and it's division. In Matthew 25:32 "All the nations[Gentiles] will be gathered, and this judgment mentioned by Christ is also describing the treatment of the Jews during the Tribulation Period and the world's persecution of Israel's believers.

The problems such writers get into concluding that Jesus was "silent about the future of the land", is isolation of verses from the context of scripture, when the simple truth is that Christ on His first coming came to die for sins as concluded by the author himself. Jesus instructed His disciples to "go only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel" and He reminded a Gentile that "Salvation is through the Jews" (John 4:22). Subsequently, however, it became evident that salvation was designed for all mankind, beginning from Jerusalem.

Yet much emphasis was made on salvation by no means negates the many other references of His second coming were the land is mentioned. Isolating scripture is like looking at one piece of a puzzle were only a piece of a cardboard is seen. The excitement is found when we put everything together.

Colin Chapman in his book "Whose Promised Land" instead of shedding light attempts to shuffle different issues together to make his point stick, his obvious mixing between "The Kingdom of Heaven" and the Restoration of the Jews to Israel is obvious. On page 127 he compares Matthew 8:10-12 "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." with Isaiah 43:5-6 "Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth".

Mr. Chapman argues that these verses speak of the same event "The Kingdom of Heaven". So he argues that the usage of Isaiah speaking of Israel's return is invalid since the two verses are in perfect harmony.

But are they?

Matthew speaks of the "many" while Isaiah strictly speaks of Jacob's "seed" Israel, but by combining the two an attempt is made to twist scripture to make a return only of the believers in the Kingdom of Heaven and ignoring Israel's return before God sanctifies her.

The Kingdom of Heaven as Unger's Bible Dictionary describes it, to be: "The Kingdom of Heaven more precisely "The Kingdom of the Heavens", is a term descriptive of any kind of ruler ship God may assert on The Earth at a given period ... According to Matt 13 the present gospel age represents the mystery form of the kingdom since the kingdom of heaven is no other then the rule of God on Earth...".

"Thou shall arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favour her, yes the set time, is come... When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory... This shall be written for the generation to come... .To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem... When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord"' (Psalm 102:13-22).

Here the Lord(Christ) build up[the land of] Zion, He shall appear in His glory[The Kingdom, second coming], while the kingdoms[the world] come and serve the Lord in Jerusalem. In light of this verse and many others, the author of "Whose Promised Land" continues: "Luke's version of the discourse therefore points to the same conclusions as the discourse in Mark: that Jesus was silent about the future of the land".

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THE PROPHECIES OF ISRAEL FULFILLED IN THE PAST?

Common claim:

The Bible already fulfilled the desolation and return of the Jews after the Babylonian Captivity. The claims many modern interpreters make of the recent establishment of the state of Israel have no foundation in the Bible since all the prophecies they use pertain to the return after the Babylonian captivity after which there will be a Diaspora with no return, therby this modern state is not biblical.

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BIBLE CONFIRMATION

The "common" view held by the majority of today's world who stand against the recent establishment of the state of Israel is as it has been in the past the view which had more support since Israel's first entrance as slaves from Egypt, and their second entrance from Babylon were not popular either.

God calls Israel specifically "My Land". Above all other pieces of territory in the earth God has laid a special claim, for His sovereign purposes, to that little strip of territory which is Israel. In Ezekiel He warns the northern invader:

" 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... In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against My land so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy through you before their eyes." (Ezekiel 38:16)

While the "Gog and Magog" prophecy is agreed by most scholars as have not yet happened and will occur in the End Times proving that Israel must be in the land prior to the fulfillment of this prophecy. This prophecy and many others which has not happened assure every Bible believers that Israel WILL have another return before the end.

In the "Gog and Magog" prophecy Israel is described as:

- God's land

- Became desolate

- Then inhabited.

- In Ezekiel and all the prophets who describe a "gathering from the nations" not from Assyria or Babylonia.

- The subject of Ezekiel 38 is a battle between Israel and many nations who never attacked Israel at once in the past.

- This re-gathering to a "desolate" land is an event in the far future from Ezekiel's time.

- Fact today are the very enemies mentioned by name; Libya, Persia, Ethiopia, Rosh(Russia), and many others who today hate Israel and accumulating much armaments in preparation for battle and are likely to be invading Israel soon.

Again in Joel God declares:

            "I will gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat (which means 'the Lord judges'); then I will enter into judgment against them concerning My inheritance, My people Israel, for they scattered My people among the nations and divided up My land." (Joel 3:2).

The same points can be made from this verse, and an additional important factor "The division of the land" which is taking place currently after 1993 Oslo Peace Accord.

These prophecies are so clear and plain that they leave little or no room for questions.