Prayer for Israel's Govt

"PM WOULD ACCEPT PRE-'67 LINES AS BASELINE FOR TALKS."

With the Palestinian Authority poised to appeal to the UN for recognition of statehood next month, there has been much pressure applied to Israel to contribute to preparation of a document which would serve as a framework for returning to negotiations and making such an appeal at the UN meaningless. This past week the above title or something similar to it appeared as a headline in many papers in Israel and Europe. One had to read the fine print to see that it wasn't quite the whole story. Jerusalem, "while not endorsing the 1967 lines, would agree to language [in such a document] that would say that Israel recognizes that this is the position of the international community" (emphases ours). According to Israeli officials, Israel would go this far if the Palestinians would show flexibility by showing a willingness to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. There has been no indication that the Palestinians are prepared to consider making such a statement. Were they to, it would have to be very veiled indeed; certainly militant Islam will never concede that any of the land occupied by Israel has a right to be under "Jewish" sovereignty.

Although we do not stand in approval of our Prime Minister's offer, neither are we convinced that it is a "major climb-down", that he "has bowed to US pressure by agreeing for the first time that a Palestinian state should roughly follow the contours of the 1967 ceasefire lines separating the West Bank from Israel" as an on-line London Telegraph sub-headline of August 1 had it. Netanyahu has stated unequivocally that Israel will never go back to the '67 borders, and as of now, we do not see that he has altered his stance on this. Nor do we see that the PA (and certainly not in partnership with Hamas, who rules a large portion of the contested territory) is any nearer to recognizing Israel as a Jewish State. But the pressures are extremely intense upon our Prime Minister to come into alignment with the tenets of President Obama's recent '67 Lines speech.

PLEASE PRAY:

*That Israel's Prime Minister would be influenced by Divine guidance as he must lead Israel through turbulent and dangerous waters; that he would not be entrapped by his own tongue as he seeks to maneuver his government and people forward. That his decisions would be supplied by integrity and uprightness (Psalm 25:21), and that he would lift up his need and his hope to the LORD.

*That Israel's government will be prepared for whatever eventualities the fall may bring. That her governmental and military leadership will be in a place of strength before any outbreak of hostilities, either outside of or within her borders.

*That God will supply a redemptive pathway for Israel "out of all his troubles" (Psalm 25:22).

portions taken from Israel Prayer list