"Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east."
(Zechariah 14:3-4)
Two weeks from yesterday on Tuesday September 20th at the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to present a unilateral request that the territories lying within the ancient Israeli areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza be recognized as a sovereign Palestinian state and granted full membership in the UN. The request will likely be made initially to the General Assembly, so as to avoid a promised veto from the US were it to be presented to the Security Council. Such a vote in the General Assembly, while not able to result in full 'membership', could nevertheless serve to change the Palestinian Authority's status (so far as the UN is concerned) from a non-voting observer "entity" to that of a non-voting observer "state".
The change would pave the way for the Palestinians to join dozens of United Nations bodies and conventions, and it could strengthen their ability to pursue cases against Israel at the International Criminal Court." ("U.S. Appeals to Palestinians to Stall U.N. Vote on Statehood; Myers, Steven Lee and Mark Landler, The New York Times, September 3, 2011).
It is presently assumed that following the proposal, an actual vote would take place in October. Some estimates see between 130 and 140 states voting in favor of the Palestinians. Although France's President Sarkozy has pressed for the 27 European Union countries to "express themselves with one voice", the way most of the EU countries will vote is still uncertain; much is said to depend on whether the "wording" of the Palestinian demands is something they may find palatable. As of now, only five western countries have indicated to Israel that they will vote against recognition of Palestinian statehood at this time, The U.S., Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The US has been going to great diplomatic lengths to stall the vote, circulating proposals for renewed peace talks based on the so-called "1967 borders" as a starting point; but Mr Abbas has shown no interest in peace talks for quite some time now. Of course, unilateral declaration of statehood would mean immediate abrogation of the Oslo plan, which was set up on the premise that final status would be mutually arrived at by both the Palestinians and Israelis. But it would also fly in the face of agreements, in fact, international laws, which go much further back than Oslo.
On April 25th, 1920 the League of Nations, meeting in San Remo, Italy, signed into international law a treatise which among other things allowed Jews to settle throughout what was then called Palestine. This law has never been rendered null and void. In fact, a clause in the formation of the United Nations protects laws already ratified by the League of Nations from being superseded without due process of law. The pertinent laws related to Jews in Palestine put forth by the League of Nations at San Remo have never been officially altered. The "1967 Border" has NEVER been a true, internationally recognized "border" for Israel; it was rather a negotiated armistice line drawn up in 1949 to bring to an end hostilities between the newly born Israel and Jordan, which had illegally captured and claimed the West Bank as its own. During the years between 1949 and 1967, the Jordanians expelled all Jews from the territory and from Old Jerusalem, clearly violating existing International Law. More than one high voice in the Palestinian Authority has already made clear that a similar ban on Jews in the area would be reinstated after a state was formed.
We believe that the decisions made by nations over the next month will have great significance for the future of those nations. A vote for creation of a Muslim state in this location not only breaks existing international civil law, it rises up against a Law much more ancient and 'binding'. In Genesis 28:13-15, Jacob-lying on ground well within this disputed territory-beheld YHVH-the LORD standing above him and heard him say, "I am YHVH God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your seed."
WE BELIEVE THAT THE DECISIONS MADE BY NATIONS ON THIS ISSUE IN THE NEXT MONTH AND A HALF MAY HAVE DIRECT BEARING ON THEIR WELFARE FOR YEARS TO COME.
PLEASE PRAY:
*That truth regarding the San Remo decisions will be disseminated amongst leaders and their counselors and influence them not to vote for statehood.
*That intercessors throughout the world will prevail in prayer for their governments that they will choose against a unilateral establishment of Palestinian statehood.
*For Israeli leaders, that they and Israel be prepared for what is to come. Pray protection over Israel's borders (Psalm 147:13-14). If a "state" were to be recognized, there would no longer be a reason for the millions of Palestinians living in other lands to be regarded as "refugees"; the countries where they presently live might seek to expel them back across Israel's borders. "Unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait in Hope on the LORD; be of good courage, He will strengthen your heart; Wait in Hope, I say, on the LORD!" (Psalm 27:13-17).
Intercessors consider praying through the following Scriptures daily until this crisis is resolved.
*Psalm 9:3-5; 15-16. "When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at Your presence. For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness. You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever.The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made; in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. The LORD is known by the judgment He executes; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. (Meditation-Selah).
*Psalm 33:10-12. "The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance."
*Jeremiah 12:14-16. "Thus says the LORD: 'Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit-behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, "As the LORD lives," as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people."
*Zechariah 9:5-7. "Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful; And Ekron, for He dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take away the blood from his mouth, and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite."
portions taken from Israel prayer list
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