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President Trump and Palestinian Leader Abbas Meet and the backstory of failed Land Swaps for Peace
As we continue the coverage of President Trump’s first international trip, we continue to mark how historical this trip is. President Trump is the first President to visit Israel on his first international trip. We follow his continual journey through Israel as he meets with the President Abbas and the Palestinian people in Bethlehem.
President Abbas welcomed President Trump with warm words as he shared his opening remarks to President Trump’s arrival in Bethlehem. “Donald Trump, it’s my pleasure to welcome you here in Palestine and receive you as a great guest of our people here in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus –peace be upon Him — from which the message of love, peace, and tolerance has spread out all across the globe.” As President Abbas continued his words, he condemned the recent terrorist attacks that shook the city of Manchester, and expressed his thoughts towards Britain.
President Abbas was quick to turn the attention towards peace in the region and the hope of the Palestinian people to experience this reality. “Our Palestinian people’s attainment of their freedom and independence is the key to peace and stability in the world so that the children of Palestine and Israel enjoy a safe, stable, and prosperous future.” President Abbas underscored his willingness to work with President Trump in order to come to a peace agreement with Israel. “I would like to reiterate, Your Excellency, Mr. President, our commitment to cooperate with you in order to make peace and forge a historic peace deal with the Israelis. And we would like to reassert our willingness to continue to work with you as partners in fighting terrorism in our region and in the world.”
As President Abbas spoke on the topic of terrorism, he expressed his support of President Trump’s recent action in Saudi Arabia and his words towards the 50 Arab and Muslim nations that convened together in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “I commend the importance of the holding of the Arab Islamic American Summit and its findings and outcomes and conclusions.”
President Abbas, once again, outlined the position of what they would accept regarding a peace agreement with Israel. “…once again we reassert to you our positions of accepting the two-state solution along the borders of 1967 — the state of Palestine with its capital as East Jerusalem, living alongside the state of Israel in peace and security and good neighborhood, as well as resolving the entire final status issues based on international law and international long-term resolutions, and respecting side agreements which sets the tone for the implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative in accordance with what has been reaffirmed in the most recent Arab Summit in Jordan.” President Abbas continues to emphasize what issues he has problems with regarding the topic of a peace agreement with Israel, more specifically, the city of Jerusalem and the lands surrounding it. “Our fundamental problem is with the occupation and settlements, and failure of Israel to recognize the state of Palestine in the same way we recognize it, which undermines the realization of the two-state solution.” All of these words sound very nice. It would be really good if what President Abbas said was actually true. Sad to say, it is not. These are simply lies that are being told. Amidst all of this, it is encouraging to know that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are not deceived by these lies but are clearly aware of what truth is.
In order to understand what the truth is, we must debunk the Palestinian lies. Encounter Books does an outstanding job as they walk us through the timeline of history, and explain what is true and what is not. As President Abbas spoke of the “1967 borders” in his discussion with President Trump, this was not the first time this has been spoken of. As Encounter Books explains, The New York Times wrote an article about this very topic and President Abbas’ comments on the 1967 borders. Former President Barack Obamaechoed similar words to President Abbas as he shared these words, “We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps…” Although, this topic stretches back much further than 1967.
After World War I, when we look at the League of Nation’s establishment of the Mandate for Palestine and the 1917 Balfour Declaration, we begin to see and understand the land designated to Israelis and Palestinians stretched much larger than it presently exists today. As the Balfour Declaration called for open Jewish immigration into the established land, the Palestinian fiercely voiced their opposition. As Aref Dajani, a Palestinian leader from Jerusalem expressed these words; “It is impossible to live with the Jews. In all the countries where they are at present, they are not wanted because they always arrive to suck the blood of everybody. If the League of Nations will not listen to the appeal of the Arabs, this country will become a river of blood.”
As Palestinians continued to deny access to Jewish immigration, they provoked anger in the streets of Jerusalem that eventually resulted in the 1920 Nebi Musa Riots. As a result, “After several days of rioting, the final toll was 6 Jews dead, hundreds beaten and widespread destruction of property.” As tensions in the region continued on, Jews offered “a partition of the territory into two states, even if the territory assigned to the Jews was the size of a tablecloth”. As Encounter Books further describes, the proposed agreement provided 20% of the land to the Jews and 80% to the Arabs. In hopes of peace, the Jews accepted, but the Arabs did not.
After yet another proposal to prescribe a two-state solution from the United Nations, the terms were once again denied by the Arabs. As a response, military forces from five nations attacked Israel on May 15, 1948. As Encounter Books explains, “Arab League Secretary General, Abdul Rahman Azzam, vowed, ‘This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades’”. Shockingly enough, it was the Jews that remained and the defeat went towards the 5 attacking Arab nations. Instead of an opportunity to have peace and their land with independence, the Arab nations chose war but lost any possibility of hope. “Their leaders rejected a partition plan that would have given them independence and more land designated for their state than for the Jewish state. Instead, they ended up with nothing, and 650,000 Palestinians became refugees.”
The present negotiations between President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu seeking peace are nothing new. “Three times in the past decade, Israeli Prime Ministers have offered Palestinian leaders an independent state far more generous than anything Egypt or Jordan ever allowed when they controlled the West Bank and Gaza.” As we fast forward through time, we see the Second Intifada that was launched against Israel, wave after wave of suicide bombers into Israel and rockets being launched into Israel.
It is so important to understand these realities of history in order to better understand the previous words of President Abbas towards President Trump were nothing more than lies. Presently, Palestinianschools teach their childrento kill Jews and stabthem. God is not swayed by these acts of evil and barbarism. He is in control and about to deal harshly with the evil one. As Joel 3:2 explains, God is going to gather the nations of the world at the Valley of Jehoshaphat and put them on trial for how they responded to the land of Israel.
Understanding all of President Abbas’ remarks, President Trump responded by expressing hit utmost willingness to establish peace in the region between Palestinians and Israelis. “I am committed to trying to achieve a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians and I intend to do everything I can to help them achieve that goal.” As he continues to express, “President Abbas assures me he is ready to work toward that goal in good faith. And Prime Minister Netanyahu has promised the same. I look forward to working with these leaders toward a lasting peace.”
President Trump underscored his recent trip to Saudi Arabia and his time meeting with Arab and Muslim nations as well as his time with King Salmon. “It was a deeply productive meeting. People have said there has really never been anything even close in history. I believe that. Being there and seeing who was there and hearing the spirit and a lot of love — there has never been anything like that in history.” This is such an important perspective to have when seeking to take on the challenge of bringing peace. President Trump is looking at the situation with a fresh set of eyes and not prejudging it in any way.
It is important to remember, the fact that President Trump is in the White House at this particular time in history is not any random act on coincidence. God revealed on October 3, 2016 to Greg Lancaster that Donald Trump would be the next President. God spoke to Pastor John Kilpatrick, of Church of His Presence in Daphne, Alabama, that President Trump was established to keep the Jews in their homeland. God also spoke to Greg Lancaster that “the seat of Evil will come down and the Seat of the Righteous will rise”. We must remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for the peace of Israel, as well as lift up our President and his Cabinet members. See the full story of this joint meeting with President Abbas, President Trump, and so much more. Also shared in this segment: deception, truth, lies, Palestinian Authority, President Mahmoud Abbas, United Nations, Hamas, underground tunnels, Second Intifada, Oslo Accord, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, The Balfour Declaration, The League of Nations, Adolf Hitler, The Holocaust, Nazi Germany, persecution of Jews, Jordan, Egypt, Gaza Strip, The West Bank, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. Greg and John shared in this segment.
President Trump Visits Pope Francis
As President Trump continued on during his first international trip, he concluded his visit to Israel and headed to Rome and to the Vatican City to meet the Pope. The President was escorted by Swiss Guards as he was introduced to the Pope. The Pope not only met and spoke with the President, he also met First Lady Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Rex Tillerson. It is so good to see the President making the travels as he is and representing America in such a beautiful way. See the entire visit between President Trump and the pope, and so much more. Greg and John shared in this segment.
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