David Parsons, April 29, 2003

Though the still-smouldering debate over war with Iraq staggered the entire planet, it was startlingly offset by almost universal agreement that Israel deserves similar "pariah" treatment to Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime.

Expressing the European consensus, British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted on the eve of war that addressing Palestinian grievances is every bit as important as toppling Saddam. Indeed with his job on the line, Blair suggested the quickest way to mend the global rifts over Iraq is to impose on Israel the so-called "roadmap" to Palestinian statehood by 2005.

Thus tremendous pressure has been directed at US President George W. Bush to act with more "even-handedness" in the Middle East meaning the same hand that struck Baghdad must now backhand Jerusalem.

This widely accepted outlook stems from a very seductive thought. If the United States would just lean on Israel to meet Palestinian demands for statehood, it would solve the main problem vexing the region, indeed the whole world. Muslims would have far less reason to hate the West. Islamic terror groups would be stripped of popular and state support.

Cleanse the Jews from Beit El, Hebron and Shiloh, and the cafés of London, Paris and New York will be safe again.

A truly seductive thought! though totally mistaken and racist to its core.

NOW THAT Saddam’s elite Republican Guard have been swept aside and the Palestinians are offering up a new prime minister and other cosmetic "reforms," the time has come for Israel to rely as never before on its own Republican Guard those many principled supporters of the Jewish State around the world and especially in the American public, the US Congress and the president’s own Republican party.

Many in these ranks are already gearing up for the coming campaign over the roadmap. Bipartisan letters have been circulating for weeks in Congress warning Bush now is not the time to force Israel into a trap worse than Oslo. Many grassroots Christian and Jewish organizations are starting to rally as well to stand with Israel.

And we have so much good ammunition so many sound rationales for opposing the roadmap. Deadlines have proven deadly in the Israeli-Palestinian context. The Jews have been left with little reason to trust their fate to outside monitors, or to anyone inside the PLO. This is the last moment to reward jihad terrorism, especially the Palestinian brand just exported to Iraq.

Yet Israel’s guardians may falter in this looming battle, especially if the Christians among us adopt mocking tones and worldly methods, rather than showing respect for President Bush’s walk of faith and having confidence in the divine promises concerning Israel we so earnestly uphold.

We have every right and duty to express our views, but for Christians this is a battle that will be won in the prayer closet, more so than on the soapbox. And ultimately it is up to a sovereign God to decide the outcome.

Even former US President Bill Clinton once admitted to wrestling with the place of Israel in Scripture, saying he stayed up for hours the night before the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, reading the Book of Joshua in search of some sort of guidance on what was about to occur.

By all accounts, there is every hope the Bible’s pearls of wisdom would not be wasted on his successor. President Bush is a devout Christian who covets prayer and is open to godly counsel. He has shown favor to Israel since taking office, seemingly out of some understanding of this small nation’s importance to God. Perhaps he simply lacks the full counsel on God concerning the restoration of Zion.

This president and this moment in world history present a unique challenge to Christian supporters of Israel.

If a Palestinian state is born on President Bush’s watch, it may be because we failed to find a way to approach him graciously, as a brother, to set forth the principles that flow from God’s irrevocable covenant with Abraham concerning the Land of Israel, promised to his seed as an everlasting possession.