Palestinians And The Gulf Crisis

From the start of the Gulf Crisis, when Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, there was wide popular support for Saddam Hussein among. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jordan. What most of the world saw as naked aggression the Palestinians saw as an evidence of military strength and political confidence which might in due course be enlisted for the benefit of their own cause. Thousands of Palestinians volunteered to fight with the Israeli forces.

United Nations resolutions demanded that Iraq should withdraw from Kuwait, and military forces from many nations assembled to defend Saudi Arabia and enforce sanctions against Iraq. When pressed to obey the United Nations demands, Saddam Hussein was quick to complain that he was being unfairly pressurised. For twenty-three years Israel had occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, despite repeated United Nations resolutions demanding withdrawal to Israel's formerly agreed boundaries. Yet there had been no military build up against Israel to enforce United Nations policy. The Iraqi leader argued that if stability was to be secured in the Middle East all such regional problems should be dealt with even-handedly by an international peace conference.

So ran the argument. Most countries recognized it for what it was, a diplomatic ploy. The flaws in the analogy with Israel and the occupied territories were self-evident. Israel had overrun the West Bank and the Gaza Strip when repulsing invasion by neighbouring states, and had continued in occupation for security reasons pending a satisfactory peace settlement.

Then in mid-October the world was shocked by tragedy on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Rioting had broken out and Jews gathered for prayers at the Western Wall were showered with rocks and stones by the mob on the Temple Mount above. When tear gas and plastic bullets failed to control the situation, the security forces resorted to live ammunition: nineteen Arabs were killed and one hundred and forty wounded.

Arab opinion was outraged. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Jordan reacted in strong protest to the United Nations against Israel's handling of the situation. These governments felt the embarrassment of being in military alliance with the United States, Israel's main supporter, when their own populations were so incensed at the Jerusalem killings. The United States felt it necessary to abandon its usual policy of supporting Israel at the UN Security Council, and sponsored a resolution criticizing the use of excessive force by the Israelis in dealing with the Temple Mount disturbances. The whole episode played into the hands of the Iraqi President, who used it to urge Arab members of the alliance against him that Israel was the real enemy, not Iraq.

Through stressful diplomacy the United States managed ultimately to stabilize the situation, persuading the Arab states to maintain their place within the Desert Shield coalition. Israel refused to yield to American pressure to cooperate with a United Nations plan to send representatives to report on the Temple Mount killings. It seemed possible that the Gulf Crisis could significantly affect American interests and alliances in the Middle East, strengthening ties with Arab states, and leading to a less favourable attitude to Israel.

From the viewpoint of prophetic Scripture, these developments are of special interest. For the invasion of Kuwait and the resulting challenge through operation Desert Shield had seemed at first to leave Israel merely on the fringe of the situation. In their anxiety to secure the cooperation of Arab states, America and her western allies had been at pains to avoid involving Israel. Otherwise Iraq's claim that the whole exercise was an American-Zionist plot to offset Iraq's dominant role in the Middle East could all too easily gain credence in some quarters. It was the Palestinian factor which proved critical in placing the issue of Israel's twenty-three years' Occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank firmly on to the Middle East political agenda.

How crucial this could be in view of scriptures which predict Israel's central involvement in Middle East affairs at the time of the end! Joel 3:2 indicates that when the nations are judged in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, one of the Lord's charges against them will be that they "parted My land". Are we soon to see international pressure on Israel to accept further territorial restrictions in favour of the Palestinians? Will this be one of the most important developments to result in the longer term from the alliance formed to resist Saddam Hussein?

unknown | Mar 1991
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