time for Arab forces to regroup and rearm. Hamas will continue to attack Israel


and no one will say a word, yet the moment Israel responds, it will be the target of worldwide condemnation. And just as has been done throughout every ceasefire, Hamas and other terrorist groups will use this time to acquire even greater numbers of rockets so they can attack Israel even harder the next time. This is no secret. Hamas leaders themselves have publicly said this is their agenda during a ceasefire.


The Arabs asked for land—for the Jews to leave—they were given 100 percent of what they asked for in that region—so why are they attacking the Jews on their borders in Israel-proper?


How do the conflicts start? Why do they continue? Who’s really to blame? In 2005, Israel pulled out of Gaza. That


means, all Jewish citizens left entire towns, beautiful homes, and businesses to give the Arabs a completely Jew-free Gaza. (The Nazis called it judenrein—”free of all Jews”.) The Jews became refugees in Israel. Since that time, Hamas has launched more than 6,000 rockets at Israel. Why? The Arabs asked for land—for the Jews to leave—they were given 100 percent of what they asked for in that region—so why are they attacking the Jews on their borders in Israel- proper? Did you see this reported on your


evening news? It seems the media only comes on the scene when Israel fires back to defend itself—painting Israel as the aggressor. What would the U.S. do if Mexico declared we had no right to exist and started shooting rockets into our country? We would likely take strong military action against Mexico until the attacks stopped. We would not wait for four years. That’s exactly what Israel is forced to do and yet they get criticized for trying to protect themselves. We wouldn’t allow anyone to shoot at us. Why should they? Indeed, the reason that there’s no


peace in the Middle East is because every time things are peaceful, Hamas starts attacking and initiating violence. Israel has never been the one to start aggression. Here’s the definition of a ceasefire: Israel ceases, and the Arabs continue to fire. Only


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the return of Jesus will bring peace to the region and to the world. And then, of course, there is the side of


those who favor the Palestinian cause. They claim: “It is shocking how the Israelis continue their propaganda of being under constant rocket fire.” “What about the sea, air, and land attacks? And the occupation over the last 60 years?” “Israel is occupying Palestinian land.” Ask anyone, if someone invades your land, won’t you fight back any way you can? “Israel is a terrorist country.” “Hamas


is the oppressed party fighting for their rights and land. Israel is a bully operating on the blind Jewish, ‘We are the Chosen People’ ideology. They are no different from the Nazis. Our U.S. tax dollars are supporting this terror. Write your representatives and demand that they cut funding to Israel.” You can see how passionate the


arguments are on both sides. Both sides say the land belongs to them. Obviously one of the two sides is wrong. Is there a way to find out who is right? Of course there is. Of two things we can be certain, history and the Bible, the Word of God. Neither of them lie. But if you don’t know your history, it’s easy to believe the lie.


There has never been a sovereign land called Palestine. Jerusalem has never been their capital. There has never been a Palestin- ian language. There has been no Palestinian culture, nor has there ever been a Palestinian people.


Let me make the truth easy for you to


uncover. First let’s look at the word Palestinian itself. What is the origin of that word? One of the popular and often-told stories in Jewish history is where the Roman Emperor Titus and his army came into Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. About three years later, the Roman army came up Mount Masada where there was a Jewish community that was trying to avoid the Romans. Rather than being killed by the


Romans, they all took their own lives. Many of us know about Masada. But there is a later story that many of us do not know and it happened in the year 132. Then


Roman emperor Hadrian changed the name of the city of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, and he changed the name of Israel to Syria-Palestina. Palestina was the Roman word for “Philistine.” And knowing that the Philistines were Israel’s fiercest enemy from history until then, Hadrian wanted to degrade the Jews by naming their country after their worst rivals.


Now, today’s Palestinians are also what are known as Muslims. Muslims follow the religion of Islam. It is one of the fastest growing religions today. In fact, one out of every five people on this planet follows the religion of Islam.


One of the claims made to the land


today by Palestinians is that they are the descendants of the original Philistines; therefore, they were in the land first— before the Jews. “It’s our land, you Jewish People,” was their mantra, “and you can’t have it back. We want it for ourselves!” Now that might be looked at as a fairly


convincing argument, except for several major flaws, including this one in Amos 1:8 that says God Himself would cause the Philistines to become extinct. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. God made the promise, and God kept the promise. Because 600 years before the religion of Islam came to be, the Philistines were gone for good. The point is, if you say that you descend


from a particular people group and that group was long ago made extinct, it’s kind of tough to have descendants from an extinct group of people. It simply is not there. But if the Palestinians didn’t come from the Philistines, where did they come from?


The facts are these—there has never


been a sovereign land called Palestine. Jerusalem has never been their capital. There has never been a Palestinian language. There has been no Palestinian culture, nor has there ever been a Palestinian people. But don’t believe me as a Jew because I say it. I’m only quoting the Palestinian leaders who say it themselves. Something that surprises many involves a Dutch newspaper called Trouw


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