During the past US presidential election, President Barak Obama chose Egypt as his first foreign destination and Governor Romney made his election promise to first visit Israel. There could not have been a more starkly defined difference between the prophetic views of these two leaders. Obama believing he possessed the capacity to alter facts on the ground by redefining the Islamic ideal and Romney believing Israel represents the ideal.
In a previous article I emphasized the present day cold war that is masked by the Arab Spring and implored readers not to be fooled by Russia’s role in Syria, Iran or their historical engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan. It struck me that a result of the economic competition between the Soviet Union and the Allied forces at the end of the Second World War was the wall that divided Berlin and Germany for more than 40 years. It also became apparent that the German wall enabled a cultural and political divide that may bear some relationship to the wall built by Israel’s previous Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
For many years I have questioned why Sharon, despite all of his policy statements and political ambitions unanimously reversed everything he apparently stood for to build the wall that today divides Israel and Jerusalem. Was it security, demographics, immigration? I asked these questions over and over again sometimes of his closest advisers. I tried on many occasions to discover the justifications for his action including his resolve as Prime Minister to walk on the Temple Mount in a declaration of Jewish sovereignty over the sacred site. Recently, whilst considering Russia’s role in the Syrian conflict, I found an answer that may just have motivated him to act so boldly and it may have a bearing on Obama, the 44th President.
Notwithstanding Israel’s direct efforts to dispel Iran, Russia’s recent $4bn arms deal with Iraq is indicative of shifting alignments endorsed by the USA to share trading benefits to deter Russian insistence on continuing Syrian and Iranian trade. In return its likely the Russians have agreed to reduce their support to those countries - a fact that may become apparent and pivotal in months to come.
Thinking through the Sharon era, I am increasingly convinced he considered that Russian economic pursuit would fuel Middle East geopolitics including by their using Israel as a scapegoat for improving Russian arms trade. The pent up Muslim fervor orchestrated around the Palestinian issue that fueled Israel’s second intifada and that which inspired and followed 9/11, provoked President Bush to alter the balance of power in the region. Since settlement of such a war would require declaration of land and economic rights for the prevailing parties, its possible "Sharon’s wall", built in advance of the encroaching cold war, would declare Israels future concession before serious conflict arose. Thus, it would take the wind out of the Islamic insurgency's sails.
In actual fact, Sharon’s wall may eventually lead to conditions for unification of Israel and Jerusalem in much the same way East and West German constituents demanded of Reagan and Gorbachev. The 45th President of the USA is likely to preside at a time when future conditions for lasting peace truly emerge. There is an ancient Jewish prophecy and teaching that the 45th King of Edom, considered to be the leader over the people of the USA, will inaugurate over the final process of Jewish redemption. This heralds a time of great hope and lasting prosperity in the world. We hope and pray!
See my most recent article - Israel's Forthcoming Miracle!
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