Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas where she promised to "redouble ... efforts to improve the conditions of the Palestinian people" and press Israel to ease the closure of Gaza border crossings.

Now here is a little test of memory – what forced Israel to seek to secure the Gaza border crossings? Could it be the constant flow of missile components through those border crossings that are then assembled and continuously fired at Israel's surrounding population centers? Or maybe the suicide bombers that come across into Israel with Palestinian workers for whom the Hamas government has provided no industry or jobs?

Has anyone ever considered that the Palestinians have no jobs because both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas has squandered billions of dollars in aid on weapons instead of building a financial infrastructure to provide jobs for their people.

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Why doesn't anyone face the truth? The main obstacle to improving conditions for the Palestinian people is the Palestinian people. Specifically, their overwhelming decision to elect Hamas to represent them as their government.

Hamas refuses to work with Abbas because it refuses any compromise that doesn't lead to Israel's destruction.

Rice also said she and Abbas had discussed ways to "make possible a life for the Palestinian people that is not subject to the kind of daily humiliations that we know have been associated with the occupation. That is my program here." Hey! Let's get real. The main reason the Palestinian people elected Hamas is because the Palestinian Authority did not provide an economy either.

Rice's comments sound like Yasser Arafat had scripted them. "Daily humiliations" associated with "the occupation"? What occupation? The only territory under Israeli "occupation" is Israel. Israel unilateral pulled out of Gaza, forcing their own Israeli settlers out, and gave the Palestinians free reigns over that territory. They showed their gratitude by raining missiles down on every civilian target near enough to hit.

Recent moves by the U.S. secretary of state have Israelis scratching their heads in confusion. Noted a despairing columnist in the Jerusalem Post, "Rice had previously insisted that Israel endorse the transfer of weapons to Palestinian security forces to strengthen the PA. Although reluctant, Olmert agreed to do so in May on the grounds that "'we need to help Abu Mazen.'"

Rice has announced that the U.S. will also fund the expansion of the Abbas Presidential Guard from 2,500 to 6,000 troops. By any other name, the U.S. has forced one "appeasement after another."

"Appeasement" seems to be the new U.S. policy toward Islam in the hope of placating the terrorists it allegedly inspires. It is true that the most often-cited reason for Islamic terror against the United States is U.S. support for Israel. But has anyone stopped to consider that Islam has stated that the United States is hated for reasons unrelated to support for Israel? We are considered by the Muslim world to be the main "infidel base of opposition" to all that they believe. We are "the Great Satan," whereas Israel is only "the Little Satan."

Noted the Jerusalem Post, "The Iranian threat to wipe Israel off the map with a nuclear weapon, now emboldened by North Korea, creates a scenario for the next potential 'Tisha Be'av.' Israel may soon be pressured to assume the role of Czechoslovakia in 1935, which was sacrificed on the altar of appeasement to enable the cowardly Europeans on the eve of World War II to achieve an illusory peace with the Nazis."

The Word of God says, "Surely the LORD God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)

So all concerned hear what God says: "For behold, I am commanding, and I will shake the house of Israel among all nations as grain is shaken in a sieve. But not a kernel will fall to the ground. All the sinners of My people will die by the sword. Those who say, 'The calamity will not overtake or confront us.' In that day I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David and wall up its breaches. I will also raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom (Arab peoples) and all the Gentiles who are called by My name, declares the LORD who does this." (Amos 9:9-12 NAS)

God revealed His Word concerning these days through His prophets centuries ago. And we are witnesses to it being acted out before our eyes.

God predicted that He would bring Israel back to their ancient homeland after centuries of the dispersion among the nations and the land becoming a desolation. He predicted that the surrounding nations (which are all Muslim) would seek to destroy this restored state of Israel and draw all nations of the earth into the conflict.

But as God swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He will defend those among His people who believe in the true Messiah and settle them in the land forever – along with all the Gentiles who believe in the true Messiah during that period of tribulation. And who is this true Messiah? According to ancient prophecy, He was born in Bethlehem to descendants of David and called a Nazarene. "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are too little to be named among the clans of Judah, yet from you ONE will go forth for Me to be Ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." (Micah 5:2)

And God also said of Him, "And now says the LORD , who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him (for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and God is My strength), He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and rescue the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light to the Gentiles so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:5-6)

This great Servant of God has been a "light to the Gentiles" for 2,000 years. Now he is returning to fulfill His covenants to the believing remnant of His people Israel. And nothing will stop Him.

It would be wise for American foreign policy to stay in alignment with God's plan. The Czechoslovakian Solution will only bring our destruction as a nation. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

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