Nearly every day now, the media carries stories about Israel and the Palestinians. One of the major issues is Israel giving away some of the covenant land for peace. This land would include part of Jerusalem, the section which contains the site of the ancient Temple. Israel has been forced to give up land for "peace" since the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Dr. Gary Frazier has written an excellent article on this topic. His article in part follows.

Note: Dr. Gary Frazier of Discovery Ministries, Arlington, Texas, (garyfrazier.com) provides the following material from his booklet In the Arab/Israeli Conflict-Historical Fact vs. Fallacy. (2001)

According to the Palestinians, the real issue is their desire to have a homeland, a state, in what is now Israel, and control over sites they consider holy in East Jerusalem. They say they want to have the land back that was supposedly taken from them in the Six-Day war of 1967. This certainly sounds reasonable enough. In fact, so much so that many Israelis support a peace agreement with these articles included in it. Having said this, is this really what the Palestinians want, or do they really want the extermination of Israel and control of all that we now know as Israel?

The hatred, anger, and violence against Jewish citizens expose the true objective. One objective they might try to achieve is a state. The true objective, they will never achieve. How can I say this with such certainty? Because God has said so! By the way, in case you have forgotten, Israel did not take the land from the Palestinians in 1967. No one ever mentions it, but Jordan, Syria, and Egypt controlled the land gained by Israel. The Palestinians were never in control of this territory. Therefore, if the land were to be given back, it would have to be returned to Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. However, I must say here, to show how the Israelis desired to foster good will after the Six-Day War, Israel gave control and stewardship of the Temple Mount area to the Moslems. General Moshe Dayan has yet to be forgiven by many Israelis for this act of wishful peaceful diplomacy.

During the entire period of recorded history, that is more than 5,000 years, Palestinian Arabs never ruled Palestine. I want to repeat this due to the fact it is never spoken of by the media. The fact is, the only constant presence in the land has been a Jewish presence since the birth of Isaac. The numbers of Jews may have been minute at times, but they have remained, regardless. In addition to the Jews, there have been the soldiers of the occupying forces and their slaves. Century after century the culture, social fabric, and identity of these inhabitants changed as the ruling powers changed. Only the Jewish presence remained consistent as the sole survivors in the land, and they alone have maintained an uninterrupted national link since Abraham and Isaac.

In the current worldwide discussion regarding the land of Israel. no one seems to mention the fact that the Jewish claim to the land goes back 4,000 years with centuries filled with vital and consistent national life supported by biblical and archaeological proofs. For 3,000 years Jerusalem was the capital of the Hebrew nation. The historical and archaeological evidence is irrefutable. King David legally purchased the 35-acre area known today as Temple Mount, currently said to be the center of the dispute, from Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:21-24). This very piece of ground became the site of both the First and Second Temples in Israel; the center of Jewish life and identity 1,700 years before anyone ever heard of the Dome of the Rock (687-691 A.D.), or the Al Aksa mosque.

Zechariah, as he unfolds the prophetic scenario of God's great deliverance of Israel at the end of the age, said, "In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem." (Zechariah 12:6). This last phrase in the original Hebrew text simply says that Jerusalem shall dwell where Jerusalem always was.

Though there were Arab communities scattered in the territory of biblical Israel during the last hundreds of years, there was never a nation called Palestine ruled by local peoples. So, who are the real Palestinians? History records that all the inhabitants of the land came to be known as Palestinians since this was the name of the territory and even the Jews were called Palestinians until 1948. In fact, the early Jewish pioneers who joined those already in the land at the turn of the 20th century later carried Palestinian identity cards issued by the British, circa 1918, as their provisional passports. This was done until 1948 when all residents in the area became Israeli citizens, both Jews and Arabs.

It is interesting that during WWII, the British army drafted and operated a Palestinian Brigade made up entirely of Jewish troops. The Palestinian Symphony was 100% Jewish, and the Palestine Post (later to become the Jerusalem Post) was an entirely Jewish newspaper. The point is this: being a Palestinian had no bearing regarding one's nationality, religion, or ethnic background. It merely pointed to the geographical location of one's residence and nothing more.

The current Palestinians are the descendants of Arabs who arrived in Palestine, for the most part, only in the last two hundred years. Why did they come from the Arab regions? The answer is economic. The Arabs flooded into Palestine seeking jobs provided by Jewish commercial developments, which began in the late 1800s. The myth of a national Arab Palestine that goes back generations is a fantasy and a myth as well as an outright lie. There are no historical facts to document these claims. I want to hasten to add there are some Arab clans who can trace roots back for many generations, but they represent only a small, small fraction of the Arab population of today.

Palestine was never an established Arab nation taken away by the Jewish Zionists. Let me repeat this, Palestine was never an established Arab nation taken away by the Jewish Zionists. The truth is the Arab families who came to work in the land never felt any political ties to the land because they had always existed under the occupation of some foreign power. It was for this reason, both the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the League of Nations Mandate following WWI, charged the Jewish population in Palestine with guaranteeing the civil and religious rights of minorities in the land. These statements clearly recognized the only national claim to the land was that of the Jewish population.

In fact, the Arabs themselves, in the first quarter of the century, recognized the land as being the home for the Jews and expressed, in general, a very cordial acceptance. This was clearly demonstrated in the agreement of January 3, 1919, between Emir Feisal of Arabia and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, head of the World Zionist Organization. The Emir, a respected spokesman for the Arabs at the time, spoke with much favor regarding the future cooperation between the newly carved out Arab states and the future Jewish one. In Article I the Emir said, "The Arab states and Palestine (the Jewish State), in all their relations and undertakings, shall be controlled by the most cordial good will and understanding." The Emir identified and welcomed the emergence of a Jewish nation in Palestine parallel to the emergence of Arab nations in the region such as Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, etc., under both the British and French mandates. On March 3, 1919, in a letter to Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, the Emir stated, "The Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist Movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to the Peace Conference and we regard them as moderate and proper. We will do our best insofar as we are concerned to help their attainment; we will offer the Jews a hearty welcome home. ... I think that neither can be a success without the other."

Unfortunately these sentiments did not last very long.

In 1947 the Arabs were offered their own state alongside the area being granted to Israel. The answer from the Moslem was, they would never live in peace with the Jews, and drive them all into the Mediterranean.

On May 15, 1948, just one day after Israel's Declaration of Independence, five Arab nations attacked the infant state. Bear in mind there were only 675,000 Jews in Israel versus more than 50 million Arab Moslems. The Moslem nations called for the Arab residents of the area to get out of the way in light of the coming invasion, promising them a quick defeat of the Jews and an opportunity to plunder Jewish property and homes following their victory. However, the Moslem world forgot one very essential element, they were not fighting the tiny Jewish state, they were fighting God himself who was in the process of keeping His word spoken long ago by the ancient prophets.

After eight months of fighting, a cease-fire was established and the Arabs who fled could now no longer return to their willfully vacated property. Some were driven off by the Jews during the fighting. This was the beginning of the Palestinian refugee problem or the "Plight of the Palestinian" as so-called by the media. Following the War of Independence, Jordan took control over the region of Judea and Samaria on the West Bank of the Jordan River, which extends to Jerusalem. Egypt likewise controlled the Gaza Strip region as well as the Sinai Peninsula.

The Palestinian Arab population, many living in their own villages and some in U.N. constructed refugee camps, were under the authority of neighboring friendly Arab Moslem countries. The irony of it was they were now in the very territory allotted to them as their state by U.N. Resolution Number 181 of 1947, which had apportioned them a state next to the Jewish State. This was the very territory they had declined, preferring to have it all! It was not too late! At that time they could still have clamored for their own state but they did not. The question is why? Why did they not lay claim to the land as their state? To understand this, one must understand something of the Moslem mentality (I will say more about this later). Islam is a non-tolerant religion and cannot peacefully coexist with any other religion. Therefore, rather than live alongside a Jewish state in peace the Moslem nations chose to use the Palestinian people as pawns for sympathy, political manipulation and economic gain.

The neighboring Moslem countries elected to keep these people locked in a prison of dirty politics and abuse giving them no chance for economic gain, education or a future with real hope. I repeat it was the Moslem nations who did this to their own people. Using them to deceive the world and pressure Israel into compromises. I personally viewed some of these refugee camps. The filth, squalor and overall conditions were awful to say the least. The neighboring Moslem countries could have alleviated this suffering, had they so desired.

In June of 1967, Israel, learning of a certain attack upon her by her enemies, went to war after 19 years of continued skirmishes and acts of terrorism perpetrated against her by the Moslems. The result of the Six-Day War was Israel's gaining control of the Jordan Valley and the West Bank, the Old City of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and the Sinai. Israel increased her landmass from 8,000 square miles to 26,000 square miles. During the war, the refugees in the Jordan Valley fled across the Jordan River into Jordan and those in the Golan fled into Syria, with most in the Gaza Strip and Sinai fleeing to Egypt. Sad as it was, they were not welcomed and rather than being accepted became the lowest class among the people.

I personally feel great sorrow for the Palestinian Arabs. They have been fed a steady diet of hatred, anger, and vengeance. They have been told the Jews are responsible for their every problem and the answer is to kill as many as they can at all cost. The Moslem world operates on the same system as many historical revisionists in America today, and that is, if you tell a lie often enough it becomes true!

The world is clamoring today for a Palestinian state. What is incredible is that this myth has been and is being spread by people who should know better. It is incredible that this mythical state has already been recognized by the U.N. and given observer status. Amazingly this mythical state has a recognized president, Yasser Arafat (although never elected), and has been awarded ambassadorial status in several nations. In addition, many nations are pledging millions of dollars in financial support. Again, let me go back to 1947. Britain had made two sets of territorial promises during WWI. One promise to the Jews; a second to the Moslems.

The British sought to keep their promise to the Moslems while repeatedly violating the ones made to the Jews. It was clear to everyone the Arabs were being favored as nearly twenty new Arab states were carved out of the former Turkish Empire while at the same time the land mass promised to the Jews was being reduced dramatically. Of the land originally promised to Israel, only one-fifth was actually given while the other 78 percent was given to what is now Jordan. Yet, in spite of this obvious retraction of both Britain's promise and that of the League of Nations, the Israelis accepted this. Yet, in spite of Israel's willingness to accept this small portion, peace did not come and the Moslems attacked. However, the question begs to be asked, "Why did the British renege on their promise?" The answer is as follows. During the 1930s, as Adolf Hitler was coming into power in Germany, nearly 100,000 German Jews fled to what was then Palestine. The Moslem population did not like this large influx of Jews and began murderous anti-Jewish campaigns lasting some three years. The British, anxious to gain the support of the Moslem population against the Nazis, stopped the Jewish immigration. Europe was killing them, America would take in a limited number, and now Palestine was closed to them as well. The Jewish leadership clamored for an end to this blockade into Palestine.

Due to the fact that over six million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis (a historical truth denied by some of the Moslems), the Jewish leaders demanded the end of the British Mandate and their own state. The Moslems likewise wanted the British out but instead demanded the entire area of Palestine to be one nation with an Arab majority. This matter was hotly debated in the newly formed United Nations and the vote was in favor of a Jewish state. However, there were numerous problems with the proposed territory since it comprised only 22% of the originally promised land. In addition, it was then partitioned into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.

The area to be Jewish was made up of three disconnected regions largely desert with over 600 miles of indefensible frontier. Biblical Judea, Samaria, Gaza and much of the Galilee were taken away. The Old City of Jerusalem itself was to become an international city within the Palestinian state. As heartbreaking as this was to the Jewish people the leadership accepted this U.N. plan and on May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Independence of the new State of Israel. This compromise, this incredible concession still did not bring the desired peace.

The Arabs rejected the Partition Plan demanding all the land. Therefore, on May 15 the armies of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, along with contingents of several other Moslem countries, attacked the one-day-old state. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Yasser Arafat's uncle, was quoted as announcing, "I declare a jihad (holy war), my Moslem brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"

History reveals this attempt by evil to annihilate the Jews failed. Remember this-what God promises, God performs. God had promised a return to the land and because of this God was and is going to preserve the Jews in the land until Jesus comes! After nearly a year the war ended but without recognition on the part of the Moslem world of Israel's right to be in the land. Jordan moved to annex Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem as its own. The obvious result would be years of hatred with these areas becoming breeding grounds from which to launch terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. The irony of this was that now instead of the Palestinians having their own state, the Jordanians and the Egyptians occupied and controlled the land that had been offered to them. The Palestinians were isolated in refugee camps and kept as a subjugated people by their very own relatives!

The "land for peace" formula has never worked and will never work! The true motivation behind the quest for a modern Palestinian state is the extermination of the Jews. If this were not true then answer this, "Why must the Moslems have this tiny piece of land, when there are 32 Moslem nations with a landmass of more than 672 times the size of Israel with unlimited oil reserves?" The Moslem nations are more than twice the size of America, while Israel would fit in the peninsula between Orlando and Miami, Florida. Another illustration is that Israel is no larger than the state of New Jersey. In spite of it all, the motivation is demonic and giving more land will not resolve nor end the conflict. By the way, it is hypocritical for America to insist the Jews give up their land, unless Americans are willing to give America back to the Indians.

Jerusalem has been, is, and will continue to be the major stumbling block in any attempted peace. It should be noted and understood that Jerusalem was never an Arab, Moslem, or Palestinian capital. Jerusalem has been an occupied city since 63 B.C. Jerusalem was nothing more than a provincial city under foreign control that played practically no economic, social, or political role in the region since its destruction under Titus in A.D. 70. That having been stated, I must rush to add that Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible more than 800 times and has been at the heart of Jewish life for more than 3,000 years. In contrast to this fact, Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran, the Moslem holy book. I repeat: the city of Jerusalem is not named even once in the Koran!

As to the idea of East Jerusalem being the capital of a Palestinian state, one must remember there was no East Jerusalem until the Jordanians illegally annexed this area in 1948 and drove all Jews out. In addition, the Moslems began the process of systematically destroying all of the Jewish and Christian holy sites, attempting to erase the very roots of Jewish history for the last 3,000 years.

The Moslems speak often of their holy sites in Jerusalem. The fact is there are none! How then did Jerusalem become the often stated third most holy city in Islam after Mecca and Medina? In the Koran, Sura 17:1, it speaks of Al Aksa which according to Alfred Guildaume, a researcher of Islam, translates to, the farthest mosque, and does not refer to Jerusalem but to a mosque in al-Girana on the outskirts of Medina. It should be noted that when this Sura was written there was no mosque in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount named Al Aksa or anything else. Supposedly, it was from this distant place Mohammed ascended into heaven on his winged horse, El Baruk.

This story comes from the 17th Sura in the Koran and reads, "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed that we might show him our signs." As a result of this alleged event, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in particular have become holy to Islam. However, bear in mind there is no more evidence supporting this story than there is that New York City was the place! By the way, the Dome of the Rock, built by Abd-al-Malik between A.D. 687-691 was built on the location of the Jewish Temple. The Al Aksa mosque was built by Caliph Walid, Malik's son, between 709-715, and was built upon the foundation of a Byzantine church and still follows the general lines of a basilica.

What's the point you ask? Simple, the Moslems have no valid claim to any site in Jerusalem since both of the places are located in place of ancient Jewish and Christian sites, which predate Islam hundreds of years. In addition, it should be noted there is absolutely no historical evidence that Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem before his death in A.D. 632.