Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount is the reason cited by the Palestinians for the commencement of violence. But he rightly explained that he was merely expressing his right as a Jew to visit the most cherished site for Jews. From a larger perspective, His visit was God-ordained, to force the issue to come to a breaking point. For in the days just prior to that, Barak had indicated he was ready to consider relinquishing authority over the Temple Mount. This appeasement is not pleasing to the Lord, who designated this precious plot of land as His special place. He is not going to sit idly by and allow them to surrender it.

The Palestinians claim to be not the initiators of the violence, but only reacting to Israeli provocations. This is ludicrous, as any objective observer of the events can easily see. Their actual motives are clearly in view on the official "Ministry of Information" web site of the Palestinian Authority. There, the events of the last few weeks are headlined as the "Intifada for Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa." Their profane desire to seize sovereignty over Jerusalem, which Jesus called "the City of the Great King," and the Temple Mount, from which Jesus will reign, is the crux of this violence.

From a Biblical perspective, these events are not unexpected. We who believe the Word of God understand that this was inevitable, and was foretold by the prophets of the Lord. From now until the time when the Lord Jesus triumphantly takes His place on the throne at Zion, those who are opposed to the rule of God will be plotting and grasping to seize Jerusalem. But God has given it to the Jews, with a sworn oath that He will not retract.

This is why the so-called "peace process" was doomed from the beginning. The strategy of those involved was to defer the question of Jerusalem as long as possible, thinking that over time some magical solution might manifest itself. For the Palestinians, this was a masterful strategy, because they were able to obtain many concessions from Israel along the way. They probably assumed that the negotiations would eventually grind to a violent halt once the intractable issue of Jerusalem was actually addressed in the talks. Arafat has been declaring all along that his immutable objective is complete control of Jerusalem.

Therefore, what has happened is what many of us who believe the Scriptures foresaw: the Palestinians would grab whatever they could during the elongated negotiations, and then, after the talks hopelessly fell apart on the issue of Jerusalem, would switch to violent means to obtain their objectives. Israel, instead of putting their trust in the Lord and believing His promises regarding the land, has put their trust in the good will of a "peace partner" which has no good will. They have belatedly come to realize that the Palestinians and the Arab nations have no interest in true peace.

For anyone who wishes to truly understand the situation, the fact that the Arabs are not interested in peace is evidenced by the statements made by many Arabs throughout the region. They want Israel to be entirely obliterated from the land. Earlier this month, when I was in Jerusalem, I asked a Palestinian merchant in the Old City what he thought would happen. He told me, "We will get rid of the Jews from our land, not just the West Bank, but all of Palestine. The Jews can go back to Europe or wherever they came from."

The true sentiments of many Arabs and Muslims are expressed in this quote I copied from the "Guest Book" of the Palestinian Authority web site. "It's time for that all Arab nations to wake up and unite all of our military power, give weapons to our brothers Palestinians and KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL all of the Jews. Let them know how it is like to lose your son, father, sister, mother and so on. Brothers purge the sacred land of the evil that been infected it for so long. TOGETHER UNITED WE WILL DESTROY THOSE RACIST MONSTERS KNOWN AS THE JEWS. AND MAY OUR FURY SPAN TOO ALL THE ALLIES OF ISRAEL TO THE DEATH OF THEM. JIHAD MY BROTHERS - LET NO JEWS SURVIVE." (spelling corrected)

Unfortunately, this is representative of the attitude flaring up in many Arab countries. The Palestinians and Muslim Arabs in the surrounding nations view Israel as occupying land that belongs to them. They will grab every piece that Israel relinquishes, and destroy any remnants of Jewish culture and religion that they can. This was painfully demonstrated last week after Israel foolishly surrendered control of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus to the Palestinian Authority. Assured by the PA that they would protect the site, the very next day it was sickeningly destroyed by mobs of gleeful Palestinians. The headline in the newspaper "Al-Ayyam" happily proclaimed: "Palestinians liberate Joseph's Tomb." They intend to likewise "liberate" all of the land through violent means, with the help of the surrounding Arab nations.

Today, the leader of the Tanzim (Fatah military groups) Marwan Barghoute stated that the intifada will not cease until they have achieved their goals. He said "Our operations will continue until the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

Despite all that has happened, Barak and others continue to hold on to the illusory notion that the Palestinians desire peace. Today, he said, "In the end, we will make peace with the Palestinians." On the contrary, what Mr. Barghoute said is more accurate. As a result, Israel will necessarily respond with even more forceful actions against mob violence, and will become increasingly isolated, criticized, and vilified by the international community. Anti-Semitism will dramatically rise; such incidents are already occurring worldwide. Also, the provocations and kidnappings by Hezbollah will become intolerable, and Israel will be forced to take strong military action against Lebanon and Syria.

As Bible-believing Christians, we are not happy to see the violence, but we do eagerly anticipate the work of God's sovereign hand to accomplish His plan. As noted in the article War on the Horizon, there are Bible prophecies that may be speaking of this current crisis. To summarize those, a full-blown war will ignite between Israel and Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinians. Israel will win a resounding victory, which will include the destruction of Damascus and the gain of much territory. (See the article No More Malicious Neighbors for a map of the possible future borders).

The situation is not going to be peacefully resolved. But the current conflict is part of a providential plan. God has His own objectives for Israel - that they once again come to know who He is, that they call on His name for protection, that they trust in His stated promises to them, and that they acknowledge the Messiah and Savior they had rejected. The Scriptures tell us that in the aftermath of the coming war with Syria, "in that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel." (Isaiah 17:7 NIV) Zechariah concurs with that in his "burden against Damascus": "for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the LORD." (Zech 9:1 NASB)