By Dr. Mike Evans
President George Bush is moving full-speed ahead with his Annapolis Road Map plan to have a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital before he leaves office.
The president’s eight-day trip to the Middle East beginning on January 9th is to include stops in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to promote Arab-Israeli reconciliation.
It will be Mr. Bush’s first trip to Israel since becoming president. The Road Map to Peace plan was reincarnated at the U.S.-hosted peace conference in Annapolis on November 27, 2007, when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas pledged to forge a peace deal by the end of 2008.
President Bush’s command and control center for Israel will be The King David Hotel in Jerusalem, from Wednesday, January 9, 2007 to Friday, January 11th.
In Israel, President Bush will attempt to persuade the Jewish people that the U.S. government and the American people fully support the Road Map to Peace, proposed by the so-called international Quartet: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The plan for a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace was first outlined by Bush in a speech on June 24, 2002, when he described it as a “framework for progress towards lasting peace and security in the Middle East.”
However, this plan has become corrupted by Saudi Arabia and other fundamentalist Islamic forces into a plan to divide Jerusalem and make east Jerusalem – the home of Christianity – the capital of a Palestinian state and force Israel to return all lands reclaimed in 1967. Former prime minister Ariel Sharon asked to include 14 amendments to the plan. Then-secretary of state Colon Powell refused to include any. On January 3, 2007 Bush urged Israel to honor its commitments under the Road Map to remove West Bank settlements.
In its final stage, the Road Map plan calls for vigorous, unceasing, aggressive negotiations that would end in the creation of a two-state solution. Bush is the first US president officially to commit to recognizing a Palestinian state, despite the fact he refuses to allow the U.S. Embassy to be moved to Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem, under the spurious claim of “national security.” The only security involved is upsetting Saudi Arabia and the Arab League, who refuse to recognize the existence of the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel.
Phase 1 of the original plan was to include the ending of all Palestinian violence and the dismantling of all terrorist organizations and their infrastructure. It never got to Phase 2. President Bush has indicated that Israel must make “painful compromises” for peace. In addition, the plan includes Israel’s ceding control of the Temple Mount to the PLO in an effort to reach a lasting peace agreement.
The Road Map supported by the U.S., Russia, the UN, and the EU has raised over $8 billion since the Annapolis summit to assist the PLO to implement its objectives.
Evangelical Christians consider the rebirth of Israel in 1948 a fulfillment of prophecy. When President Harry Truman recognized the State of Israel, the chief rabbi of Israel declared, “God put you in your mother’s womb to bring about the rebirth of Israel after 2000 years.” Evangelicals also believe that the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 was also a fulfillment of prophecy.
A national Save Jerusalem Campaign has been launched in which more than 100,000 have signed an Internet petition in the last few weeks. The goal is for one million signers of the petition to present it to President Bush, whose plan to divide the City of David is the most aggressive of any US president.
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