First, it's important to understand why YHWH restored His people to the land that He gave them in an everlasting covenant:
Ezekiel 36:18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols [wherewith] they had polluted it: 19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. 20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These [are] the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. 21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. 22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not [this] for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. 23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I [am] the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them]. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Even the heathen should be able to see and be impressed by the fact that the Lord restored His people to their land after over 2500 years of being scattered among the nations. And now that we are in what Daniel's prophecy calls the time of the end, and his book has been unsealed, we can see Daniel prophesied this restoration through two parallel problems that span 2500 years, and pin the year of the restoration of His people to their land in 1948 and to their city in 1967 and the "times of the gentiles" in Jerusalem fulfilled - right to the year.
But before further delving into ancient history and legal title to the land it's important to note that by the early 1800's, Israel had, essentially, been abandoned. This began when Jerusalem suffered a physical desolation in 70AD when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and threw down Herod's Temple - every stone - just as Jesus had prophesied, and killed over a million Jews. The Romans went on to kill over a half of a million more Jews during the Bar Kochba Revolt less than 70 years later. And as if the following 500 years of continuing persecution of God's people as the Roman Empire declined wouldn't have been enough, an additional 1200 years of physical and spiritual desolation was in store, after Muhammad's followers seized Jerusalem in 639 while in the process of conquering nearly the whole known world during the Islamic First Jihad.
During that 1200 years of spiritual desolation of the Holy Land, and as if they had intended to further perfectly fulfill prophecy by completing the physical desolation as well, the harem keeping geniuses running Islam's Ottoman Empire imposed a tax on property based on the number of trees it contained. The predictable result was that folks cut their trees down to reduce their tax burden, resulting in the loss of millions of trees, and subsequent desertification. Thus the spiritual and physical desolation of Jerusalem was complete by the early 1800's - in spades - as further evidenced by a near-nonexistent population.
In "A History of the Jews" Paul Johnson writes on page 321: "Between 1827 and 1839, largely through British efforts, the population of Jerusalem rose from 550 to 5,500 and in all Palestine it topped 10,000 - the real beginning of the Jewish return to the Promised Land. In 1838 Palmerston appointed the first western vice-consul in Jerusalem, W.T. Young, and told him 'to afford protection to the Jews generally'."
"In 1835 Alphonse de Lamartine wrote: “Outside the city of Jerusalem, we saw no living object, heard no living sound. . .a complete eternal silence reigns in the town, in the highways, in the country.â€[7]
In 1844, William Thackeray writes about the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem: “Now the district is quite deserted, and you ride among what seem to be so many petrified waterfalls. We saw no animals moving among the stony brakes; scarcely even a dozen little birds in the whole course of the ride.â€[8]
In 1857, the British consul in Palestine, James Finn, reported: “The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is that of a body of population.â€[9]
In 1866, W.M. Thomson writes: “How melancholy is this utter desolation. Not a house, not a trace of inhabitants, not even shepherds, to relieve the dull monotony … Much of the country through which we have been rambling for a week appears never to have been inhabited, or even cultivated; and there are other parts, you say, still more barren.â€[10]"
In 1867 Mark Twain described it as: “ ...[a] desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds-a silent mournful expanse....A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action....We never saw a human being on the whole route....There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.â€
"...of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color...the valleys are unsightly deserts fringed with feeble vegetation that has an expression about it of being sorrowful and despondent."
While the Jews began to be restored the Promised Land a couple hundred years ago, the "green movement" was kicked off more formally in 1910, with the founding of the first kibbutz on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Among the many prophecies heralding this event, about 600 years prior to the Christian era, Ezekiel prophesied regarding a desolation and restoration.
Ezekiel 36:35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities [are become] fenced, [and] are inhabited.
Jerusalem growing from a population of just 550 to over 3/4 of a million people, with the population of Israel growing from 10,000 to over 7.8 million. That tiny strip of land emerging from total desolation as the Israelis advanced as world leaders in agricultural innovation and technology. The Gush Katif greenhouses alone produced about two hundred million dollars worth of exports per year.
"...the community of Atzmona had Israel’s largest plant nursery, and with 800 cows, the Katif dairy was the second largest in the country."
If you are looking for a fairytale ending you're in for a disappointment. These industries were located on the Gaza strip, that the Israelis developed. Secular international powers then brokered a deal in which the Gaza strip was to be handed over to the so-called "Palestinians", in exchange for yet another empty promise of peace with the Israelis, by Muhammad's followers that are committed to destroying the "People of the Book" just as Muhammad mass murdered them, while also enslaving some, and confiscating the fruit of their labor back then as well.
The Gaza Strip's new owners, were to take over the operation and profit of the greenhouses but instead, predictably, plundered, destroyed and abandoned them. Rather than producing food and flowers for export, the "Palestinians" instead used the Gaza strip as a platform - now closer to Jerusalem - from which to launch thousands of rockets randomly into Jerusalem, as capable of hitting schools and hospitals as anything else.
The greenhouses are abandoned today, and 4,000 high tech greenhouse jobs the Jews provided for the Palestinians churning out two hundred million dollars worth of produce a year, were turned into 500 farm jobs.
"Finally, a Palestinian 'Charity' Tells The Truth" By Debbie Schlussel
"A Gaza charity headed by the interior minister of Hamas yesterday offered $1.4 million to any Arab citizen of Israel who abducts an Israeli soldier."
I wonder how many "Christians" funded that "charity" believing they were helping "Palestinians"? Is it really a stretch to believe that funds sent to aid Palestinians are fungible, funding both welfare and bombs? Who keeps track of such funds, the interior minister of Hamas?
If you want to help the downtrodden why don't you help folks who are actually suffering, like those in Africa, through organizations like Mercy Ships, Voice of the Martyrs, and Compassion International?
And the Gaza town of Neve Dekalim today?
"Hamas turned the site into a barbed-wire enclosed terror training camp from which Qassam rockets were launched into Israel. Signs posted in Arabic state that it is a "closed military zone." Mahmoud al-Zahar, chief of Hamas said that Hamas planned to launch terror attacks that would drive Jews out of the West Bank and the entire state."
How many months, much less years, would you want your government to restrain itself, if bomb carrying rockets were dropping into your neighborhood?
".... terror only intensified when Israel completely and fully withdrew from the Gaza Strip, when it handed it in full to the Palestinians! They of course find it easy to forget that it wasn't until two years after the withdrawal, two years of continued rockets that a blockade was put up to prevent the smuggling of these rockets, of these weapons."
So rather than two hundred million dollars worth of produce, the export of "Palestinian" Muslim residents of Israel today is terrorism, as detailed in their own words through countless web sites, and videos on YouTube.
Start with a YouTube search like - Islam indoctrination of children
Besides being highly productive as an inherent part of the nature of Jews, another reason the Israelis have been able to become so innovative, productive and prosperous, as compared to their Islamic neighbors, is because they are the only democracy in the Middle East that champions the freedom and right to self-determination of its citizenry that also shares our western values. That's also why Muslims enjoy more freedom in Israel than they do in any Islam controlled country on earth.
The blessing the Jews have been on all our families was prophesied.
Genesis 12:2-3 And I will make of thee [Abram] a great nation, [Israel] and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Let's compare the "People of the Book" to Muhammad's followers, in terms of Nobel Prizes, to get a little better understanding of how Jews have been a blessing on "all families of the earth".
The Global Islamic population is approximately 1.5 billion, or about 25% of the world's population. They have received 5 Nobel Prizes. The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000, or about 0.2% of the world's population, yet they compose 22% of all individual recipients of Nobel Prizes worldwide, between 1901 and 2009 in: Literature: 10 Peace: 8 Physics: 53 Economics: 13 Medicine: 43 Chemistry: 24
When was the last time you bought something that was made in the Middle East - except for crude oil - and even that was produced by foreign companies from democratic nations. This is because, rather than joining the rest of the world in striving to create a better life for future generations, the leaders of Muhammad's followers focus on denigrating Jews and spending their wealth on arms and armies to kill them, wipe them out to the last, and "drive them into the sea". These are true, fundamental, followers of Muhammad, and leaders of Islamic nation states and mosques, that get Islam and do what they can to do as Muhammad did.
Don't take my word for it. Do a YouTube search like - islam kill jews - to hear it in their "religious" leaders own words. Or read the Quran and Hadith for yourself, free online. Try word searches on those resources like "fight" and "jihad".
Even here at home. Do a web search - u.s. mosques jihad
Whose side are you on?
