December 11, 2008
Steve Collins
The Saudi government has apparently made an important, new peace gesture toward the Israeli government. I say “apparently” because the Saudi government was not the source of the “peace feeler.” It came from a Saudi writer whose column was released via an Arabic-language newspaper in London. Given the strictures on dissenting expression in the Saudi Kingdom, it is unlikely a Saudi columnist would have penned this piece without tacit approval from the Saudi government.
The link below (from Israel National News-INN) contains the story about this indirect Saudi peace gesture toward the Israelis. The Saudi column, by Mash’al Al-Sudari, expressed a “rare expression of a pro-Israel view,” in the words of INN. The Saudi columnist wrote that “the Arabs have a history of self-inflicted blows” in their opposition to the Jewish State of Israel, and “he criticized the Arab world for exhausting all its resources over the issue of ‘Palestine” and wasting money and time” that could have been far better spent in building up the Palestinians economically instead of opposing the Israelis. The Saudi writer also observes that the Iranians have seized three Arab islands in the Persian Gulf, hinting strongly that the real enemy the Arabs need to be concerned about is Iran.
This is a remarkable development which has not been reported in the mainline western media. Unless I miss my guess, the name of the Saudi author is also important. His name is “Al Sudari” and he may, therefore, be related to the Sudari clan, one of the ruling families of Saudi Arabia. If so, his piece must surely constitute a “trial balloon” at an effort to achieve a reconciliation between the Saudis and the Israelis.
I’m sure most readers are familiar with the proverb: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The truth of that statement is pushing the Arabs and the Israelis closer together. Both the Arabs and the Israelis are increasingly threatened by a common enemy: Iran. Iran is Shiite Moslem and ethnically Persian while the ethnic Arabs are Sunni Moslems. The Arabs and the Iranians have both an ethnic and a religious schism between them. With the Iranians close to developing nuclear weapons, and the USA preoccupied with a severe (even unprecedented) economic/financial crisis, the Arabs need to develop a closer relationship to a new ally which has nuclear weapons of its own. The Israelis are the obvious candidate for this relationship, even if this sounds historically bizarre to some readers. The Israelis, under nuclear threats from Iran, need regional allies against Iran, so the Israelis might be very receptive to a new arrangement in the Mideast which draws the Israelis and Arabs closer together.
There is a biblical prophecy which allows for such a development. In Ezekiel 38:2-7, there is a list of nations which will compose an anti-western alliance in the prophesied “latter days” of our age (see my article “Are We Living in the Biblical Latter-Days?” available at the Articles link at this website for a detailed examination of this subject). Ezekiel’s prophecy names Russia (Magog, Meshech and Tubal), China (Gomer and all his bands) and Iran (Persia) as principal nations in this anti-western alliance. As evidence of the Divine authorship of this prophecy, Russia, China and Iran are, indeed, primary allies in a new anti-western axis. Other nations are listed as being participants in this latter-day, enemy alliance. Cush (translated “Ethiopia” in the KJV) points to the nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan as being in this anti-western alliance as the “Hindu Kush Mountains” straddle the Afghan-Pakistan border. This is an Al Queda/Taliban stronghold, further confirming that this prophecy is being fulfilled in our time. Notice that none of the nations which descended from Abraham (the Jews, the ten tribes of Israel, the Ishmaelites and Edomites) are mentioned as being in this anti-western alliance. Their omission from the list of Russia’s allies in Ezekiel 38 argues via silence that all the nations descended from Abraham may be allied on the opposite side of the Gog-Magog alliance. Since Ezekiel 38 does identify the Iranians, the Taliban/Al Queda homelands and (very likely) Pakistan as Islamic members of this final Axis alliance, the omission of the Ishmaelites (the Arabs) or Edomites (Turkey) is especially noteworthy because these Ishmaelite and Edomite nations are also Islamic nations.
The Saudi columnist may have just signaled to the Israelis that Saudi Arabia would like to end their historically hostile relationship and cooperate in a joint effort against the growing Iranian threat to both of them. If the Likud party wins the Israeli elections in February, 2009, Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to become the Israeli Prime Minister. Even as it was a conservative Cold-Warrior, President Nixon, who “went to China” to thaw relations between the USA and China, Netanyahu may have the nationalistic credentials and standing to do a similar step with the Arabs. If so, the Saudis have apparently signaled that they are already receptive to a new relationship with the Israelis.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128750
