Mr. Peace and Safety, Part Two

by Michael G. Mickey

(12-15-06)

In the original "Mr. Peace and Safety" commentary, I wrote about a variety of topics, noting that I expected the next significant development in Middle East peacemaking involving the European Union to occur in Mid-December. As a result, a reader wrote me today to inquire as to when I'd follow up on that. My reply to him was it seemed Turkey had taken up all of the EU's time at the mid-December meeting, but I'd keep an eye out for any new developments I should hear about. Well, about an hour later, I stumbled across a development I recently missed which is contained in a news story from several days ago.

In the first "Peace and Safety" commentary, I'd spoken of how a recently-proposed peace conference like the one held in Madrid, Spain in 1991 might play prominently into events leading us closer to the advent of the Antichrist, stating the following, in part:

As I stated earlier, if European Union Foreign Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner has her way, the new EU-led peace plan I've spoken of recently, which is being pushed by Italy, France and Spain, will be brought before EU leaders for potential approval at that time, Ferrero-Waldner believing that "while the peace initiative is positive, the EU should speak with a single voice on foreign policy matters."

So, what did the EU's leaders decide on this plan during the mid-December meeting held this week? As reported by the BBC, they "endorsed a five-point Middle-East peace initiative." The five-point Middle East peace initiative they were referring to? The plan put forth by Spain, Italy and France, of course, which sets the following goals, as outlined in a Ynet news article:

• An immediate ceasefire.
• The formation of a Palestinian unity government.
• A prisoner swap between Israel and the PA which would including the three recently-kidnapped Israeli soldiers.
• Talks between the Israeli Prime Minister and his Palestinian counterpart.
• An international force that will deploy in Gaza and reinforce the ceasefire.

Now that we know the European Union has endorsed the plan of Italy, Spain and France, what is the EU going to do? Well, if you've been following along with me any length of time, you already know! The revived Roman empire of Bible prophecy is going to continue posturing itself for fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy concerning a prince (or leader) of Roman descent confirming (or making strong) a seven-year peace covenant in the Middle East to occur - the advent of the Antichrist!

In all my time of writing commentaries for the site, I've never seen a time when what I've expected to occur is being so closely mirrored in the news of our world today, at least concerning Middle East peacemaking. What I've been saying is that something was going to happen, sooner or later, to move the United States out of the leading position in Middle East diplomacy, putting the European Union squarely in the driver's seat. Bearing that in mind, my breath was almost taken as I read the contents of a BBC report entitled "Europe mulls new role in Middle East".

The BBC report opens with the following remarks (emphasis added mine):

European powers are asking themselves what they can do to revive the stalled peace talks between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Last week the US Iraq Study Group report criticised the administration of President Bush, saying that to achieve its goals in Iraq and the wider Middle East, America must commit itself with renewed energy to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.

The report's eminent authors, including former US Secretary of State James Baker, called for direct talks between Israel and its neighbours Lebanon, Palestinians ("those who accept Israel's right to exist", they make clear), and Syria.

On the ground, however, the prospects of meaningful peace talks look bleak. And US influence is at a very low ebb.

While meaningful peace talks may look bleak to some, US influence is precisely where it needs to be for a leader from the revived Roman empire to play an enlarged role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fact, as the report unfolds, the US is referred to as "an obstacle to peace moves." Not only that, the report states that both Israelis and Palestinians are "calling for European nations to take a lead in re-launching a peace process in tandem with America." Imagine that!

Interestingly, the BBC report quotes Yossi Beilin, an architecht of the Oslo Accords which had a seven-year timeline from 1993-2000 when a Palestinian state was to be born, as saying, "The role of the Americans is a negative one. For the first time in history they are pushing us not to negotiate with others."

The United States is bad; the EU is good. Get the picture?

It seems the EU may be about to embark on a new era of success in the Middle East, but what vehicle will they use to achieve peace, the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Quartet's Roadmap or the new five-point initiative of Spain, France and Italy? I don't know but I don't presently see the first option as a viable peace covenant.

Why I don't believe the European Neighbourhood Policy is the peace covenant of Daniel 9:27

It seems that every day someone is asking me about the European Neighbourhood Policy potentially being the peace covenant of Antichrist, to which I typically respond that I don't believe it is. Why? Because if it is, as I reason with those who wish to hear my opinion on the topic, why do we continue to see everyone scrambling to try and come up with a plan to bring "peace and safety" to the Middle East? If, as it has been suggested by some, the ENP will be confirmed with many on 1-1-07 in fulfillment of Daniel 9:27, why doesn't anyone believe it's THE plan for Middle East peace who is actually working toward reaching that seemingly unreachable goal?

Here's how the European Neighbourhood Polcy is described on the front page of its site (emphasis added mine):

Since the 2004 enlargement, relations with our neighbours have become the EU’s main external priority.  Through the European Neighbourhood Policy, we aim to avoid new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and our neighbours to the east and on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean. We invite these neighbours, on the basis of a mutual commitment to common values, to move beyond existing cooperation to deeper economic and political, cultural and security cooperation - strengthening stability, security and well-being for all concerned. The new feature is that we go beyond cooperation to include economic integration, for those ready and able.

What I typically tell people concerning the ENP is that I don't dismiss its significance out-of-hand, but view it more as an economic bargaining chip the EU can utilize to achieve its goals in the Middle East if it chooses to do so.

As we look at the words of Yossi Beilin in the BBC report, he doesn't mention the ENP by name but he strongly implies that the EU should use its economic relationship with both Israel and the Palestinians as leverage to achieve Middle East peace. This is how I feel the ENP could effectively play a large role in the future fulfillment of Bible prophecy concerning the advent of Antichrist, potentially being the device that not-so-gently nudges the Israelis and Palestinians toward peacemaking.

Yossi Beilin, on the topic of EU economic leverage, isn't quoted as saying the following in the BBC report, but it's clear that he guided the reporter who prepared the report to reach the following conclusions:

The Europeans are the largest donors of aid to the Palestinians and use that position to demand wide-ranging reforms.

Europe could also have considerable leverage as Israel's largest trading partner if it chose to use it.

So far it has not done so.

My best bet, at present, is the EU is going to seize the opportunity before it at this hour in human history and utilize its economic might to take a strong leadership role in Middle East peacemaking, bringing the United States and the rest of the Quartet along for the ride as its one-on-one relationship with Israel has been strained in the past and yet is in the eyes of many. By including the United States in its plans as a member of the Quartet, the EU will get much further in reaching its goals than it would alone and, at this point, I think the United States is willing to do most anything to improve its image in the Middle East, as well as in the world at large for that matter.

But does the European Union have agreement within itself as to how to best achieve Middle East peace?

The following is an excerpt from the BBC report:

Spain, France and Italy have sought to step into a field long dominated by the Americans.

But as before their voices risk being drowned out.

Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, has not taken on board the plans championed by Spain, France and Italy.

"We have made too many plans," he declared. "What I want is peace."

But how?

Mr Solana, like a host of European ministers, travels indefatigably to the Middle East to urge the principal actors towards agreements.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair will follow him later this week, after an EU summit ends this Friday.

Yet a worrying possibility now hangs over Europe's involvement in the Middle East: that it may be too close to the Americans to command respect; and the many different voices being raised in Europe make it hard to discern a clear purpose.

If the prophesied Antichrist is out there in the world right now, and I believe there is an outstanding chance that he is, the revived Roman empire is slowly but surely moving into the diplomatic spotlight in the Middle East. Even as this takes place, there seems no genuine consensus as to how the EU is going to approach its peacemaking efforts from this point forward.

As the BBC report demonstrates to us, there are any number of paths present that the revived Roman empire may travel down toward fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 and, in similar fashion, any number of a "host of EU ministers" who "indefatigably" (or tirelessly) travel to the Middle East in search of peace who could be the Roman prince we commonly refer to as the Antichrist, as described in Daniel 9:26.

It's going to be very interesting to continue following this end times storyline to see which peacemaking approaches prevail and which ones fail, which diplomatic masterminds lead the charge for Middle East peace and which ones stumble to the wayside. I look forward to writing as much as I can on the topic of Middle East peacemaking in the future, of course, fully knowing that, sooner or later, everything is going to fall right into place! In fact, the time when that will occur may be drawing very near!

A mini-commentary on Gog-Magog:

One final thought, not on the Antichrist but on the Gog-Magog battle of Ezekiel 38 & 39 and its timing.

In the BBC report I've talked about so much in this commentary, a Palestinian lawmaker by the name of Mustafa Barghouti is quoted as saying the Europeans "are in a strong position to push Israel to give up its settlements and its horrible apartheid wall, and to give up the territories that it illegally occupied in 1967."

Ahhh, Israel's infamous separation barrier! Is it going to remain standing? No, which makes Barghouti's words very interesting, from my perspective.

In Ezekiel 38:11, we see Israel described as follows, leading up to the Gog-Magog attack:

And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,

It has always been my position that the prophesied Gog-Magog battle may take place in the early Tribulation Period because the description of Israel we see in Ezekiel 38:11 is nothing like the Israel we see today, its long-stretching separation barrier being a major obstacle to Ezekiel 38:11's fulfillment anytime soon. But what if a prince of Roman descent confirmed a seven-year covenant of peace in the region and news outlets around the world, in a scene reminiscent of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, were able to begin broadcasting live around the globe that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has FINALLY been resolved, broadcasting both Israelis and Palestinians tearing down that wall? It would make for high drama, wouldn't it? It would also set the stage for Gog-Magog to occur.

As usual, no predictions as to where all this is headed by me. Rather, thoughts for us to weigh seriously as to where things may be headed as we look at the news of our world today through the lens of Bible prophecy.

Keep looking up!