The Palestine Problem: Let’s put the blame where it belongs.
Gideon D. Asche

“Never discount the absurd.” – An officer I worked for used to say that all the time. Mission planning always included 3 or 4 ridiculous and unlikely obstacles to overcome. The concept saved my ass on more than one occasion.

Jakkob, our Colonel, liked to tell a story about how one of the greatest Special Operations missions in history almost failed because no one considered the absurd or planned for it. He was one of the officers who planned and executed operation “Thunderbolt” (The Entebbe Raid).

As he told it, more than a klick out from the terminal, in the middle of nowhere, they came across a lone Ugandan soldier. The poor guy probably just slipped off to sneak a pull off a flask or get high, Suddenly he is looking at Amin’s presidential limo – Only the occupants wear the distinctive Star of David on their uniforms….  it’s full of Sayeret Matkal.

I can’t help but wonder if he shit his pants.

The flash of an unsuppressed Galil was the last thing he ever saw as one of the Paras in the rear vehicle swiftly dispatched the stray Ugandan sentry with a burst of fire. The immediate problem this created was, with the sound of gunfire, the jig was up.

Ugandan Security forces knew they were under attack… and the Commandos were still a klick out from the target. Command had to adjust the mission template on the fly. They made it to the Terminal, and in spite of an intense firefight, they the recovered 103 hostages, killed all seven terrorists along with a gaggle of Ugandan troops, then destroyed 11 enemy fighter aircraft who would have given chase to the unarmed C-130s on the long flight home. 

The Unit lost only one man; Col. Yoni Netanyahu (יהי זכרו ברוך) and three hostages that day, but the entire mission was almost a failure because no one considered a guy might be out getting high or taking a leak.   Someone with a suppressed weapon should have been tasked with dispatching any such surprises.   The Para’s instinctive reaction should have been a rehearsed controlled response that stopped him from discharging an unsuppressed weapon. The oversight could have been very expensive.

I tell you this in an effort to prepare you to accept an even more absurd scenario about who is to blame and why the Palestinian problem will never be solved…  at least not until a very old promise is kept.

If I’m correct, the current efforts toward peace in the mid-east are as useless as tits on a boar hog.  No matter how sincere all sides might be; the end result will be a dismal failure. – but,  I do not believe both sides are being sincere.

According to  Art 13 of the HAMAS Charter, all ceasefires and treaties must be broken. They teach that honoring an agreement with Israel is an abomination to their god.

I’ll save some of you from expending the effort to send me the inevitable e-mail telling me I’m biased toward Israel.   I am in fact unbelievably biased toward Israel. Ninety-nine percent of people who see me realize this fact on sight, my left arm leaves no room for misunderstanding where I stand on about Israel. However: my position on Israel is not political, or religious… it is simply gratitude, Israel purchased my life from the abyss -but that’s another story altogether.

During the Cold war, I spent over ten years operating in a clandestine capacity in Eastern Europe.  DDR, Czechoslovakia, Romania, USSR and that general area.  In about ’77 someone figured out the anti-communist underground behind the Iron Curtain was the same group of people who made up the Underground Christian Church.

Consequently at least one field operator from every team in our group studied theology. It gave us an edge, when dealing with assets on the other side if we could understand the weird things they did.

On my team, it ended up being me, and I spent several months with all my in-country time devoted to auditing classes at a local Pentecostal seminary.  Somehow, my study of scripture always led to questions that were bordering disrespect to God.

They were valid questions in my mind, so I asked them.  Things like why Balaam’s donkey didn’t kick the living shit out of him, then have a talk with him? It seems like a couple of knots on his head would have been just the emphasis he needed to know never beat the ass that bore him again.

I’ll never forget the day I asked my Old Testament professor what they did with all the foreskins. We were discussing the Exodus. He thought I was being a smart ass, but I wasn’t. I figured if God has enough Hutzpah to screw with Moses’ buzz on the mount maybe he was kidding about circumcision.

Naturally… I wondered what they did with 5 million-plus foreskins. Did they pile it up in the desert, was it the skin used in the Tabernacle… it still perplexes me, but I have concluded it is just one of the mysteries of scripture I will never understand and let it go at that.

As a result of my theological training, I tend to apply biblical history and biblical principles to
the assessment of any situation. Occasionally something fits.

The Palestine problem is one of those issues scripture brought into complete focus. I asked myself: What is stopping the good folks at the IAF from excavating Gaza by air and rebuilding it as an upscale tourist resort? It would be less hassle and make a mint for the Israeli treasury.

It’s taken years but… Finally – I am convinced I have an explanation. It’s not a good one because it leaves no possibility of a solution, but that very fact is one of the factors that lead me to this conclusion.

Please Understand:  I don’t expect you to embrace my conclusions, Hell, I’m not sure I embrace them myself… but the scriptural references are accurate, and the logic is sound and relatively sober.

Even if you believe scripture is a fairytale and God is some mythical hairy old hippie dude hanging around in his magic underwear spewing rainbows on humanity, singing kumbaya and holding all the good green bud for himself – Try to consider that while religion may not have an effect on your life, the majority of both sides of the Palestine issue are controlled by religious beliefs and conflicts.

This is much more than a conflict between two brothers from different mothers. Their argument is just the thorn – prophecy and disobedience are the festering puss that makes it hurt.

When Israel entered Palestine, God told the new HFMIC, Joshua, to clear the land of heathens. He was to kill every man woman and child living there and start over. Joshua started with a city everyone knew to be invincible – Jericho. We know how that turned out for Jericho.

After Jericho, it got around that Israel was coming through so rather than fight and die, a few cities decided to hoodwink Israel into a mutual treaty.  They sent emissaries to meet with Josua before he got to their lands.  They agreed to submit to Israeli rule, pay tribute, provide crops and troops for the Army and just about anything else they thought this unstoppable hoard wanted.

Joshua agreed and gave his word, as the head of Israel, to be friends with these kings and not destroy their cities. – In today’s world, we would call it a mutual defense agreement – the US has one with Israel today.

Within days Joshua’s army came upon one of the three cities, and when the King invoked the treaty, Joshua was angry, he had been deceived. The emissaries he met were dressed in tattered clothing and their provisions were spoiled bread indicating they had traveled a distance: They had lied to Joshua claiming they were from afar, not just up the road.

Too late… The Priests told Joshua… “God says… You made the deal in my name … you will not break it in my name.”

Although Israel is forbidden from destroying these three kingdoms and required to protect them from enemies. Joshua modified the agreement and cursed the Palestinian to the lower stations of life. Treated like chattel and allowed just enough to survive but never thrive.

Technically, the descendants of these kingdoms, Gaza, the settlements, and the Palestinian Arabs still have a valid treaty with the God of Israel and personally, I think God is pissed — Israel is making him look bad with the Gaza situation.

Unless Zion decides to go back and reinstate the treaty Joshua made – Gaza will be a thorn in Israel’s side for eternity. There is no hope for peace in Palestine until Israel makes peace with God for not keeping the promise Joshua made in his name. – Or maybe it is Just Oil.

Just a thought –  and if any of you ever figure out what happened to the foreskins – please let me know… Gid