He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin.’ - Genesis 16:12

A prophecy spoken to Hagar, about the child she was carrying, his father was the Patriarch Abraham, who lived in what is now Israel. Abraham had 2 sons, both named by God - Ishmael and Isaac. Both sons have modern day descendants. The Arabs are all descended from Ishmael and the Jews are all descended from Isaac. This makes them DNA cousins. They are family, and over the centuries like most families there have been squabbles, theirs got out of control, "he has indeed lived at odds with all his kin!"

So what are the arguments about mostly?.....inheritance and religion. Palestine, which the descendants of both sons of Abraham were entitled to claim, hasn't existed since 1948, when it got divided between the descendants. Both sons descendants had been living in the land since Abraham's time, both have always had a remnant and presence there. The last Colonists there were the British who ruled the area for a number of years, trying, with difficulty to keep the peace, between the cousins, and hated by both sides! The Jews for years had been the minority in their homeland but with the influx of holocaust survivors from Europe their numbers were increasing, and the British decided it was time to leave.

Like a responsible parent the UK decided, because of the squabbles to give them each their own rooms with a shared family area for religious reasons (Jerusalem). So Palestine was divided into 2 nations. It wasn't a 50/50 split of the land; Isaac's descendants, were still a minority. So Ishmaels group the Arabs of Palestine (Palestinians), claimed the elder sons share, the far larger and more fertile portion of the land - Today it is called JORDAN it is a FREE PALESTINIAN STATE! So there was and is a 2 state solution!

Isaac's group got the smaller, less valuable part and re-established ISRAEL. When the division occurred thousands were displaced, forced to leave homes and businesses behind and flee. Proper compensation should have been sorted and wasn't. Bad stuff happened, on BOTH sides, escalating into an Arab/Israel War. Israel, were outnumbered and outclassed, but still WON!

I feel for the Palestinians left stuck permanently in refugee camps, who had it hard. But they were not forgotten, in fact they got so much support in overseas aid they could have turned Gaza into a paradise. The returning Jews didn't exactly have it easy either - these were traumatized survivors of the worst Holocaust in human History and they have worked long and hard for 77 years to make Israel into a country of which they can be proud.

Today Arabs make up 21% of the Israeli population. I have heard a lot of rubbish talked about Israel practicing apartheid. Maybe 77 years ago, when the state was first reborn, but not for decades. There is an Arab supreme court judge in Israel and there are now and have been Arab members of the Knesset (Israel's parliament) since 1949 and Arab Israeli's vote in the Israeli elections as regular citizens. Israel even has some Israeli born Arabs serving in the IDF. The only difference is all Jews at 18 years have to serve a few years in the IDF, Arab Israeli's don't have to serve, the ones that have and are serving, do so voluntarily, which makes sense when you think about it.

Over the last few days we have come closer to WW3 than ever before but it is also a time of great hope - Iranians may finally be free of the evil regime and within days, the head of the snake that funded Hamas and Hezbollah could be gone. The Abraham Accords is seems will happen soon bringing peace finally between a large segment of the descendants of Abraham. Keep praying and pray also for a viable solution for the citizens of Gaza.