eNews

The Palestinian Authority has prepared a chair for their intended seat at the United Nations – a blue chair embroidered with the words "Palestine's Right." The blue chair will be taken on an international tour as an effort to convince the world's countries that they should vote to recognize a Palestinian state this fall, regardless of what agreements the Palestinian Authority does or does not make with Israel.

An opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald on August 29 offers some carefully worded pro-Palestinian propaganda. Sonja Karkar writes:

"Israel's own unilateral move in declaring statehood after the UN's intention to partition historic Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state cannot be avoided. It underscores that Palestine was never a land without a people and that Israel's existence was imposed on Palestinians, robbing them of their homes and land and destroying their proud and millenniums-old society."

There have indeed been people in the Holy Land for millennia – a wide variety of people. Jews, Arabs, Syrians, nomadic herders have all had communities in the land for centuries. A variety of different powers, from the Romans to the Ottoman Turks, have controlled this part of the Middle East during the last two thousand years, but there has never been a Palestinian state run by "Palestinians."

There have been many societies in the Holy Land throughout the centuries, proud and otherwise. The people now called Palestinians sit on lands that prior to the Six Day War in 1967 were controlled by Egypt or Jordan. Karkar's portrayal of a single Palestinian people with a long proud history doesn't fit with the facts.

Now, after 44 years of butting heads and a perpetual impasse, the Palestinian Authority wants to circumvent negotiations with Israel. It seeks an end run around certain moves necessary to keep peace with the Jewish state –  things like rejecting terrorism and recognizing the State of Israel.  The PA is instead pushing to create a Palestinian state via an upcoming United Nations General Assembly vote in late September. A Security Council vote would be more binding, but the United States can veto decisions at the Security Council. 

Disaster's In The Air:
Some people expect a UN vote for a Palestinian state to settle the issue. That's not only naïve, but dangerous. Not only will there be no peace, but Israel anticipates immediate attacks on settlers in the West Bank if the vote goes through. The settlers are certain to fight back, causing the West Bank to explode in bloodshed. Israel security forces working in settlements are being armed with riot gear in advance of the September 20th debate on the issue.

Headed For Defeat?
Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, told the Foreign Ministry last week that Israel simply does not have the support to oppose the General Assembly resolution. The Palestinians have the diplomatic upper hand, and they only need a majority of votes – just 51 percent – to gain recognition.

Besides encouraging violence however, the General Assembly's vote will almost certainly fail to create a peaceable two-state solution. Israel will not give up its settlers or East Jerusalem just to please the United Nations. Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza will not suddenly affirm the existence of Israel and treat their neighbor with respect. When Israel moved settlers out of Gaza in 2005, the immediate result was an increase in rocket attacks over the border onto Israel. Without any true cooperation or peace agreements, the result of a Palestinian state created by vote is unrest and destruction.

Both Israel and the United States have urged the Palestinian Authority to return to the negotiating table. Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has said the PA would agree once again to negotiate if Israel stops building settlements and uses the 1967 borders as the basis for negotiations. Neither of these things are likely to happen.

US President Barack Obama recognizes that "initiatives through the UN will not bring about the two-state solution and enduring peace, which both the parties and the US seek."  The US will discourage the declaration of a Palestinian state, but the General Assembly can still vote however it chooses.

When the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation threatened DeSoto County schools with legal action unless they stopped leading prayer before high school sports games, the parents and students of DeSoto County took over. Prayer may no longer be offered from the PA system before football games, but fans in the stands have started saying the Lord's Prayer themselves.

It started when the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) discovered that schools in DeSoto County, Mississippi sponsored prayer before sporting events, having prayer led from the loudspeaker. The organization contacted the DeSoto County school district in mid-August, informing its leadership that legal action would be taken if the school-sponsored pre-game prayers did not stop. DeSoto Superintendent Milton Kuykendall received a letter saying, "We ask that the school district commence an immediate investigation into the complaints alleged and take immediate action to stop any and all prayer occurring before any athletic events and graduation ceremonies."

The school district stopped the prayers coming from the PA system, but it did not stop "any and all prayer" because the residents of DeSoto County wanted to keep praying, and they have a right to. 

Rioters in London used online networking three weeks ago to join up and rampage across the city on a path of fiery destruction. Not a good thing. On the other hand, the population of DeSoto County used online networking to meet up and recite the Lord's Prayer together before football games. A DeSoto County 4 Prayer group quickly organized and parents and students wore t-shirts with the Lord's Prayer on the back. They went on prayer walks at the school before classes, and they prayed loudly in unison from the stands before the games started. The guy behind the PA system might have been forbidden to lead the pre-game prayer, but the people at the ball field said it anyway.

The FFRF may not have realized it would be setting a fire, and some residents see the whole ordeal as a blessing in disguise. "All they've done is increased the awareness, as Christians, of what we need to do to step it up and bring revival to DeSoto County," said parent Ronnie Pollard.

In the famous 1962 case of Abington School District v. Schempp, the US Supreme Court ruled that public schools could not lead students to pray. In the case of Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe (1999), the Supreme Court ruled that even student-led, student initiated prayer violated the 1st Amendment if it was authorized by the school. School-led prayer has been under constant attack since.

Students' freedoms of religion and speech do not end, however, when they walk onto school property. The people in the stands are free to pray – and pray out loud – as long as it's their idea and the school isn’t either encouraging or discouraging it.

"It should be a person's Constitutional right to pray if they want to pray," says resident Gary Frazier. "I think people from Wisconsin ought to mind their own business."

A Bad Taste:
Since beginning their assault on school-sponsored prayer in DeSoto County, the FFRF has reported receiving plenty of non-fan mail. Superintendent Kuykendall made a statement last week accusing the FFRF of seeking to make millions of dollars off the lawsuit it had threatened to bring against the county.

"We get a lot of crank mail and abuse from religious blogs," Gaylor said. "It's incredibly depraved, horrible language and grotesque sexual imagery, and we can put up with that but we won't put up with a public official trying to defame us."  The FFRF has sought a retraction from Kuykendall. 

Those who have written "depraved" letters should be ashamed.  If we claim to follow Christ, we should represent Him well by looking like Him and acting like Him, including in the way we approach those with whom we disagree.  We need to honor Christ in all we do.

Sweet Victory:
At the same time, the people of DeSoto are excellent to pray out loud in the stands to honor God before games, and we should take their efforts to heart.  They should be commended for their show of unity in standing up for religious freedom in America.  Parent Leigh Harris expressed the heart of many:  "It just brought tears to my eyes to see all those people together saying the Lord's Prayer."