A one-state solution to the Israeli—Palestinian conflict is gaining favor in some circles. According to an editorial in the Los Angeles Times (Oct. 10), it would constitute "a single secular state in which Jews and Arabs would live in democratic harmony. This idea is percolating through the Western intelligentsia and even into left-wing circles in Israel."

The problem is that such a "new" state would not remain Jewish for long. As the article also stated, "the higher Arab birthrate would make Jews a shrinking majority." Reading between the lines, this proposal seems to be just another ostensibly more "humanitarian" way of grinding a very old axe.

The astonishing title of the Los Angeles Times editorial is: "Who Needs a Jewish State?" Although the text clearly states that "Israel must remain a Jewish state, and to do that and be a democracy as well it must always have a Jewish majority"—the title just on its own is very misleading if readers do not follow up by reading the clarifying remarks in the text itself.

Other recent sources, however, make the real issue more apparent. Consider the comments of Dr. Michael Glueck in Insight magazine: "For as long as there has been a State of Israel, there has been a temptation to believe that if Israel could somehow conveniently disappear—then the United States and the Arabs would have no major disagreements" (Oct. 4).

Also according to a report in World Net Daily, the Palestinian Authority continues to urge genocide against Israelis. One specific directive was: "Use TV broadcasts to urge killing of "brothers of the monkeys and pigs' . . ." (Sept. 16). This implies much more than mere distasteful rhetoric.

Author Shalom Freedman commented on the Iranian threat to Israel: "But the threat is such—the threat of using weapons of mass-destruction to destroy the state—that its transformation into reality would mean in effect the murder of hundreds of thousands perhaps even millions of Jews" (Israel Insider, Aug. 26). Shades of the Holocaust, or the Shoah, as the term is expressed in Hebrew.

Mr. Freedman continued: "This threat is openly made every Friday in the central mosque of Tehran where it is proclaimed that the "Zionist state' must and will be eliminated. This threat has been made frequently by various leaders of Iran, especially over the past three years" (ibid., emphasis added throughout).

In summary, noted author Conor Cruise O'Brien has asked: "Does Israel have the right to exist? The state of Israel has lived since its birth . . . under the pressure of that question and that question was preceded by another question: Do the Jews have the right to exist?" (The Siege, p. 25). That it would even be necessary to pose such absurd questions says something about our supposedly advanced, civilized world today.

You need to understand these grave issues in the Middle East and the essential biblical/historical background behind them. Please write for our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy. (Sources: Los Angeles Times, World Net Daily, Insight, Israel Insider, The Siege.)