Yet, a number of other questions in the survey help us better understand evangelical attitudes about both of the above issues. However, if we take a closer look at what is behind these demonstrations, we find religious currents and organizations whose political goals are always based on providing a given pretext or excuse in order to find legitimacy and gain public support. Israels taking of East Jerusalem in 1967, declaring a united East and West Jerusalem to be its capital in 1980, somehow something that does not belong equally to Palestinians any longer, Jerusalem is the capital in the hearts of the Palestinian people, Trumps Jerusalem Decision: A US Policy Perspective, Opinion Israel-Palestine Policy Under Biden, Donald Trump and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Assessing One-State and Two-State Proposals to Solve the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Opinion Confronting Israels Annexation Plans: From Fear to Hope, Revisiting Palestines Membership at the UN and Evolving Implications. In the 1948 war, following the UNs recommendation to divide Palestine, Zionist forces took control of the western half of the city and declared the territory part of its state. It is up to us to study the Bible and make up our minds biblically not politically and then allow your understanding of Scripture to inform the way we understand current events like the move of the embassy. There, Israels kings ruled and the Temples stood. We were so proud, and we felt our kinship to the Land of Israel was nearly complete until we went to the American Consulate in Jerusalem to get our daughters first U.S. Passport. He is a research fellow at The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). Historically, Jerusalem became the capital of Israel by decree of King David 3,000 years ago, based on his understanding of Gods own choice. We know that Jerusalem will be the capital future kingdom as it was in the past, but is this true today. On the first of December, President Donald Trump announced that the United States was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and directed the U.S. embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

There has been, and will be, political protests by those who have sought to undermine these facts with their own revisionist view based on a religious agenda of supersessionism. It reflects, I hope, the beginning of a new era in U.S. and other countries approaches to Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East in general, one that takes more seriously the empirical situation on the ground in those places at both the level of institutions and the people. E-IR is an independent non-profit publisher run by an all volunteer team. amount, in any currency, is appreciated. [1] Randall Price, Jerusalem in Prophecy: Gods Stage for the Final Drama (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1998), 7879. However, the fact of Jerusalem being Israels capital is simply a matter of empirics on both the institutional level and the level of the people. Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan to divide historical Palestine between Jewish and Arab states, Jerusalem was granted special status and was meant to be placed under international sovereignty and control. Therefore, Palestinians must seize the current momentum that has once again brought the Palestinian issue back to the center of international attention, and move forward with direct and serious negotiations sponsored by the United States, the European Union, and the Arab League that take advantage of the existing state of rapprochement between Israel and Arab actors in the region, led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Many of the debates today center on Israels taking of East Jerusalem in 1967 and declaring a united East and West Jerusalem to be its capital in 1980. They are required to fulfil a certain set of requirements to maintain their residency status and live in constant fear of having their residency revoked.. Israeli jurisdiction and ownership of Jerusalem, however, is not recognised by the international community, including the United States. An initiative of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Donations are voluntary and not required to download the e-book - your link to download is below.

We also understand that the first church was born in this great city, that the Gospel proclamation began there (Acts 1:8), that salvation is of the Jews (John 4:24) and one day as Isaiah describes, the kingdom will have its locus in this very same city of Jerusalem. During the 1967 war, Israel captured the eastern half of Jerusalem, which was under Jordanian control at the time, and proceeded to effectively annex it by extending Israeli law, bringing it directly under its jurisdiction, in a breach of international law. It has a great past, challenging present and glorious future. At this time, it seems that we are a long way off from a two-state solution becoming a reality. My wife and I were graduate students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem when our daughter was born at nearby Hadassah Hospital. Gamal Abdel Nasser often used the Jerusalem issue to stir up the masses not just in Egypt but across the Arab world by reiterating hate-filled slogans hostile towards Jews and Israel, which threatened to throw Israel into the sea and remove it from existence. Fax: 202-223-5364, Fikra Forum is an initiative of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It was for this reason that George W. Bush, while still a candidate, said as soon as I take office, I will move the U.S. Embassy to the city Israel has chosen as its capital.. Palestinian Jerusalemites are essentially stateless, stuck in legal limbo they are not citizens of Israel, nor are they citizens of Jordan or Palestine., Israel treats Palestinians in East Jerusalem as foreign immigrants who live there as a favour granted to them by the state and not by right, despite having been born there. Paul can refer to gentiles as children of Abraham (Romans 4:11) because its through faith, not ethnic lineage, that one gains access to the blessings of God. For this reason, it was called the City of the Great King (Psalm 48:2), and Israel, uniquely, has guaranteed religious freedom and access to all religions in Jerusalem since it regained sovereignty in 1967. He also leads annual tours to the Holy Land and is curator of the Liberty Biblical Museum, which houses many of the biblical artifacts he has collected throughout his career. Israel has always demonstrated its willingness to reconcile political disputes with the Palestinians through direct negotiations. Price is the author or co-author of 30 books and has produced five films in Israel. Again, it seems that evangelicals have a good level of certainty regarding issues that the Bible speaks to more directly. Israel, in particular, is the subject of many biblical promises and therefore, evangelicals are very concerned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and are willing to share their opinions about the situation. This also indicates that evangelicals have a grasp of the history of Israel and Jerusalem, but this knowledge of Jewish history is mostly derived from the Bible itself. However, the December 6, 2017 announcement by the president of the United States, acknowledges Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and indicates the beginning of the process of moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, causes Bible believers to consider this question more carefully. Politically, the United States has continually acknowledged Jerusalem despite its international status as a disputed city as the capital of Israel. While this did not happen under the Bush administration, in 2008, President Barack Obama declared, I have said Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and will remain so. And, just six months ago, the U.S. Senate marked 50 years of Jerusalems reunification with a vote of 90-0 that the U.S. Embassy should be moved to Jerusalem and that it should remain the undivided capital of Israel. How could evangelicals possibly not understand that Jerusalem is a literal city, the biblical and historic capital of Israel? The inciting of hatred and resentment against the other on the basis of religion has not and will not succeed in establishing a Palestinian state and will not force hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been living in Jerusalem even before 1967 to pack up and leave. When you think of the modern rebirth of the State of Israel in 1948 and the re-gathering of millions of Jewish people to Israel eighty percent say these events were fulfillments of Bible prophecy that show we are getting closer to the return of Jesus Christ and twenty percent say these were simply interesting geopolitical events.[2]. In Shiite Iran, which is ruled by a clerical regime, have used Jerusalem as a magical word of influence among Sunni Muslims and marketed Iran to itself as the only entity capable of reclaiming Jerusalem from the Jews. Perhaps we should start here in our biblical journey? For me, it is a very practical, empirical issue a sort of Weberian ethnographic realism (to be distinguished from Realism in IR). Over the past 2,000 years, even during times of occupation and persecution, a Jewish community resided there and maintained it as their eternal capital., In 1948, when the U.N. voted to partition Israel into Arab and Jewish states, Israel immediately reaffirmed Jerusalem as its capital and enshrined it in its national anthem, Hatikvah (the Hope): As long as within our hearts the Jewish soul sings, as long as forward to the east to Zion looks the eye our hope is not yet lost. Though Israel claims Jerusalem as its undivided capital, the realities for those who live there cannot be more different. support open access publishing. Presumably, in a two-state situation where a peace is respected on both sides, this would no longer be the case. So, the battle is really over the question of whether Israel should control East Jerusalem; I lean to the Palestinian side on that question, so I am not trying to understate its importance. Dr. Ramy Aziz is a researcher and analyst for the Middle East and international affairs. As he does so, I hope that he is also asking Donald Trump for recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. However, if we take a careful look at this decision, we find many benefits can be reaped that would favor the negotiation process between both parties. Such fortified settlements, often scattered between Palestinians homes, infringe on the freedom of movement, privacy and security of Palestinians. This clarifies the extent of Egypts eagerness to preserve internal stability over its concern for the Palestinian issue and Jerusalem, and how the opportunity to protest by the opposition, which could in fact turn into protests against the regime itself, has finally died. On Oct. 18, Liberty honored the culture, heritage, and accomplishments of past and present Jews during a Judeo-focused Convocation. All in all, the meeting would be described as more formal and routine than anything else. Both sides complain about the current state of non-peace. The survey reported that 76% of the survey respondents support the Jewish peoples right to live in the sovereign state of Israel. Nonetheless, Palestinians are rightfully concerned that naming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will carry the normative weight of making Jerusalem somehow something that does not belong equally to Palestinians any longer. No country in the world recognises Jerusalem as Israels capital. When considering a question such as Jerusalem, my approach is at once institutional and grassroots in orientation. There will continue to be condemnation from the politically biased United Nations General Assembly. It is two thousand years old, to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem., However, during the 1948 War of Independence, Jordanian forces conquered and occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem containing the historic Jewish Quarter, the Temple Mount and Western Wall, Hebrew University, and Hadassah Hospital. Both sides want peace. In response, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 478 in 1980, declaring the law null and void.Theillegal Israeliannexationof East Jerusalemviolates several principles under international law,which outlines that an occupying power does not have sovereignty in the territory it occupies. On the other hand, twenty-three percent say that the Palestinians should be allowed to create their own sovereign state while thirty-one percent disagree and forty-six percent are not sure! Israels settlement project in East Jerusalem, which is aimed at the consolidation of Israels control over the city, is also considered illegal under international law. Early last year, Dr. Randall Price and Liberty students and faculty helped to uncover evidence in a cave in Qumran, Israel, making Christianity Todays Top 10 Discoveries of 2017 for Biblical Archaeology. This would suggest that since Jerusalem is the historic capital of the land that they would be likely to think the same, at least for West Jerusalem. This seems to carry over to modern Israel as the survey participants also view the regathering of the nation of Israel from the diaspora to be the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. It is in Jerusalem where all presidents and leaders who visit Israel are received, where Sadat held his famous speeches forty years ago and not in Tel Aviv or Haifa. We understand that in the future Jerusalem, the nations of the world will be commanded to come up and worship the King during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot, Zechariah 14:16-19). This promise included the land, of course, which would also include the most well-known city in Israel: Jerusalem. [2] Survey report, Evangelical Attitudes towards Israel, Life Way Research, p.3, [3] Gary Burge, You Can Be an Evangelical and Reject TrumpsJerusalem Decision The Atlantic, December 6, 2017 accessed December 7, 2017, https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-you-can-be-an-evangelical-and-reject-tr/f-3c5d40d935%2Ftheatlantic.com, Jerusalem in the Bible and throughout history. The Institute is a 501(c)3 organization; all donations are tax-deductible. So, lets review the facts from historical, religious, and political perspectives. This has proven to be untrue since Trump and the United States recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has not inflamed the region or caused Arab and Muslim allies of the United States to cut ties with the U.S. or expel American diplomats from capitals across the Arab and Muslim world. They also carry temporary Jordanian passports without a national identification number. Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights. Israels occupation of East Jerusalem effectively put the entire city under de facto Israeli control.

This decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, regardless of its importance, was not received well or accepted by the international community. The majority of those with evangelical beliefs attribute the primary reason for their support of Israel to the Bible including thirty-three percent who affirmed the statement the Bible says God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people.. But, others are in Jerusalem and, certainly, all would be in Jerusalem in a situation of non-conflict. That is, where are the major national or state institutions? Even though such language in official speeches ceased with Anwar Sadats signing of the peace agreement with Israel, the regime permitted currents of political Islam among the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups to adopt and use this issue, albeit with continued coordination and supervision from the regime. To begin with the level of the people, overwhelmingly, Jerusalem is the capital in the hearts of the Palestinian people. Your donations allow us to invest in new open access titles and pay our Liberty has continued to nurture a relationship with Israel. This week the U.S. officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the modern state of Israel. From this vantage, arguments for ethnic land claimssuch as disputes over Jerusalemsound foreign.[3]. Recognition of these facts by President Trump was nothing more than following through on the historical reality of the city, the religious precedent going back to biblical times, and the political intentions of the U.S. government and past presidents. The views expressed by Fikra Forum contributors are the personal views of the individual authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the Institute, its staff, Board of Directors, or Board of Advisors., . We cannot be sure of this again as it is a deduction, but it would seem to be logical, as according to the survey, evangelicals get most of their understanding of Israel from the Bible itself. All content on the website (with the exception of images) is published under the following Creative Commons License, Copyright E-International Relations. Before you download your free e-book, please consider donating to Most of us understand that giving up half of Jerusalem would pose a security threat to the Jewish state. Moreover, no country in the world recognises Jerusalem as Israels capital, with the exception of the US and Russia, the latter whichannounced its recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and East Jerusalem as the capital ofthe future Palestinian state., As of now, embassies in Israel are based in the commercial capital, Tel Aviv, although some countries have based their consulate offices in Jerusalem..

But, if traditionally embassies are placed in the capital city of a country then I would say absolutely yes. The undertaking of such a move however has been avoided by a number of former U.S. presidents (Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama) on the pretext that it would have negative consequences for the peace process and U.S. interests in the Arab and Islamic world. And where are the people on the question? But again, this is a deduction, as the question was not directly asked of the 2,002 survey participants. In the meantime, any Jew around the world enjoys the right to live in Israel and to obtain Israeli citizenship under Israels Law of Return.. negative consequences for the peace process and U.S. interests in the Arab and Islamic world. This is a very controversial issue from a political perspective as Israels neighbors and supporters around the globe disagree with this decision, as they are hoping for a two-state solution, which would once again divide Jerusalem, East Jerusalem for the Palestinian state and West Jerusalem for the Jewish state. This would settle the Jerusalem issue in a heartbeat, as he does not think it will ever belong to the Jewish people by divine covenant capital or not. A recent survey entitled Evangelical Attitudes toward Israel was initiated by LifeWay Research and supported by both Chosen People Ministries and author, Joel C. Rosenberg. In the case of Lebanon, it is possible to sum up the current situation in a short sentence: the Lebanese State is being hijacked by Hezbollah an arm of Iran which Lebanon has been incapable of handling.

Those efforts also helped to, Spurred on by the founder and his legacy, Libertys church planters have impacted lives for Christ across the U.S. and abroad Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell Sr. served in every, The stories of Jesus Christ and those who walked the earth with Him are the most powerful stories to ever make it on screen. However, the regime used these Islamists as a boogeyman to coerce support from both the United States and Israel, while the Islamists searched for any chance, even though it be subject to the governments conditions, to demonstrate their numerical and organizational potential. Should the United States have moved its embassy to this holy city? When diving into the grass-roots level of this scene on the streets of the Arab world, we find that there are nevertheless protests and demonstrations across several Arab and Islamic capitals such as Cairo, Amman, Beirut, Ankara, and Tehran. It is unclear if embassies existed throughout biblical history. READ MORE: What are illegal Israeli settlements? However, regardless of that controversy, which is valid, Israels Parliament (the Knesset) has been located in Jerusalem since 1949. Hilsden is co-founder of the King of Kings Community in Jerusalem, a Messiah-centered congregation that seeks to unify the faith-based community in Israel. She is co-editor (with Simone Raudino) of Beyond the Death of God: Religion in 21st Century International Politics, (University of Michigan Press 2022); and author of Judicial Power and National Politics: Courts and Gender in the Religious-Secular Conflict in Israel (SUNY Press 2017 and 2008). The Palestinian issue and the case of Jerusalem remains the most frequently used case by such religious and political opposition movements in the Arab and Islamic world to rally support and cover up internal concerns and the failures of their institutions. As for those who try to exacerbate the situation by selling lies about religious sites and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the U.S. presidents recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has stressed the United States respect for the current situation in the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) and Prime Minister Netanyahu has explicitly stressed in his subsequent remarks that there would be no change to the status quo of the holy sites. The current Knesset building was constructed in the late 1950s. At the head of the list of those who did not welcome the idea is the European Union, which fears that such a decision would have negative effects on negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, which have already been stalled for several years. Wayne Hilsden, founder and president of Fellowship Israel Related Ministries, delivered the message. Those who cannot prove that the centre of their life is in Jerusalem and that they have lived there continuously, lose their right to live in their city of birth. They must submit dozens of documents including title deeds, rent contracts and salary slips.Obtaining citizenship from another country also leads to the revocation of their status. The survey also discovered that eighty percent of evangelicals agree that Gods promise to Abraham and his descendants were for all time. I remember specifically the major demonstrations that swept across Egyptian universities during the second Intifada in 2000 undertaken by students belonging to these Islamist currents and headed by the Muslim Brotherhood, the protests, the chanting of anti-Israel and Jewish slogans, and how it was supervised by officers of the SSI. So why is it astonishing that the United States recognized it as the capital, when it in reality already was the capital? Again, this is a deduction, but it seems to make sense. The international community officially regardsEast Jerusalem as occupied territory. Now, The Chosen, the first multi-season, Liberty University 2022 1971 University Boulevard, Lynchburg, VA 24515 (434) 582-2000.

It has remained Israels capital ever since, and though other nations conquered and settled in the Land of Israel, none ever declared Jerusalem as their capital. This shift in emphasis, which challenges the exclusivity of any one tribe and universalizes blessing, explains the world-mission of the ancient church and the inclusion of Gentiles in Jesus Jewish messianic movement. For decades, since the return of Jewish control over Jerusalem, hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Muslims have visited and prayed in Al-Aqsa Mosque freely without anyone stopping them. The line designated for country of birth read Jerusalem, not Israel. When I inquired of a consulate official, I was told bluntly, the U.S. does not recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel.. Formerly, the U.S., while promoting direct negotiations, abstained from recognizing Jerusalem the major issue in this dispute which emboldened the Palestinians to independent action. The special status was based on Jerusalems religious importance to the three Abrahamic religions. It was the first major discovery related to the Dead Sea Scrolls in 60 years. The decision disrupts the current peace process like a stone crashing into tranquil water and has once again brought the Palestinian issue to the forefront of current events after having fallen to the bottom of the list of concerns for both the Arab and international community in recent years, given the emergence of other more pressing matters. Nasrallah has always justified the crimes of Hezbollah by claiming the road to Jerusalem does not pass through Jounieh, as some say, but rather passes through Al-Qalamoun, As-Suwayda, Zabadani and Al-Hasaka.. have sovereignty in the territory it occupies. As for my daughter, it now means she will get a new passport with a long-awaited change affirming that being born in Jerusalem means being born in Israel! That is, if ever there is a peace, breakers of it must be punished by their own government and its effective institutional and bureaucratic apparatus. The status of Jerusalem remains one of the main sticking points in efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In Israel, the main institutions of the national government are in Jerusalem and have been since the years immediately after the establishment of the state (as quickly as was practicable). That spring, Liberty announced a financial investment in leading-edge development projects in the technology, medical, and defense industries in Israel. What about Palestinians? Since 1967, Israel has revoked the status of 14,000 Palestinians, according to Israeli rights group BTselem. While Palestinians live under apartheid-like conditions, Israelis enjoy a sense of normality, guaranteed for them by their state., of East Jerusalemviolates several principles under international law,which outlines that an occupying power. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He has also had an extensive career as an archaeologist, serving as the director of excavations on the Qumran Plateau in Israel (site of the Dead Sea Scrolls community) since 2002. Most disciples of Jesus are not experts on Middle Eastern politics! That is, a government may be able to offer representative bodies to hear and voice the needs of the people but, without political institutions and an effective and operational bureaucratic apparatus, the needs of the people may be heard endlessly without any chance of ever being met. This will provide a helpful path to travel in figuring out what we believe about the city of Jerusalem and nation of Israel. But the area in question is familiar to us because we read the Bible, both the Old and New Testament. The current location of some of the national institutions of the Palestinian Authority has to do with limited access to Jerusalem due to the real security situation of the state of Israel. Every Israeli prime minister since has declared the city the eternal and undivided capital of the Jewish State. Sir Winston Churchill, recognizing the historical reality that no other people could restore Jerusalem to its former glory, remarked to British diplomat Evelyn Shuckburgh, You ought to let the Jews have Jerusalem; it was they who made it famous..