Well it's about time. We have been waiting for the EU to formally begin the process of offering the "security" part of the peace deal in the Middle East, and we may be seeing the early part of these negotiations. This is under the assumption that the covenant of Daniel 9:27 will be confirmed with such 'enhanced security' in order to make the deal stick - possibly the only way to confirm the covenant.
Ultimately, of course, it will be the antichrist (who comes from the 10 Kings, who come from the revived Roman Empire) who confirms this deal, but the ground-work will have been laid. This may mark the very early part of such a process:
The European Union is ready to provide Israelis and Palestinians with “unprecedented” financial, political and security assistance and a significant upgrade in ties if the two parties reach a peace agreement, the union’s foreign ministers announced Monday.
The promised package, which includes upgrading bilateral relations to a so-called “Special Privileged Partnership,” can be understood as a major incentive to prod Israeli and Palestinian leaders into signing a final-status deal. Israeli officials reacted tepidly, if not cynically, to the plan, saying that as long as it does not include concrete proposals, neither side will rush to amend its positions to overcome the current stalemate in negotiations.
The offer was made by the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council, which adopted the conclusions in Brussels.
“The EU will provide an unprecedented package of European political, economic and security support to both parties in the context of a final status agreement,” a statement from the council read. “In the event of a final peace agreement the European Union will offer Israel and the future state of Palestine a Special Privileged Partnership including increased access to the European markets, closer cultural and scientific links, facilitation of trade and investments as well as promotion of business to business relations.”
The EU would also offer both states “enhanced political dialogue and security cooperation,” the foreign ministers declared.
The council conclusions do not provide any details regarding the promised assistance, yet state that the EU is ready to “contribute substantially to post-conflict arrangements for ensuring the sustainability of a peace agreement.” The EU “will work on concrete proposals, including by building on previous work undertaken on EU contributions to Palestinian state-building, regional issues, refugees, security and Jerusalem,” the foreign ministers stated.
According to Israel’s Haaretz daily, the incentives offered to Israel are “genuinely priceless.” Their monetary worth “has been estimated in the billions of euros,” the paper reported, and would “vastly improve Israel’s international standing, rescuing Jerusalem from the international isolation from which it is suffering.”
However, the EU council warned “against actions that undermine the negotiations,” the council stated. “In this regard, it deplores Israel’s continuous expansion of settlements, which are illegal under international law and constitute an obstacle to peace.” The European foreign ministers also expressed their “grave concern regarding incitement, incidents of violence in the occupied territory, house demolitions and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
I wonder if the temple mount will be part of that incentive?
ReplyDeleteDavid P.
I believe it will - in the aftermath of Gog-Magog
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