Middle East

I read an intersting opinion piece yesterday by Suzanne Fields in The Greenville News concerning the Middle East. In essence, she wrote that while many believe that Israel should show restraint in the current conflict, all their enemies understand is power. There is much here that is worth noting, but I'll only mention the following:

"Ariel Sharon, showing restraint, organized the withdrawl from Gaza as a way to achieve peace through strength, a controversial idea but nevertheless credible. You could call it agressive restraint. All that was wrong with it was that it didn't work and was perceived as weakness by the enemies of Israel.
The only thing Israel got was more rockets on its cities, the elevation of Hamas to power and the kidnapping of its soldiers standing duty in Israeli territory."

In an article in last week's Florida Baptist Witness, Jim Sibley, a former Baptist represenative in Israel and currently with Criswell College in Dallas, called on Christians to pray for leaders in the Middle East involved in the conflict so they might find a peaceful solution. He said, however, that groups like Hezbollah, motivated by "Satanic forces" will never live at peace with Israel. He is quoted: "The terrorism of Hezbollah must be answered and it must be crused. We should not be no naive as to think they are seeking peace. They are seeking the destruction of Israel."

Read the entire article at: http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/6166.article.