Gaza Strip.
Middle East (MNN) ― During last week's visit to the Middle East, the pope declared his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. U.S. President Barack Obama also supports a Palestinian state.
Sadly, however, there is no easy solution, says Tom Doyle, Middle East director with E3 Partners. The "abysmal failure" of the Gaza Strip has already shown that if a Palestinian state falls into the wrong hands, everyone will suffer. Palestinian Christians in Gaza have become a target for the terrorist groups and have suffered greatly after Israel pulled out of in 2006.
"The pope says the answer to the Middle East problem is giving the Palestinians the West Bank," said Doyle. "I would say the problems are much larger than the West Bank and much deeper, and the Gaza failure has proven that this theory is probably not going to work. Israelis need security from terrorism, and so do Palestinians, especially the Christians."
Although radical terrorist groups also believe that a Palestinian state is "the answer to everything," Doyle said, other residents of the region are not so sure.
"People on both sides of the fence, Christians and Muslims, are frightened because they don't know what this second state's going to bring about," he said. Palestinians do want their own state, and they believe that's what their society needs. However, they also really don't want to live in a place like the Gaza Strip, where the terrorists care more about bombing Israel then they do about the lives of the people they govern.
"When Israel gave over the Gaza strip, Hamas became the leadership government," Doyle explained. "They don't build hospitals, they don't build roads, they don't do anything... And they have reintroduced Islamic sharia law to Gaza."
Life is already difficult in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, especially for Christians. Talk of a Palestinian state has led to a "rise of boldness among Islamic terrorists," Doyle said.
"The church in the West Bank has to take a lot of precautions; they have to be careful. The church is very underground at this point, and that's where it needs to be, for safety," he said, adding that the situation in Gaza is even worse.
Gaza and the West Bank aren't the only areas of the world suffering from increased terrorism--especially terrorism aimed at Christians.
"Globally, there's a rise in fundamental Islam that is growing its terrorist ring, whether it's in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, or even in places like the West Bank," Doyle explained. "We are talking with people on the ground who are telling us they're seeing more boldness with terrorists, more plans to continue the terrorism. So personally, I just don't think that any of that is going to stop because of a two-state solution."
The situation in Gaza has clearly shown that a Palestinian state controlled by terrorists would not bring peace to the region. In fact, Doyle said that Hamas has already explained what it would do after the creation of a Palestinian state: it plans to cooperate for a little while, and then continue its attacks on Israel.
Ultimately, Doyle believes that the root of the problem is spiritual and not political, and it requires a spiritual solution.
"It's spiritual warfare, and spiritual problems cannot be solved politically" he said. "We believe there needs to be heart changes. So when we see Palestinian believers worshipping with Jewish Messianic believers, and they love the Lord together and they worship together and they're encouraging each other, that's really the hope of the future."
In the meantime, Doyle called for Christians to pray for their brothers and sisters around the world threatened by terrorism, as persecution rises to new levels in many countries. "We need to lift them up during this brutal time that they're going through right now, asking God to give them peace, protection, and the boldness to keep serving Christ and sharing the Gospel in the midst of these really difficult situations."
