Guest Author - Diana Pederson

THE MIDDLE EAST

The middle east has been in conflict almost from the beginning of time. If you listen to the news on a regular basis, you will find many conflicting theories as to the cause of this continuing conflict. You’ll also see anti-war demonstrators claiming we are in Iraq just for oil.

Christians need to educate themselves on the truth about the origins of this continuing conflict. The following book will educate you on what the Islamics believe.

Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz. Pocket Guide to Islam: A User Friendly Approach. Harvest House Publishers. 2002.

Bickel and Jantz begin this book by emphasizing that our religious beliefs really do matter – both now and eternally. Then they explain the differences between Islam’s Allah and the Christians Jehovah God. The next chapter compares the Bible with the Koran. Jesus and Muhammad are compared.

Following this basic information comparing and contrasting Islam with Christianity, they deal with the issues of sin and salvation, death and beyond, and sharing your faith.

Randall Price. Fast Facts on the Middle East Confict. Harvest House Publishers. 2003.

First, the author discusses the causes of the modern Middle East Conflict. He provides a excellent discussion of Zionism (Israel), Arab nationalism, the Palenstinian crisis, and explains how the United States and the United Nations became involved in this conflict. Second, the basis for both the Jewish and Arab claim to the land of Israel is covered.

An in-depth discussion of the Palestinian problem makes up the third section of this book. I was startled to discover that the term Palestinian wasn’t being used as it was in ancient days. The term is used for people who migrated to Palestine just before the famous 6 day war between Israel Egypt. Today’s Palestinians are outright lying when they claim to be descended from ancient people who have always lived on the land. Instead they come from many countries including Egypt, the Sudan, Germany, Italy, etc. Most news people will never tell you this truth. In section 7, the authors discuss the Palestinian uprisings still affecting us today.

Section 4 outlines all the wars fought in the Middle east beginning with Israel’s war of Independence in 1947-1948 down to today’s Iraq conflict. The continuing confict over Jerusalem is discussed in Section 5.

The various efforts at obtaining peace in the Middle East are discussed in Section 6.Each of the important efforts are discussed – Camp David Peace Accord, Oslo Peace Process, UN Resolution 242, and the Saudi peace plan. It should be noted that none of these plans have succeeded for more than a very short period of time if at all.

The next section (8) discusses the rise of militancy and terrorism is the Middle East. It concludes with a discussion of why the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001. Here you will learn about the Wahhabi Muslims which are the radicals advocating a holy Jihad.

Section 9 concludes the book with a discussion of the possible aftermath of the US-Iraq war. Price points out that Democracy is associated with Israel; therefore it is not desired by Muslim nations. Of course, he can’t predict how this conflict will finally end and what the ultimate results will be.

Recommendation

It is important for Christians to be able to discuss the problems in the Middle East while providing accurate information on the causes. This book provides sidebars with information on various actions or events affecting this conflict. It is an excellent reference guide to today’s Middle East.