There is nothing new about the "New Peace Plan" put forward by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah recently. That’s the terrible thing about it! This cynical charade has been going on for decades while thousands have died and the stability of the whole world has been endangered. The real goal of this plan is the same as that of every other Arab plan, whether secret or public, since 1948 - the death of every Jew in the region and the abolition of the State of Israel.

America needs to understand that the only hope the Arabs have of achieving their goal is to turn public opinion against Israel. They have spent billions and shed the blood of thousands of innocents in that pursuit. Thus far they have failed for three reasons:

1) Christians believe the Bible which says that God will bless those nations which bless Israel.
2) American Jews strongly support their brothers and sisters in Israel.
3) Our government recognizes that the Israeli government is the only democracy in the region and the only government which does not rule by brutality. Israel is also our only true ally in the Middle East.

The recent wave of suicide bombings have had a single purpose: to force Israel to respond to brutality with brutality. The evil Palestinian leaders who send young men to kill themselves to kill others know that Israel must retaliate, that the nation cannot sit back and watch its citizens being murdered without responding. Their hope is that Israel’s response will turn the tide of public opinion against the beleaguered nation.

To understand why I am cynical about Saudi Arabia’s very cynical plan, one only needs to closely examine this non-offer. Abdullah knows that it would be national suicide for Israel to give up the land he has demanded. It is a common tactic of those more concerned with looking good than in doing good to demand concessions they know can never be given. This allows them to point a finger and say, "See, they are being unreasonable."

What does the Saudi plan offer in return for what they know Israel can never give? They magnanimously offer the Arab world’s acceptance of what the whole civilized world has already acknowledged: Israel’s right to exist. The Jewish people, persecuted and murdered for centuries for the crime of being Jewish, were given a scrap of worthless land by the generous United Nations in 1948. The Jewish people, with six million of their number dead in Hitler’s concentration camps and ovens, only wanted to be left in peace. The Jewish people, who turned their arid desert land into an oasis of prosperity, were never the aggressor in any of the conflicts forced on them by the Arabs. And now the Arab world finally offers to acknowledge Israel’s right to breathe.

But at what cost? To understand why Israel can never give up what the Arabs and our biased news media like to call the "occupied territories," it might help to understand a little about how Israel became a modern nation.

On May 14, 1948, Israel was recognized by the world as a nation. It was immediately invaded by Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. While 600,000 Jews with no airplanes, tanks or artillery were brutally attacked by nations representing 45 million Arabs, the United Nations did absolutely nothing. The UN had declared that Israel had the right to exist, and had given her a small part of her historic lands. But it did not lift a finger as Jews, now Israelis, were murdered.

Yet against all odds, Israel, outnumbered 750 to one, beat the Arabs. People say it was a miracle. And a miracle it was. Because God plus one always makes a majority. God had declared through His prophets thousands of years before that Israel would one day welcome back Jews dispersed throughout the world. And He wasn’t about to let a few million Arabs get in the way of His plan. "Behold, I will bring them back from northern lands, and gather them from the ends of the world ..." (Jeremiah 31:7)

After thirteen months the War of Independence ended. Six thousand Jews, many of whom had just arrived in the country and had a rifle thrust into their hands, perished. In the end, Israel’s borders had been redefined. Israel lost the Old City of Jerusalem - including the Jewish Quarter and access to the Wailing Wall - to Jordan. The Jordanians refused to allow Jews to visit any holy sites within the Old City. The UN, which had granted Jerusalem to Israel, did nothing as their religious rights were violated.

But Israel also gained land in this and in other wars, land which has proven vital to its continued existence. Let’s talk for a minute about the concept of war and the taking of land. Even in wars where the nation taking land is the aggressor, the family of nations has often acknowledged the right of that nation to keep land gained in battle. In Israel’s case, every war in which they have been involved has been forced upon them by Arab nations intent upon Israel’s destruction. The land they gained was bought with the blood of brave soldiers. Were it to be returned, more soldiers and civilians would die because that land now serves as a "buffer zone" around the population centers of Israel.

To put this into perspective, the United States fought Mexico, and in the process gained control of what we now call Texas. I haven’t heard any television news talking heads refer to Texas as an "occupied territory" lately. No one is suggesting that America return Texas to it’s "rightful owner," Mexico. Yet many in our government have the unmitigated gall to suggest that Israel negotiate "land for peace."

To those muddle-headed politicos, I would like to offer this history lesson. Both Israel and Palestine acknowledge that they are engaged in war. Wars are not won by negotiation. Wars are won when one side demonstrates its superior power and determination, and the other realizes that it cannot prevail. The negotiators are brought in when it is time to determine the conditions of surrender.

Peace in the Middle East will not come by pretty speeches and clever plans. Talking will not keep Israel safe. The only measure that will allow Israel to live in peace is to allow her to defend herself. When our president demands that Israel show "restraint" while her children are being murdered, he is asking her to do something he himself refused to do. When terrorists attacked our nation on 9/11, he did not show "restraint" as he bombed their training camps into oblivion.

President Bush has done a wonderful job of leading our nation in the war against terrorism in America and in most of the world. But he is getting very bad advice regarding the terrorism that is being visited upon Israel. I am sad to say this, but our president is making the same mistake his father made during the Gulf War. Former President Bush told Israel not to respond when Saddam Hussein fired Scud missiles into their land. That is like handcuffing a citizen before he walks down a street known to be a hangout for muggers. George W. Bush needs to take the handcuffs off Israel. Instead of fanning the flames of public opinion against Israel by telling her to use restraint, he should use every resource to defend our only true friend in that very troubled corner of the world.

I believe God will continue to preserve Israel, with or without the help of the United States. But it is clear that if the Arabs had their way, they would make Hitler’s Holocaust look mild by comparison. There is a reason why the Nazis and the Arabs helped each other so much in the past. They were kindred spirits with a common goal. The Nazi spirit lives on today in the person of Arab leaders who have learned to speak English and sound like reasonable men in front of American TV cameras. But when they speak to their own people in their own languages, their message is always, "Death to Israel!"

EDITOR’S NOTE: Take the time to read "A Crash Course in Jewish History"