Replacing Abu Mazen

By Jim Fletcher Prophecy Matters As the old guard of the Palestinian leadership is poised to pass from the scene, such as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (known to the Arabs as Abu Mazen), long-time observers of the Arab-Israeli crisis rightly wonder who will assume the mantle passed from the serial killer Yasser Arafat to the Holocaust-denier Mazen.As we've known for at least five years, the terrorist group Hamas really controls much of what passes for Palestinian politics. The Palestinian people see Hamas as a political rival to Fatah, the party Abu Mazen heads. Fatah has been around for years, a byproduct of the old PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), the quintessential terror organization.To get an idea of where the international community is at with regard to Israel's sworn enemies, you should know that (according to reporting from Danny Rubenstein) three Hamas parliamentarians are living at Red Cross offices in east Jerusalem.After Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped in 2006, the IDF arrested the three. They were released recently and their right to live in east Jerusalem was revoked. The world finds that comical, since the Red Cross gave the trio asylum and today they hold court for various visitors. Again the world thumbs its nose at Israel.PA officials have also visited these Hamas men, so in essence, there is little difference between Hamas, Fatah, and the Western-created Palestinian Authority, which in reality was a new suit and a shave for Arafat, to make him more presentable. It is true that Hamas and Fatah are (even bitter) rivals, but underneath, they both thirst for the liquidation of Israel.It is interesting to note that these Palestinian factions are a strange stew of Arab resistance (terror) groups and Marxist ideology. It is well-known that almost everyone dislikes Abu Mazen, including the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and the People's Party (formerly the Communist party in the region).Rubenstein says that from his recent visits to Ramallah (the city north of Jerusalem that serves as the de facto government of the PA), it is clear that the PA is "disintegrating" and there is no clear-cut successor to Abu Mazen.Marwan Barghouti, a terrorist who helped organize the Intifada, sits in an Israeli prison cell, but inexplicably, the Israelis allow him to engage in political activities, and he is at least popular on the street with Palestinians.The passing away of Fatah and the PA as leadership forces in these communities signals an ominous turn for the West. More and more, the average Palestinian identifies with Hamas, which as sworn to wipe Israel off the map.With the international community (what the Bible refers to as "the nations") signaling its clear dislike of Israel, and with aggressively hostile terrorists (Hamas) in their midst, the Israelis are being isolated with increasing haste.As we've discussed many times, although the Bible spells out that in the end of days Israel will become a pariah among the nations, and those very nations will assemble to attack her…most of the world, including the clueless Church, doesn't see it. They miss it.Stay tuned.