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Israel's Land For Peace: God's View?

In the summer of 2005 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (with the encouragement of President Bush) agreed to forceably withdraw Israeli citizens from the Gaza strip and turn the area in southwest Israel over to the Palestinian Authority as part of the state of Palestine. This was hailed by many governments as a critical step towards ending the war between Palestinian militants and Israel. "Land for Peace" was the slogan of choice.

Given that Israel was established by God as documented in the Old Testament of the Bible, I wondered what God would think of this arrangement brought about by modern day wisdom. Some history would be useful here: When Joshua (the leader of Israel) was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, "You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over. This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites: from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite (the territory of the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron--that of the Avvites); (Joshua 13: 1-3 NIV)

The Lord took the land from the Philistines (the ancient Palestinians) and gave Gaza to Israel, and no human being can attempt to change that and expect a peaceful conclusion. Modern day Israeli politicians along with most other world governments are assuming they can diplomatically change what God has decreed. As this headline from Gaza on Christmas Day 2005 suggests, "No God/No Peace":

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the army to enforce a no-go zone for Palestinians in northern Gaza to try to end rocket attacks on Israel. It is part of a series of new measures Israel says it will take to stop Palestinians firing missiles...A Palestinian official rejected the plan outright. - BBC News

America claims to be a Christian nation, and some government officials boldly declare their Christian allegiances. Sometimes I wonder, what Bible are they reading?
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