Although I have written and spoken about Israel many times over the last few decades, I had never been to the country until last month. My experience there and the recent killing in Israel were a reminder that a two-state solution in Israel will not work. You don’t have to take my word for it, Israel’s minister of the economy, Naftali Bennett, makes a convincing case in his op-ed “For Israel, Two-State Is No Solution.” He reminds us of what happened last summer. “Hamas and its allies fired over 4,500 rockets and mortars at Israel, demonstrating once again what happens when we evacuate territory to the so-called 1967 lines and hand it over to our adversaries.” Less than two weeks after Naftali Bennett wrote his piece, five Israelis were killed and several injured as two Palestinian men armed with a pistol and meat cleavers attacked a West Jerusalem synagogue. This was another reminder of the tensions in this country. He makes the case that Israel cannot withdraw from more territory without terrible consequences. If Israel were to pull out of the West Bank, the entire country would be a target for terrorists. They could “set up rocket launchers adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem and other hills above the runways of Ben-Gurion International Airport and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.” Nevertheless, some argue we should give peace a chance. He reminds us what has happened three times in recent history when Israel did withdraw from land. In the mid-1990s, Israel pulled out of Palestinian cities as part of the Oslo agreement. This led to a second intifada where over 1,000 Israelis were killed in attacks. When Israel pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah fired more than 4,300 rockets at Israeli cities. And in 2005, when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and handed it over the Palestinian Authority, Hamas rockets rained down on Israel. According to Psalm 122:6 we are to “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.” But that doesn’t mean that we should force Israel to give up more land for peace. http://ncfr.net/ncfr.net/subdomains/commentary/Downloads/Kerby_Anderson/12-04-2014.mp3