The conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is similar in many ways to that between the United States and Latin America. Is there a connection?

As Israel has spread among the nations, so has Edom. Prophecy says that a time would come, when Jacob's sins would allow Esau to revolt against him [Gen 28.39-41]. Esau would inhabit some of the drier areas of the earth, be dominated by Jacob, have a bitter vendetta against him, and eventually throw off Anglo-Saxon/Israeli rule.

US-Latin American relations reads like a Jacob and Esau story. Esau was the red-skinned macho man, a warrior and a hunter. He would give you the shirt off his back but if you crossed him, he would likely kill you. Jacob was the Anglo, easy-going, money-minded, but ready to rip you off. Even though God intended Jacob to get the birthright, Jacob went out and stole it and Esau's descendants have never forgiven him.

When Rome invaded Judea in 70 AD the Idumeans revolted against the Jews. The Jews eventually were expelled but the Edomites remained and many are among the Palestinians today. Once again, they consider the Israelis [Judah] to have stolen their land. They want it back, by any means necessary: 'Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there….As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD' [Ezek:35:10, 15].

The Bulletin goes on to say: 'Edom is the current PLO that reside primarily in Jordan'.

But, just as Jacob's sons have migrated, so have Esau's. Some went to Iraq. Bozrah was the capital of Edom; Basra is an important city in the south of Iraq:

"I know this is just a theory, but I suspect that the 'Edomite' people of the original 'Bozrah', migrated, for some reason, to Iraq. I have done some historical research on the matter and still can't prove the theory, but it does seem to fit. If that is indeed true, then the prophesy pertaining to 'Edom' that we find in Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah may be fulfilled in judgement against the modern day Iraq. Actually in psalm 137, Edom is called the daughter of Babylon, so perhaps we are on target here.' Epiphany Bulletin: http://www.epiphanybulletin.com/edom.htmEDOM. We all know what Iraq is about. Saddam is moving troops up to the Syrian border to support Syria's Bashar Assad in a coming war with Israel and is probably working on chemical weapons that may be responsible for a prophetic 'wound' Judah is yet to receive.

'When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

[Hosea 5.13-14]. What is interesting is that the name 'Assad' means 'lion'. Will the Israelis suffer defeat in the next or a future round of war with Syria and Iraq?

The Jacob-Esau story involves more than just the Middle East. In Ezekiel's prophecy, which applies to the future as well as Ezekiel's day, the Edomites lay a claim on not only on Palestine, occupied by a remnant of the House of Judah, but also upon the land of the House of Israel. According to the Epiphany Bulletin: 'The key here is that the 'two' lands refer to the combined lands of Israel and Judah, a situation that has happened in our day, and that the Edomites desire to possess the lands that the Lord has already given to Israel. Sound familiar? We hear this constant chant by the Palestinian's today, that the land of Israel belongs to them and not Israel.' http://www.epiphanybulletin.com/edom.htmEDOM

The House of Israel is not in Palestine today, but Edomites still have a claim on its territory. How? Because many Edomites migrated from the Middle East not only to Turkey and Central Asia, but even to Latin Europe and the New World.

The Gujjar Turks of India claim to be descended from ISAAC whom they call Ishaque and have the legend of how Yaqub cheated his brother Ash[Esau] of his birthright:

'Ishaque (Isaac) told his sons that the one who fed him kabobs from goat meat would succeed him as prophet. His son's, Ash and Yaqub, (Esau and Jacob) went their separate ways to find the goat meat for the kabobs. While Ash went in to the forest in search for the goat Yaqub got some help from his mother who apparently had her own goats and helped her son prepare them. Having eaten the Kabobs prepared by Yaqub, Hazrat Ishaque blessed Yaqub and appointed him as his heir to the birth right.' birthright .<http://cbr.nc.us.mensa.org/homepages/MABrandon/Origins.html.>

Edomites also went into Europe. There are place names in the Balkans like Edoma in Macedonia and Odomantis. The Ausones lived near Rome, and the Appenines, says prophecy student Arrano Beltza, are possibly named from Pinon the Edomite. The

Sepharad, mentioned in Obadiah, is considered by Jewish writers to be Spain. Jewish commentators identified Edom with Rome and Spain, although I cannot prove there are Edomites in Spain, many Roman colonists settled there among the children of Tarshish.

Judah Halevi wrote in the Middle Ages : 'Zion is in the power of Edom' <http://iupjournals.org/jss/jss4-3.html: http://iupjournals.org/jss/jss4-3.html>' and,

From The Perspective Of Nachmanides : '….Christian Spain was part of the Roman Catholic Church and was also considered to be the spiritual heir of Rome and Edom.' <http://www.hillel.org/hillel/newhille.nsf/ 044a457be6be9112852567d500596cd3/de03fb64f9b0a705852567d50061e98c?OpenDocument>

Just as 'Ephraim' prophetically refers to all of Anglo-Saxon Israel, 'Assyria' to all of Germany and Austria, and 'Media' to the whole Russian sphere, so 'Edom' can embrace the whole Latin world even if most of its descendants do not come from Esau. As a spiritual part of the House of Esau, Spanish America, especially Mexico thus is destined to play an important role in prophecy.

Let's look at a brief history of the region. Esau was to dwell away from the choice places of the earth given to Jacob. Spain is far more arid than France or most of Europe, and the same is true of Mexico. Edom was to the south of Israel. Spain in the 1500's mounted the Inquisition against the Jews, drove the Dutch to revolt, and tried to invade Britain but were stopped in 1588 by an act of God, the destruction of their Armada. Spain's rulers and settlers now turned their attention to the New World. Mexican Indians seem to be descended from the Canaanite Hivites. One of the tribes in that area was called Chivim. Spanish people come mostly from Tarshish, grandson of Japheth. Tradition has it, though, that some of the ruling Spanish element in the Latin American population comes from Kenaz, duke of Esau. The dukes of Edom in Genesis 36 were the military dictators of their day. Some American Indians do as well. The name of the Alabama River comes from Esau's Canaanite wife, Oholibamah.

Just as Esau's clan came to conquer and amalgamate with the Hivites of Petra, so did the Spanish Conquistadores amalgamate with the Indians they conquered.

All of the American Southwest was populated and ruled by Spaniards and Mexicans . After1820 Anglos poured in, first to Texas, which revolted against Mexico in 1836. In 1845 US President James K Polk annexed Texas and this led to the Mexican War of 1846-1848 in which the United States seized California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Even though we paid Mexico for them, many Mexican patriots have never accepted the loss of this stolen birthright. Consciously or unconsciously Mexico is taking it back, through immigration, free trade, and a higher birth rate. Tom Chittum, a Croatian immigrant to the US has written a book entitled Civil War Two: The Coming Breakuup of America (Show Low, Arizona, American Eagle Press, 1996). Within a couple of decades, he predicts, Hispanics will be a majority or near-majority in the Southwest and many will have dual US/Mexican citizenship. Spanish will become the majority tongue and the complexion of police departments, schools and local governments will alter. Anglos will move out and Hispanics move in. Ethnic tensions may well grow. Political movements agitating for annexation to Mexico may well emerge, and if Vincente Fox is replaced with an anti-American leftist or far rightist regime, they may well be encouraged.

Historically, political turmoil in Mexico will spill across the border. In 1910, Mexico underwent a violent revolution which led to civil war and the death of 10% of the Mexican population. Roving bands of political armies of left and right terrorized the countryside and one of them, led by Pancho Villa, attacked New Mexico, bringing in the US Army. Some factions were already getting German arms and Mexico was invited to join the First World War on the German side in return for her stolen territories.

The Israeli-Palestinian and US-Latin American situations are part of the same story. The parallel is not lost on the Epiphany Bulletin:

'There are a number of cities right along the coast of Israel, none the least of which is 'Gaza'. Today 'Gaza' is the armpit of the area. It is like going to a poor Mexican town south of the Texas border where the people live in pallid squalor. In Gaza though, there is something different. The people are primarily Palestinians who hate Israel with a passion, and while many of them work in Israel, they have supported and instigated many terrorist groups.'

As the nations of Israel decline, the nations of Edom will become more assertive seeking the return of what they feel is their land. According to prophecy, they are in danger of letting their bitterness over some very real injustices cause them to over react. The US does owe Mexico respect and financial support, for the fate of the two Distant Neighbors are closely linked. Mexico owes the US forgiveness for past injustices and a recognition that America's fate is also Mexico's.

God will judge Israel first, but he holds the nations of Esau doubly accountable for how they will act at that time, because they are brother nations . If they join forces with Israel's enemies, they will suffer a similar fate:

Ezek:35:11: Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.

Ezek:35:12: And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.

Ezek:35:13: Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.

Ezek:35:14: Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.

Ezek:35:15: As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.