News reports from Israel on Sunday, May 12, 2019, indicated that the US won’t oppose Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, which would involve Israeli annexation of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank. This region has been known to the Jews as the territories of Judea and Samaria, and it has been a hot bed of contention with the Arab population for over 50 years.

The West Bank was regained by Israel from Jordan during the Six Day War in 1967, and it has been under Israeli control ever since. It has been anticipated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would soon extend Israeli law over the Jewish settlement areas, which would effectively declare Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

Reports have also said that President Trump’s soon-to-be-revealed peace plan will propose that Israel would have sovereignty over the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Palestinians would have control over the Arab cities in that disputed area.

Several years ago, Israel completed an extensive wall system that divides the Jewish cities and their surrounding areas in Judea and Samaria from the Arab cities. This was done to separate the two groups and prevent terrorist attacks from Islamic radicals, and the wall has virtually eliminated these attacks.

This latest development comes just months after Trump recognized Israel’s right to annex the Golan Heights on its northern border with Syria and a year and a half after Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. No other American President has been so supportive of Israel’s policies. The Palestinians, after having rejected countless peace efforts that were made over many decades, will end up with very little options if they don’t opt for peace now.

Clearly, the Lord is opening up new avenues to allow Israel to reestablish control over their historic territories. These events will also ratchet up tension between the Jews and Palestinians, especially over control of the Old City of Jerusalem, which is the exact result that Zechariah predicted for the Last Days (Zech. 12:2).

Note: For a more extensive map of Israeli and Palestinian control and access within the West Bank, see this link (this will open a 17 MB pdf map with high resolution detail of the region created by the United Nations).