The government of Israel recently announced that it was approving the construction of thousands of new homes in an area around East Jerusalem.  Israel is continuing their expansion of Jerusalem in the heavily contested region of the West Bank, which the Palestinians claim as their own territory and capital.  The United Nations and most countries condemned this building program as not being helpful for finding a peaceful solution to the Palestinian problem.  However, the Bible says that this problem will focus upon Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, increasing tension until the final battles break out at the end.  Joel predicts that when the Jews return to their land in the last days they will scatter the people who scattered them and displace those who wrongly possessed their land (Joel 3:1-7).  Zechariah predicts that all nations will attack Jerusalem just before Christ returns (Zechariah 14:1-2).  We have seen these prophecies begin to take place in our generation, as the returning people of Israel scattered the existing inhabitants of the land and even now continue to repossess ever more Palestinian land.  Contrary to what the world believes, it is not the Jews who are occupiers of the land, but the Palestinians who are living on land that is not theirs.  This conflict will result in ever increasing tensions until all nations of the world are gathered to Israel in battle and judgment (Joel 3:9-16).

Image: West Bank: Israeli settlements around Jerusalem (purple colored regions), from: Access and Closure, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs