Page 191 - The Signs of Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) Second Coming
P. 191
Signs of Jesus’ (pbuh)
Second Coming
During the Yom Kippur feast of 6 October 1973, Egyptian and
Syrian armies launched a sudden attack against Israel. Crossing the
Suez Canal, the Egyptian army entered the Israeli-occupied Sinai
Peninsula and started to cross the Bar-Lev Line, a supposed “impass-
able” border established after the 1967 War. Meanwhile, Syria moved
forward on the Golan Heights. The Israeli army was taken completely
by surprise. Soldiers attending Yom Kippur services in synagogues
were sent headlong to the various fronts. Israeli radio, meanwhile,
broke its traditional Yom Kippur silence and sounded the alarm.
At the expense of considerable loss of life, the Israel Defense
Forces (Zahal) stopped the Arab forces on 9 October with their con-
ventional forces. Soon, the Syrian army’s progress on Golan Heights
was also ended. Meanwhile Egypt, by now having a stronger army
and reinforced by its strategic position, engaged in a long and bloody
tank battle. According to the general opinon, Washington’s rapid
arms support to Israel that began on the second day of the war en-
abled Israel to win.
On 26 October, Israel began to drive the Arabs out of the territo-
ries that they had recently recaptured. Meanwhile, the threat of Israel
being driven into sea was over. Yet this was not a victory for Israel, for
in just a few days the two Arab armies had inflicted a severe toll on
the nation: 2,700 dead in a small country with a population of little
more than 3 million.
Following this psychological shock, the Israeli government took
a step back. Israel agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, and
in 1979 Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Peace Agreement.
Yet, this agreement and all subsequent ones have failed to bring peace
to the region. The conflict between the Arabs and the Israelis contin-
ues, albeit with short intervals of peace.
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