World News and Trends
Beyond Today Magazine
Good News Magazine: September - October 2003
Course Content
Israel is in the process of constructing a long security fence to help keep suicide bombers from infiltrating from the West Bank.
Equipped with electronic sensors and surveillance cameras, the fence is flanked by coils of barbed wire and deep ditches on each side. At a few strategic points particularly vulnerable to attack, the fence becomes a concrete wall 20 feet high.
Eighty miles of this strategic fence are nearing completion, including a section around parts of Jerusalem. Proposed sections would surround the northern tip and parts of the southern sector of the West Bank.
The Palestinians claim that in reality the fence constitutes a land grab on the part of Israel because it doesn't in all places strictly follow Israel's borders from before the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel, having lost hundreds of its citizens to suicide bombers in recent years, argues that it desperately needs the fence to prevent further such attacks. A similar fence in the Gaza area has been successful in this regard.
Recently the United States has entered the picture by threatening to withhold millions of dollars in economic aid unless Israel reconsiders its present course. According to Roland Watson, reporting for The Times in Washington D.C., "President Bush has been persuaded that if left unchecked, construction of the 370-mile barrier was a threat to the Middle East peace process." One proposal being considered is deducting dollar-for-dollar any funds Jerusalem uses to fund the security fence east of the 1967 boundaries between Israel and the West Bank.
President Bush's father actually carried out a previous threat to withhold an American aid package in the billions when Yitzhak Shamir, the then-Israeli prime minister, refused to cease settlement activities in the West Bank. The U.S. Jewish vote reacted by defecting to the Democrats on a wholesale basis in 1992, partially contributing to the loss of the presidency to Bill Clinton.
In spite of its single superpower status, the United States still needs friends and allies among the nations of the world. And Israel, a tiny nation in a very dangerous neighborhood, relies on U.S. support. Both can ill afford these arguments with a longtime, trusted ally.
(Source: The Times [London].)
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
