What is their origin and their relationship to Israel?
Shall we ask who the Arabs are? Through the centuries there has been a mingling of the peoples of that area, but basically they are the descendants of Abraham and Isaac through Ishmael and Esau.
How strange that they should have such open enmity toward their brethren! And yet, it was so from the beginning. Did not Ishmael mock at the time of Abraham's feast at the weaning of Isaac? Were not he and his Egyptian mother cast out of Abraham's house at that time (Gen. 21)? And before Ishmael was born God said, "He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him." Gen. 16:12. Is not the wild man now preparing to display his characteristics?
What of Esau? He was the elder twin brother of Jacob; he sold his birthright to the grasping Jacob, and when he lost the blessing too, he determined to kill Jacob. But as time elapsed, peace was made between them. In the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, God refers to the unrelenting hatred of the descendants of Esau (or Edom) to the children of Israel.
Two other peoples, descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot, are also included in the present enemies of Israel—the children of Moab and Ammon (Gen. 19:37, 38). Their hostility to Israel in bygone days can also be traced in the Scriptures. At present, the capital city of the nation of Jordan is Amman, and in Old Testament times it was called Rabbah of the children of Ammon (2 Sam. 12:26). It was there that Uriah the Hittite was slain by the sword of the children of Ammon (v. 9).
In Psa. 83:4 where the future alignment of the neighboring enemies of Israel is given prophetically, we find the descendants of all four, among others, mentioned as saying, "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." Steps leading up to this confederacy have been in the making for some time. Every fresh incident of trouble between the West and the Middle East propels the forces forward which will unite in their attempts to eliminate Israel. Nothing short of it will satisfy the Jihad agitators.
In all likelihood, it will be such a war for the extermination of Israel (together with other international events) that will force the formation of the revived Roman Empire whose armies will rescue the Jews. Their armies will give them back their land, including Jerusalem and its shrines, under their protection in a solemn compact for a period of 7 years. For, "he", the head of the revived Roman empire, "shall confirm" a covenant with the mass of the Jews who will be placed back in Palestine for a period of "one week", or a period composed of 7 years. It is decreed and it will come to pass.
P. Wilson