Palestinians demand deadline for state By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer OCT 30,07
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The chief Palestinian peace negotiator threatened on Tuesday that there would be no talks with Israel unless a deadline is set for establishing a Palestinian state — the first indication the Palestinians could scuttle a U.S.-sponsored peace summit over the issue. Palestinian officials have repeatedly said they want a detailed timeline for talks that are expected to begin in earnest after a U.S.-sponsored Mideast conference in November or December. But although Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has consistently resisted the notion of a deadline, they had never before made the matter a condition for talks.On Tuesday, lead negotiator Ahmed Qureia tightened the screws.The Israeli prime minister has stated that he will not accept a timetable, and we say we will not accept negotiations without a timetable, Qureia said at a news conference with the European Union's external affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.He delivered the ultimatum as the two sides struggle to bridge yawning gaps ahead of the fall peace summit. It wasn't clear whether the Palestinians would really carry out the threat, or were trying to wrest concessions from Israel.
In the past, however, deadlines have been set and ignored.
No date has been set for the U.S.-sponsored summit, set to take place in Annapolis, Md., because the two sides remain so far apart on the starting point for talks. Israel wants a vague, joint statement of objectives. The Palestinians want a detailed outline that would address core issues that need to be resolved before peace can be achieved and a Palestinian state can be established.
These are final borders, sovereignty over disputed Jerusalem, and a solution for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948.Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have met several times in recent months to try to come up with a joint platform ahead of the meeting, and negotiating teams from both sides have recently entered the process.At Tuesday's news conference, Qureia indicated the talks weren't going well.
We haven't gotten closer yet concerning the issues, he said. We are talking in general about the issues that should be included in the document. (But) we haven't yet touched the core issues.What the Palestinians want, he said, is a clear and specific document, without vagueness, that lays the basic foundation for all final status issues. Without that, the conference will be hindered. Qureia was one of the negotiators of the 1993 accord Israel and the Palestinians reached in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, which called for a final peace deal five years later.In 2007, the Palestinians are still waiting, and we don't want to go for open-ended negotiations, he said Tuesday.Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said negotiations should be held behind closed doors, not through the media.We're not at the ultimatum stage, Eisin said. They agreed to work to go forward, and we are committed to going forward to a joint statement.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
SAVE JERUSALEM COALITION FORMS
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Save Jerusalem Emergency Coalition Forms
by Hillel Fendel OCT 24,07
(IsraelNN.com) An unprecedented coalition of American Jewish groups has formed on short notice to ensure that united Jerusalem remains Jewish.Among the member organizations are the National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, Emunah Women of America, AFSI, Hineni, AJOP (Outreach), NCSY, Poalei Agudath Israel of America, ZOA, and more. More organizations are set to join in the coming days.The formation of the coalition marks the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that a significant group of American Jewish organizations has united in opposition to Israeli government policy; many of the member organizations are among Israel’s most loyal and active supporters.The new coalition's founder, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, is concluding a six-day whirlwind trip to Israel during which he coordinated the group's activities with pro-Jerusalem forces here.I met with several Knesset Members, Rabbi Lerner told Arutz-7, as well as Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, Rabbi Yosef Efrati - a top confidante of Rav Elyashiv, Rabbi Simcha Kook, Natan Sharansky, and Mayor Uri Lupoliansky. I also met with Tzafrir Ronen, Elyakim HaEtzni, the Rabbi of the Western Wall- Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, Mina Fenton, Nir Barkat, and more. There is much to get done, and aside from the little time in which to do it, we are also facing a wall of refusal to believe on the part of many American Jews. They either don't know about it [gov't plans to divide Jerusalem], or think it won't happen.
Olmert Hints that United Jerusalem is Expendable
The official impetus for the coalition's founding were statements by Israeli government leaders, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, that Jerusalem could be negotiable in the upcoming Middle East summit in Annapolis. The message has still not been received by many Jews, Rabbi Lerner said, that the door has been opened to giving away parts of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest and most revered site... Our coalition means that Jewish leaders around the world are coalescing around a simple bottom-line position: World Jewry opposes Israeli negotiations which would include any discussion of ceding sovereignty over part or all of Jerusalem.Some of Jerusalem's holy sites and/or surrounding neighborhoods are in danger of being transferred to Arab sovereignty.The Coalition will increase awareness of both the sanctity of Jerusalem and the political machinations currently at play regarding it, and promote political and public action to keep Jerusalem off the negotiating table. The official name of the group is The Coordinating Council for Jerusalem’s Future.
This is not the time to discuss the dangers of a terrorist Palestinian State as a neighbor to Israel, a Coalition letter to 2,000 American rabbis states. Today, we must raise our voices at the thought of losing our united capital of Jerusalem. We call upon each and every one of you to: 1. Continue to educate yourself and your congregations. Peruse often Arutz Sheva, Jerusalem Post on-line, etc.; talk to your colleagues in Israel for a first-hand report of what is happening. 2. Designate your next [Sabbath] sermon to the topic of the undivided city of Jerusalem... 3. Take it upon yourself to write a letter or send an e-mail and/or fax to the Israeli Ambassador in Washington and the Consul-General in New York. Ask each of your members to do the same...US public relations strategist Jeffrey Ballabon has taken on the job of recommending and executing a broad-based international strategy, including the very formation of the Coordinating Council.
Ronen's Alliance
Tzafrir Ronen of northern Israel, one of those with whom Rabbi Lerner met, is one of the founders of a similar group in Israel. A small group of us convened a few weeks ago, Ronen said, just when Olmert's friend Deputy Prime Minister Chaim Ramon started this whole insanity about giving up Jerusalem. We realized that we had to do something immediately. Our group consists of many organizations here in Israel - the Nahalal Forum, Nir Barkat's group, the Land of Israel Loyalists, all eight groups of Homesh First, and more. We have been working together with Rabbi Lerner, and we will continue to do so. There is a lot that we have to do.It must be made clear, Ronen says, that while Olmert is being investigated for all sorts of financial crimes - his real crime, and the one for which he must be toppled, is that of wanting to give away the Land of Israel and Jerusalem. Throughout our 2,000 years of exile, if any rabbi had ever hinted at giving up a part of the Land of Israel, he would have been out on the street in a minute.
Lerner's Meetings
Asked to summarize his many meetings with Israeli leaders and public figures over the past few days, Rabbi Lerner said, My goals were to collect information and find out what's going on; to hear what they really think about what the government's intentions are and how we can stop any plans to give up Jerusalem; to share with them what we're doing, and receive their direction and advice; and encourage them, via our actions, to increase their own efforts... We now have two-way communication, the process has begun, they know that US Jewry is waking up and beginning to move.We plan to encourage citizens all over the US to visit with or speak to their Congressmen and tell them that the division of Jerusalem is something that they just cannot accept. Leading rabbis will make trips to the White House and get this message across as well. We will present our position both as Jews and as Americans.Could it be imagined that Israel would tell Jordan, Give up Amman and then we'll give you peace? It is untenable for a supposed peace partner to threaten that if we don't give up our capital, they will renew their war upon us; we are already hearing that if the summit fails, terrorism and violence will be renewed against Israel with a vengeance. How can this be called peace talks?... We believe that if lots of people start showing up at their Congressman's office, things will begin to take off.
Shas and Jerusalem
In my meeting with the Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, he was very encouraging, and told us that we should pressure the White House in every we can, Rabbi Lerner said. Currently a member of the coalition, the Shas party itself is being pressured within Israel's nationalist camp - and perhaps soon, if the new coalition is successful, also among its supporters in New York - to quit the government immediately and prevent Jerusalem from even being placed on the negotiating table.
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Save Jerusalem Emergency Coalition Forms
by Hillel Fendel OCT 24,07
(IsraelNN.com) An unprecedented coalition of American Jewish groups has formed on short notice to ensure that united Jerusalem remains Jewish.Among the member organizations are the National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, Emunah Women of America, AFSI, Hineni, AJOP (Outreach), NCSY, Poalei Agudath Israel of America, ZOA, and more. More organizations are set to join in the coming days.The formation of the coalition marks the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that a significant group of American Jewish organizations has united in opposition to Israeli government policy; many of the member organizations are among Israel’s most loyal and active supporters.The new coalition's founder, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, is concluding a six-day whirlwind trip to Israel during which he coordinated the group's activities with pro-Jerusalem forces here.I met with several Knesset Members, Rabbi Lerner told Arutz-7, as well as Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, Rabbi Yosef Efrati - a top confidante of Rav Elyashiv, Rabbi Simcha Kook, Natan Sharansky, and Mayor Uri Lupoliansky. I also met with Tzafrir Ronen, Elyakim HaEtzni, the Rabbi of the Western Wall- Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, Mina Fenton, Nir Barkat, and more. There is much to get done, and aside from the little time in which to do it, we are also facing a wall of refusal to believe on the part of many American Jews. They either don't know about it [gov't plans to divide Jerusalem], or think it won't happen.
Olmert Hints that United Jerusalem is Expendable
The official impetus for the coalition's founding were statements by Israeli government leaders, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, that Jerusalem could be negotiable in the upcoming Middle East summit in Annapolis. The message has still not been received by many Jews, Rabbi Lerner said, that the door has been opened to giving away parts of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest and most revered site... Our coalition means that Jewish leaders around the world are coalescing around a simple bottom-line position: World Jewry opposes Israeli negotiations which would include any discussion of ceding sovereignty over part or all of Jerusalem.Some of Jerusalem's holy sites and/or surrounding neighborhoods are in danger of being transferred to Arab sovereignty.The Coalition will increase awareness of both the sanctity of Jerusalem and the political machinations currently at play regarding it, and promote political and public action to keep Jerusalem off the negotiating table. The official name of the group is The Coordinating Council for Jerusalem’s Future.
This is not the time to discuss the dangers of a terrorist Palestinian State as a neighbor to Israel, a Coalition letter to 2,000 American rabbis states. Today, we must raise our voices at the thought of losing our united capital of Jerusalem. We call upon each and every one of you to: 1. Continue to educate yourself and your congregations. Peruse often Arutz Sheva, Jerusalem Post on-line, etc.; talk to your colleagues in Israel for a first-hand report of what is happening. 2. Designate your next [Sabbath] sermon to the topic of the undivided city of Jerusalem... 3. Take it upon yourself to write a letter or send an e-mail and/or fax to the Israeli Ambassador in Washington and the Consul-General in New York. Ask each of your members to do the same...US public relations strategist Jeffrey Ballabon has taken on the job of recommending and executing a broad-based international strategy, including the very formation of the Coordinating Council.
Ronen's Alliance
Tzafrir Ronen of northern Israel, one of those with whom Rabbi Lerner met, is one of the founders of a similar group in Israel. A small group of us convened a few weeks ago, Ronen said, just when Olmert's friend Deputy Prime Minister Chaim Ramon started this whole insanity about giving up Jerusalem. We realized that we had to do something immediately. Our group consists of many organizations here in Israel - the Nahalal Forum, Nir Barkat's group, the Land of Israel Loyalists, all eight groups of Homesh First, and more. We have been working together with Rabbi Lerner, and we will continue to do so. There is a lot that we have to do.It must be made clear, Ronen says, that while Olmert is being investigated for all sorts of financial crimes - his real crime, and the one for which he must be toppled, is that of wanting to give away the Land of Israel and Jerusalem. Throughout our 2,000 years of exile, if any rabbi had ever hinted at giving up a part of the Land of Israel, he would have been out on the street in a minute.
Lerner's Meetings
Asked to summarize his many meetings with Israeli leaders and public figures over the past few days, Rabbi Lerner said, My goals were to collect information and find out what's going on; to hear what they really think about what the government's intentions are and how we can stop any plans to give up Jerusalem; to share with them what we're doing, and receive their direction and advice; and encourage them, via our actions, to increase their own efforts... We now have two-way communication, the process has begun, they know that US Jewry is waking up and beginning to move.We plan to encourage citizens all over the US to visit with or speak to their Congressmen and tell them that the division of Jerusalem is something that they just cannot accept. Leading rabbis will make trips to the White House and get this message across as well. We will present our position both as Jews and as Americans.Could it be imagined that Israel would tell Jordan, Give up Amman and then we'll give you peace? It is untenable for a supposed peace partner to threaten that if we don't give up our capital, they will renew their war upon us; we are already hearing that if the summit fails, terrorism and violence will be renewed against Israel with a vengeance. How can this be called peace talks?... We believe that if lots of people start showing up at their Congressman's office, things will begin to take off.
Shas and Jerusalem
In my meeting with the Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, he was very encouraging, and told us that we should pressure the White House in every we can, Rabbi Lerner said. Currently a member of the coalition, the Shas party itself is being pressured within Israel's nationalist camp - and perhaps soon, if the new coalition is successful, also among its supporters in New York - to quit the government immediately and prevent Jerusalem from even being placed on the negotiating table.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
OLMERT IN FRANCE
Israeli PM arrives in France for Sarkozy talks OCT 21,07
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in Paris Sunday for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the Middle East peace process and Iran's controversial nuclear drive. Before his departure Olmert said he looked forward to discussing Iran, especially against the recent background and the very strong position France has adopted together with Britain and the United States.All three countries, along with Israel, have demanded that Iran halt its uranium enrichment programme which they say is a cover for developing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran adamantly denies.Olmert also said he would be discussing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process ahead of a US-sponsored conference slated for next month.After meeting Sarkozy and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Monday, Olmert will go to London to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Palestinian president arrives in Indonesia Sun Oct 21.
JAKARTA (AFP) - Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas arrived Sunday in Indonesia on the next leg of a tour of key Muslim powers in Asia to drum up support ahead of a US-sponsored meeting with Israel. Arriving under drizzle at the world's largest Muslim-populated country, Abbas was greeted at Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusumah airbase by Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda.Abbas will be given an official welcome by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Merdeka Palace shortly before they meet for talks there on Monday.State Secretary Hatta Rajasa said that the two leaders would discuss Palestinian peace efforts in the Middle East.Before that Abbas is scheduled to meet Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of Indonesia's largest Islamic movement, the Nahdlatul Ulama, and later on Monday address an Indonesian forum on world affairs.
Indonesia, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, has been actively seeking a role in promoting peace in the Middle East, including in Palestine.Abbas, who came here after a visit to Malaysia, will leave Indonesia for Brunei on Monday.The meeting with Israel -- called by US President George W. Bush -- is expected to take place next month in Annapolis, Maryland reviving hopes of advancing the Middle East peace process after almost seven years of deadlock.
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in Paris Sunday for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the Middle East peace process and Iran's controversial nuclear drive. Before his departure Olmert said he looked forward to discussing Iran, especially against the recent background and the very strong position France has adopted together with Britain and the United States.All three countries, along with Israel, have demanded that Iran halt its uranium enrichment programme which they say is a cover for developing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran adamantly denies.Olmert also said he would be discussing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process ahead of a US-sponsored conference slated for next month.After meeting Sarkozy and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Monday, Olmert will go to London to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Palestinian president arrives in Indonesia Sun Oct 21.
JAKARTA (AFP) - Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas arrived Sunday in Indonesia on the next leg of a tour of key Muslim powers in Asia to drum up support ahead of a US-sponsored meeting with Israel. Arriving under drizzle at the world's largest Muslim-populated country, Abbas was greeted at Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusumah airbase by Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda.Abbas will be given an official welcome by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Merdeka Palace shortly before they meet for talks there on Monday.State Secretary Hatta Rajasa said that the two leaders would discuss Palestinian peace efforts in the Middle East.Before that Abbas is scheduled to meet Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of Indonesia's largest Islamic movement, the Nahdlatul Ulama, and later on Monday address an Indonesian forum on world affairs.
Indonesia, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, has been actively seeking a role in promoting peace in the Middle East, including in Palestine.Abbas, who came here after a visit to Malaysia, will leave Indonesia for Brunei on Monday.The meeting with Israel -- called by US President George W. Bush -- is expected to take place next month in Annapolis, Maryland reviving hopes of advancing the Middle East peace process after almost seven years of deadlock.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
REASONABLE CHANCE AT PEACE
Rice sees reasonable chance for Mideast peace By Arshad Mohammed Wed Oct 17, 6:24 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday a U.S.-led push for Israeli-Palestinian peace had a reasonable chance of success as both sides sparred over a planned Middle East conference. Rice wrapped up four days of shuttle diplomacy with no sign of a breakthrough or an announcement of a final date for the international gathering that Washington sees as the most serious step towards Palestinian statehood in years.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas put Rice on notice that Palestinians could opt out of the conference if talks fail with Israel over a joint document that would address key issues and lead to the revival of negotiations on a peace deal.
It's impossible to go to the conference at any price, Abbas told reporters. We told Secretary Rice we don't have much time, that we must make use of every minute.At a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Rice pledged the meeting, planned for November or December in Annapolis, Maryland, would be substantive and said: I don't expect anybody to attend at any cost, including us.Abbas, who lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas Islamists in June, is seeking a document that deals in detail with the most divisive issues of its conflict with the Palestinians -- borders and the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.Israel wants a broadbrush document and rejects Abbas's call for a timeline for addressing issues and implementing any deal.We are at the beginning of a process, Rice said. If we work hard to resolve these issues, I think we have a reasonable chance of success in moving forward on the vision of two states living side by side in peace and freedom.
COMMON GROUND
Livni, who heads Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's negotiating team, said Israel wanted to reach understanding on the widest possible common ground in the time available.Asked about Palestinian accusations the Israeli negotiating team was not serious about the talks, Livni replied: I am not going to participate in this blame game.She said Israel was prepared to compromise, but did not say how, adding she hoped the Palestinians would compromise too.The idea is not to raise expectations that can lead to frustration and to violence, because we need to learn from past experience, she said. Violence surged after Israeli and Palestinian peace talks broke off in 2000.A senior Palestinian official, speaking privately, told Reuters that there was some progress in talks with Rice and with the Israelis and stressed that the Palestinians accepted that not all details could be resolved in the conference paper.Another Palestinian source said he believed Rice might be ready to consider some sort of target date for concluding negotiations, as put forward by Abbas, and also that Washington might put forward its own proposals for a compromise if the two sides failed to reach a common position before the conference.
Earlier in the day, Rice toured Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, lit a candle and voiced hope religion could be a force for reconciliation in the Middle East.She entered the city through a gate in a towering Israeli wall that Palestinians regard as a hated symbol of occupation. Israel says the barrier it is building in the occupied West Bank stops Palestinian suicide bombers.Being here, at the birthplace of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, has been a very special and moving experience, Rice, the daughter and granddaughter of Christian clergymen, told reporters after visiting the church. (Additional reporting by Wafa Amr in Ramallah)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday a U.S.-led push for Israeli-Palestinian peace had a reasonable chance of success as both sides sparred over a planned Middle East conference. Rice wrapped up four days of shuttle diplomacy with no sign of a breakthrough or an announcement of a final date for the international gathering that Washington sees as the most serious step towards Palestinian statehood in years.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas put Rice on notice that Palestinians could opt out of the conference if talks fail with Israel over a joint document that would address key issues and lead to the revival of negotiations on a peace deal.
It's impossible to go to the conference at any price, Abbas told reporters. We told Secretary Rice we don't have much time, that we must make use of every minute.At a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Rice pledged the meeting, planned for November or December in Annapolis, Maryland, would be substantive and said: I don't expect anybody to attend at any cost, including us.Abbas, who lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas Islamists in June, is seeking a document that deals in detail with the most divisive issues of its conflict with the Palestinians -- borders and the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.Israel wants a broadbrush document and rejects Abbas's call for a timeline for addressing issues and implementing any deal.We are at the beginning of a process, Rice said. If we work hard to resolve these issues, I think we have a reasonable chance of success in moving forward on the vision of two states living side by side in peace and freedom.
COMMON GROUND
Livni, who heads Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's negotiating team, said Israel wanted to reach understanding on the widest possible common ground in the time available.Asked about Palestinian accusations the Israeli negotiating team was not serious about the talks, Livni replied: I am not going to participate in this blame game.She said Israel was prepared to compromise, but did not say how, adding she hoped the Palestinians would compromise too.The idea is not to raise expectations that can lead to frustration and to violence, because we need to learn from past experience, she said. Violence surged after Israeli and Palestinian peace talks broke off in 2000.A senior Palestinian official, speaking privately, told Reuters that there was some progress in talks with Rice and with the Israelis and stressed that the Palestinians accepted that not all details could be resolved in the conference paper.Another Palestinian source said he believed Rice might be ready to consider some sort of target date for concluding negotiations, as put forward by Abbas, and also that Washington might put forward its own proposals for a compromise if the two sides failed to reach a common position before the conference.
Earlier in the day, Rice toured Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, lit a candle and voiced hope religion could be a force for reconciliation in the Middle East.She entered the city through a gate in a towering Israeli wall that Palestinians regard as a hated symbol of occupation. Israel says the barrier it is building in the occupied West Bank stops Palestinian suicide bombers.Being here, at the birthplace of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, has been a very special and moving experience, Rice, the daughter and granddaughter of Christian clergymen, told reporters after visiting the church. (Additional reporting by Wafa Amr in Ramallah)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
RABBIS URGE SAVE JERUSALEM
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Rabbis urge: Save Jerusalem! Leaders slam Olmert for willingness to divide Judaism's capital October 16, 2007
10:53 a.m. Eastern - By Aaron Klein - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Israel rabbis meeting yesterday in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV – A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli rabbis yesterday called on Jews worldwide to speak out against what rabbinic leaders called the crime of dividing Jerusalem as proposed by the current Israeli government.The move follows a flurry of media reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is contemplating handing over sections of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization. Yesterday Olmert hinted he would be willing to divide Jerusalem, asking during a speech whether it was really necessary to retain certain Arab neighborhoods in Judaism's capital. At a Tel Aviv press conference yesterday, leaders of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis, including some of Israel's most prominent Jewish leaders, urged Jews worldwide to speak out.
We must scream and protest not only to go through the motions, but maybe our protest will bring another one in its chain and awaken the public, said RCP leader Rabbi David Drukman, the rabbinic leader of the Kiryat Motzkin Israeli community. It pains us to see that there is no public outcry against this; everyone is complacent,Drukman said at the press conference. Rabbi Meir Horowitz, leader of the Hassidic Bostoner community and a U.S. citizen, addressed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directly: Madam Secretary, we request that you convey to President Bush and to the leaders of the civilized world that although Jerusalem is also holy to the three great faiths of the world, for the Jewish people it is our only holy city; therefore, no one can expect the Jewish people to forgo the central theme and focus of their religion.Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Shreiber, who was the rabbinic leader of Kfar Darom, one of the largest Gaza Strip Jewish communities evacuated by Israel in 2005, pointed out that while most Jewish expulsions throughout history were perpetuated by non-Jews, he was stunned the Jewish state would expel their brothers from their homes.Meir Porush, a nationalist Knesset Member, called Jerusalem the soul of the nation and just like a man cannot live without a soul, so we cannot live without Jerusalem.
Rabbi Gerlitzky, chairman of the Rabbinical Congress, commented, It has been several months now that the government has been discussing dividing Jerusalem, but it was done quietly behind our back. Now when it came out in the open, there is no outcry. I feel as though the public has been sprayed with some kind of sleeping gas.A Rabbinic Congress resolution, passed at yesterday's meeting, urged the Olmert government to come back to your senses.The Congress calls on the government to abandon the land for peace formula. It never worked in the past, it doesn’t work now and will never work in the future. This formula is obsolete, outdated, leads to bloodshed.The rabbis' statements followed a speech yesterday in which Olmert asked whether it was really necessary for Israel to control Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Last week, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.
Ramon reportedly wrote in a letter published by the Israeli media that under his plan, The Jewish neighborhoods (of Jerusalem) will be recognized as Israeli and under Israeli sovereignty. Accordingly, the Arab neighborhoods will be recognized as Palestinian.Knesset Member Otniel Schneller, a Kadima party colleague of Olmert and Ramon known for his close relationship to the prime minister, claimed the plan violated Kadima's platform.
But WND first reported in 2006 it was Schneller who first floated a Kadima plan for dividing Jerusalem. The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat, Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is established, they will become its capital, said Schneller at the small Jerusalem debate in May 2006, covered by WND. Days later, Schneller gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he stated We will not divide Jerusalem, we will share it.
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Rabbis urge: Save Jerusalem! Leaders slam Olmert for willingness to divide Judaism's capital October 16, 2007
10:53 a.m. Eastern - By Aaron Klein - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Israel rabbis meeting yesterday in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV – A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli rabbis yesterday called on Jews worldwide to speak out against what rabbinic leaders called the crime of dividing Jerusalem as proposed by the current Israeli government.The move follows a flurry of media reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is contemplating handing over sections of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization. Yesterday Olmert hinted he would be willing to divide Jerusalem, asking during a speech whether it was really necessary to retain certain Arab neighborhoods in Judaism's capital. At a Tel Aviv press conference yesterday, leaders of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis, including some of Israel's most prominent Jewish leaders, urged Jews worldwide to speak out.
We must scream and protest not only to go through the motions, but maybe our protest will bring another one in its chain and awaken the public, said RCP leader Rabbi David Drukman, the rabbinic leader of the Kiryat Motzkin Israeli community. It pains us to see that there is no public outcry against this; everyone is complacent,Drukman said at the press conference. Rabbi Meir Horowitz, leader of the Hassidic Bostoner community and a U.S. citizen, addressed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directly: Madam Secretary, we request that you convey to President Bush and to the leaders of the civilized world that although Jerusalem is also holy to the three great faiths of the world, for the Jewish people it is our only holy city; therefore, no one can expect the Jewish people to forgo the central theme and focus of their religion.Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Shreiber, who was the rabbinic leader of Kfar Darom, one of the largest Gaza Strip Jewish communities evacuated by Israel in 2005, pointed out that while most Jewish expulsions throughout history were perpetuated by non-Jews, he was stunned the Jewish state would expel their brothers from their homes.Meir Porush, a nationalist Knesset Member, called Jerusalem the soul of the nation and just like a man cannot live without a soul, so we cannot live without Jerusalem.
Rabbi Gerlitzky, chairman of the Rabbinical Congress, commented, It has been several months now that the government has been discussing dividing Jerusalem, but it was done quietly behind our back. Now when it came out in the open, there is no outcry. I feel as though the public has been sprayed with some kind of sleeping gas.A Rabbinic Congress resolution, passed at yesterday's meeting, urged the Olmert government to come back to your senses.The Congress calls on the government to abandon the land for peace formula. It never worked in the past, it doesn’t work now and will never work in the future. This formula is obsolete, outdated, leads to bloodshed.The rabbis' statements followed a speech yesterday in which Olmert asked whether it was really necessary for Israel to control Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Last week, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.
Ramon reportedly wrote in a letter published by the Israeli media that under his plan, The Jewish neighborhoods (of Jerusalem) will be recognized as Israeli and under Israeli sovereignty. Accordingly, the Arab neighborhoods will be recognized as Palestinian.Knesset Member Otniel Schneller, a Kadima party colleague of Olmert and Ramon known for his close relationship to the prime minister, claimed the plan violated Kadima's platform.
But WND first reported in 2006 it was Schneller who first floated a Kadima plan for dividing Jerusalem. The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat, Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is established, they will become its capital, said Schneller at the small Jerusalem debate in May 2006, covered by WND. Days later, Schneller gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he stated We will not divide Jerusalem, we will share it.
Monday, October 15, 2007
PRESSURE ON ISRAEL TO COMPLY
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Rice: No Jewish building in eastern city
Says she'll push Israel to divide capital, blame Olmert if he doesn't comply - October 15, 2007 - By Aaron Klein
2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Condoleezza Rice
JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in the region to prepare for an Israeli-Palestinian summit next month, told Palestinian officials yesterday she would pressure Israel against initiating any Jewish construction in eastern sections of Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian negotiator involved in talks with Rice told WND. The Palestinian negotiator stated Rice singled out Jerusalem areas as becoming part of a future Palestinian state and told his negotiating team she would publicly blame Israel for the failure of next month's U.S.-sponsored summit slated to be held in Maryland if the Jewish state didn't agree to evacuate eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods. The information follows a flurry of media reports last week Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was contemplating handing over sections of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization. Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, last week reportedly mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.
Ramon was quoted by the popular Ynet Israeli website as writing in a letter to Jerusalem City Councilman Nir Barkat that under his plan, The Jewish neighborhoods (of Jerusalem) will be recognized as Israeli and under Israeli sovereignty. Accordingly, the Arab neighborhoods will be recognized as Palestinian. Passages between the Israeli neighborhoods will be open and secure – accordingly the same will be true for the Palestinian neighborhoods.According to Ramon's reported plan, There will be special sovereignty over the holy sites, taking into account Israel's unique interests in overseeing them. Within this framework, the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter and other holy sites in the Jerusalem vicinity will remain under Israeli rule forever.Ramon's letter as quoted did not single out the fate of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.
Knesset Member Otniel Schneller, a Kadima party colleague of Olmert and Ramon known for his close relationship to the prime minister, claimed the plan violated the Kadima's platform. But WND first reported in 2006 it was Schneller who first floated a Kadima plan for dividing Jerusalem.
The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat, Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is established, they will become its capital, said Schneller at the small Jerusalem debate in May 2006, covered by WND. Days later, Schneller gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he stated We will not divide Jerusalem, we will share it.The Kadima lawmaker told AP most Jerusalem neighborhoods with large Arab populations would be given to the Palestinians. Those same neighborhoods will, in my assessment, be central to the makeup of the Palestinian capital ... al-Quds, said Schneller, calling Jerusalem by its Arabic name. Rice arrived in the region yesterday reportedly to help the Israeli and Palestinian sides formulate a joint statement ahead of November's conference. Palestinian leaders want the statement to specifically outline a Palestinian state including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and parts of Jerusalem, while Olmert officials have been quoted in recent days stating they prefer more vague commitments.
Olmert will forfeit Temple Mount
According to senior Palestinian negotiators, Olmert's team expressed willingness multiple times to divide Jerusalem and place the Temple Mount under pan-Arab control. WND in August quoted PA sources stating Olmert's office presented the Palestinians a formal plan in which the Jewish state would forfeit the Temple Mount to Muslim control under the joint management of Egypt, Jordan and the PA. The sources said Olmert's plan called for the entire Temple Mount plaza to fall under Arab sovereignty; Jerusalem's Old City holy sites near the Mount to be governed by a Jewish, Christian and Muslim task force; and the Western Wall plaza below the Mount to be controlled by Israel. David Baker, a spokesman for Olmert, would neither confirm nor deny the prime minister offered the Temple Mount.
Rice: No Jewish building in eastern city
Says she'll push Israel to divide capital, blame Olmert if he doesn't comply - October 15, 2007 - By Aaron Klein
2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Condoleezza Rice
JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in the region to prepare for an Israeli-Palestinian summit next month, told Palestinian officials yesterday she would pressure Israel against initiating any Jewish construction in eastern sections of Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian negotiator involved in talks with Rice told WND. The Palestinian negotiator stated Rice singled out Jerusalem areas as becoming part of a future Palestinian state and told his negotiating team she would publicly blame Israel for the failure of next month's U.S.-sponsored summit slated to be held in Maryland if the Jewish state didn't agree to evacuate eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods. The information follows a flurry of media reports last week Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was contemplating handing over sections of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization. Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, last week reportedly mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.
Ramon was quoted by the popular Ynet Israeli website as writing in a letter to Jerusalem City Councilman Nir Barkat that under his plan, The Jewish neighborhoods (of Jerusalem) will be recognized as Israeli and under Israeli sovereignty. Accordingly, the Arab neighborhoods will be recognized as Palestinian. Passages between the Israeli neighborhoods will be open and secure – accordingly the same will be true for the Palestinian neighborhoods.According to Ramon's reported plan, There will be special sovereignty over the holy sites, taking into account Israel's unique interests in overseeing them. Within this framework, the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter and other holy sites in the Jerusalem vicinity will remain under Israeli rule forever.Ramon's letter as quoted did not single out the fate of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.
Knesset Member Otniel Schneller, a Kadima party colleague of Olmert and Ramon known for his close relationship to the prime minister, claimed the plan violated the Kadima's platform. But WND first reported in 2006 it was Schneller who first floated a Kadima plan for dividing Jerusalem.
The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat, Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is established, they will become its capital, said Schneller at the small Jerusalem debate in May 2006, covered by WND. Days later, Schneller gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he stated We will not divide Jerusalem, we will share it.The Kadima lawmaker told AP most Jerusalem neighborhoods with large Arab populations would be given to the Palestinians. Those same neighborhoods will, in my assessment, be central to the makeup of the Palestinian capital ... al-Quds, said Schneller, calling Jerusalem by its Arabic name. Rice arrived in the region yesterday reportedly to help the Israeli and Palestinian sides formulate a joint statement ahead of November's conference. Palestinian leaders want the statement to specifically outline a Palestinian state including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and parts of Jerusalem, while Olmert officials have been quoted in recent days stating they prefer more vague commitments.
Olmert will forfeit Temple Mount
According to senior Palestinian negotiators, Olmert's team expressed willingness multiple times to divide Jerusalem and place the Temple Mount under pan-Arab control. WND in August quoted PA sources stating Olmert's office presented the Palestinians a formal plan in which the Jewish state would forfeit the Temple Mount to Muslim control under the joint management of Egypt, Jordan and the PA. The sources said Olmert's plan called for the entire Temple Mount plaza to fall under Arab sovereignty; Jerusalem's Old City holy sites near the Mount to be governed by a Jewish, Christian and Muslim task force; and the Western Wall plaza below the Mount to be controlled by Israel. David Baker, a spokesman for Olmert, would neither confirm nor deny the prime minister offered the Temple Mount.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
OLMERT ABBAS NARROW LAND GAP
Hamas warns Abbas peace talks a trap By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 13, 1:39 AM ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas' top leaders in Gaza and Syria warned the moderate Palestinian president Friday not to fall into the trap of an upcoming U.S.-sponsored peace conference with Israel. Ismail Haniyeh, who was deposed as Palestinian prime minister after Hamas violently seized Gaza in June, urged President Mahmoud Abbas to mend his rift with the Islamic militant group and criticized him for planning to attend the peace conference next month.Don't fall into the trap of the coming conference. Don't make new compromises on Jerusalem, on our sovereignty, Haniyeh said, speaking to thousands of cheering supporters for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.Hamas' Syria-based supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, echoed the warning in his own holiday message, accusing Israel and the U.S. of taking advantage of the Palestinian rift to try to wrest concessions in peace negotiations.
Abbas retaliated for Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip by expelling the group from his government and setting up his own administration in the West Bank. Mashaal urged Abbas to accept the Islamists' invitations for dialogue.Abbas and his allies will find out that they are pursuing nothing but a mirage, Mashaal said on Hamas radio.Israel and the Palestinians hope to present the contours of a final peace accord at the conference, tentatively set for Annapolis, Md., at the end of November.Israel has been pressing for a vaguely worded document that would gloss over the toughest issues — borders, control over disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost their homes in the 1948 war that followed Israel's creation.Palestinians prefer a detailed preliminary agreement with a timetable for creating a Palestinian state.
But Thursday, a key Palestinian negotiator said agreement on peace was near, adding that he doubted the U.S. would convene the conference if the two sides did not agree in advance on outlines for an accord.We have never been closer to achieving the end game than we are now, negotiator Saeb Erekat said.In an interview with Israel's Channel 10 TV, Erekat discounted Hamas' ability to sabotage a peace accord. He acknowledged that Abbas' Fatah movement was not strong enough to retake Gaza by force, but insisted once you produce an end game agreement, Hamas is down without firing a shot.Although Abbas says he has authority over Gaza, in practice he has little influence there.Haniyeh, who now heads the Hamas government in Gaza, received a hero's welcome from the crowd when he arrived at the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City with around 20 black-uniformed bodyguards for festive prayers.He told supporters that Abbas could not negotiate without Hamas' support.Don't go to conference when you don't have the power card in your pocket — and the power card is Hamas, Haniyeh told his supporters.Gaza's international isolation, empty shelves and bitter internal rivalries cast a pall over the Eid al-Fitr holiday — meant to be one of the happiest dates on the Muslim calendar.Israel has barred the entrance of all goods to the territory except humanitarian aid, and Western governments have imposed a financial boycott.Deepening the misery are ongoing clashes between the Israeli military and Gaza militants who fire rockets almost daily into Israel.
Hamas said one of its fighters was killed and five other people were wounded in an Israeli ground missile attack early Saturday. The Israeli military said troops targeted a squad that had launched a rocket attack on Israel.Because tensions between members of Hamas and Fatah in Gaza remain high, Hamas security forces were deployed in the streets to keep order during the holiday. Even Friday's prayers were divided along factional lines, with separate locations for supporters of Gaza's Hamas rulers and their rivals from Abbas' Fatah.
Olmert, Abbas narrow land gap By Adam Entous
Fri Oct 12, 12:48 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The gap is narrowing between Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the amount of territory Israel would hand over to a Palestinian state, people close to the talks said a month ahead of a U.S.-sponsored conference. But Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials say sketching the boundaries of a future state may be the easy part -- real progress, they say, depends on narrowing differences over the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, on which little progress can be discerned so far after closed-door meetings.Even vague talk of dividing the city has stirred opposition within Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition cabinet.Israeli officials link easing their stance on Jerusalem -- which Israel wants to keep as its undivided capital -- to the Palestinians being prepared to soften their demand that refugees and their descendants be allowed to settle in Israel.
In this tortuous process, everything is difficult, everything is problematic. But Jerusalem and refugees are the most difficult issues, said Shlomo Ben-Ami, who was Israel's leftist Labor foreign minister when the last talks on the final status of a peace deal collapsed in 2001.Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have said little in public about talks they have held in recent months.Western officials have told Reuters Olmert has privately signaled a willingness to consider handing over 90-something percent of the occupied West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip, with additional land swaps, as part of a final peace deal.
That may put the two sides within a few percentage points of consensus on the territory issue ahead of the Annapolis meeting.
ARITHMETIC
Western officials said it was unclear whether Olmert's 90-something percent means he might match Israel's last and best offer before negotiations broke down in 2001. At that time, Prime Minister Ehud Barak accepted ideas floated by U.S. President Bill Clinton that would have produced a Palestinian state in 97 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of Gaza.Abbas's negotiating team considers the Clinton parameters and follow-up talks held in Taba, Egypt to be the basis for renewed negotiations with Olmert, Palestinian sources said.Abbas, in one of the rare public comments on the talks so far, said this week that a Palestinian state must have exactly as much land as that seized by Israel in the 1967 war.
Ben-Ami said: We don't need to invent the wheel ... These are the Clinton parameters. I don't see any other solution.But Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said it would be wrong to see one past proposal as the one to guide future negotiations.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Jerusalem and the West Bank Ramallah next week to press Abbas and Olmert to reach agreement on a joint document addressing core issues for the conference, which President George W. Bush hopes will launch a final push to end the 60-year-old conflict.We feel a growing sense of urgency from Washington, said a senior Israeli official. He said he feared Israel's security concerns were not being taken fully into account in Bush's rush for some sort of deal before leaving office in early 2009.They are eager to get results, the official said.
Desperation breeds foolishness.
Western officials said heavy U.S. pressure on its Israeli ally would make it very difficult for Olmert to offer less than Clinton's 97 percent figure for West Bank land. Yet that could also trigger a backlash from within his own coalition. Everyone wants peace but they don't want to pay the price, said Ben-Ami. The maximum Olmert can offer falls short of the minimum for the Palestinians. If he makes proposals that are more far-reaching, he will lose his coalition.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas' top leaders in Gaza and Syria warned the moderate Palestinian president Friday not to fall into the trap of an upcoming U.S.-sponsored peace conference with Israel. Ismail Haniyeh, who was deposed as Palestinian prime minister after Hamas violently seized Gaza in June, urged President Mahmoud Abbas to mend his rift with the Islamic militant group and criticized him for planning to attend the peace conference next month.Don't fall into the trap of the coming conference. Don't make new compromises on Jerusalem, on our sovereignty, Haniyeh said, speaking to thousands of cheering supporters for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.Hamas' Syria-based supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, echoed the warning in his own holiday message, accusing Israel and the U.S. of taking advantage of the Palestinian rift to try to wrest concessions in peace negotiations.
Abbas retaliated for Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip by expelling the group from his government and setting up his own administration in the West Bank. Mashaal urged Abbas to accept the Islamists' invitations for dialogue.Abbas and his allies will find out that they are pursuing nothing but a mirage, Mashaal said on Hamas radio.Israel and the Palestinians hope to present the contours of a final peace accord at the conference, tentatively set for Annapolis, Md., at the end of November.Israel has been pressing for a vaguely worded document that would gloss over the toughest issues — borders, control over disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost their homes in the 1948 war that followed Israel's creation.Palestinians prefer a detailed preliminary agreement with a timetable for creating a Palestinian state.
But Thursday, a key Palestinian negotiator said agreement on peace was near, adding that he doubted the U.S. would convene the conference if the two sides did not agree in advance on outlines for an accord.We have never been closer to achieving the end game than we are now, negotiator Saeb Erekat said.In an interview with Israel's Channel 10 TV, Erekat discounted Hamas' ability to sabotage a peace accord. He acknowledged that Abbas' Fatah movement was not strong enough to retake Gaza by force, but insisted once you produce an end game agreement, Hamas is down without firing a shot.Although Abbas says he has authority over Gaza, in practice he has little influence there.Haniyeh, who now heads the Hamas government in Gaza, received a hero's welcome from the crowd when he arrived at the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City with around 20 black-uniformed bodyguards for festive prayers.He told supporters that Abbas could not negotiate without Hamas' support.Don't go to conference when you don't have the power card in your pocket — and the power card is Hamas, Haniyeh told his supporters.Gaza's international isolation, empty shelves and bitter internal rivalries cast a pall over the Eid al-Fitr holiday — meant to be one of the happiest dates on the Muslim calendar.Israel has barred the entrance of all goods to the territory except humanitarian aid, and Western governments have imposed a financial boycott.Deepening the misery are ongoing clashes between the Israeli military and Gaza militants who fire rockets almost daily into Israel.
Hamas said one of its fighters was killed and five other people were wounded in an Israeli ground missile attack early Saturday. The Israeli military said troops targeted a squad that had launched a rocket attack on Israel.Because tensions between members of Hamas and Fatah in Gaza remain high, Hamas security forces were deployed in the streets to keep order during the holiday. Even Friday's prayers were divided along factional lines, with separate locations for supporters of Gaza's Hamas rulers and their rivals from Abbas' Fatah.
Olmert, Abbas narrow land gap By Adam Entous
Fri Oct 12, 12:48 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The gap is narrowing between Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the amount of territory Israel would hand over to a Palestinian state, people close to the talks said a month ahead of a U.S.-sponsored conference. But Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials say sketching the boundaries of a future state may be the easy part -- real progress, they say, depends on narrowing differences over the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, on which little progress can be discerned so far after closed-door meetings.Even vague talk of dividing the city has stirred opposition within Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition cabinet.Israeli officials link easing their stance on Jerusalem -- which Israel wants to keep as its undivided capital -- to the Palestinians being prepared to soften their demand that refugees and their descendants be allowed to settle in Israel.
In this tortuous process, everything is difficult, everything is problematic. But Jerusalem and refugees are the most difficult issues, said Shlomo Ben-Ami, who was Israel's leftist Labor foreign minister when the last talks on the final status of a peace deal collapsed in 2001.Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have said little in public about talks they have held in recent months.Western officials have told Reuters Olmert has privately signaled a willingness to consider handing over 90-something percent of the occupied West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip, with additional land swaps, as part of a final peace deal.
That may put the two sides within a few percentage points of consensus on the territory issue ahead of the Annapolis meeting.
ARITHMETIC
Western officials said it was unclear whether Olmert's 90-something percent means he might match Israel's last and best offer before negotiations broke down in 2001. At that time, Prime Minister Ehud Barak accepted ideas floated by U.S. President Bill Clinton that would have produced a Palestinian state in 97 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of Gaza.Abbas's negotiating team considers the Clinton parameters and follow-up talks held in Taba, Egypt to be the basis for renewed negotiations with Olmert, Palestinian sources said.Abbas, in one of the rare public comments on the talks so far, said this week that a Palestinian state must have exactly as much land as that seized by Israel in the 1967 war.
Ben-Ami said: We don't need to invent the wheel ... These are the Clinton parameters. I don't see any other solution.But Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said it would be wrong to see one past proposal as the one to guide future negotiations.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Jerusalem and the West Bank Ramallah next week to press Abbas and Olmert to reach agreement on a joint document addressing core issues for the conference, which President George W. Bush hopes will launch a final push to end the 60-year-old conflict.We feel a growing sense of urgency from Washington, said a senior Israeli official. He said he feared Israel's security concerns were not being taken fully into account in Bush's rush for some sort of deal before leaving office in early 2009.They are eager to get results, the official said.
Desperation breeds foolishness.
Western officials said heavy U.S. pressure on its Israeli ally would make it very difficult for Olmert to offer less than Clinton's 97 percent figure for West Bank land. Yet that could also trigger a backlash from within his own coalition. Everyone wants peace but they don't want to pay the price, said Ben-Ami. The maximum Olmert can offer falls short of the minimum for the Palestinians. If he makes proposals that are more far-reaching, he will lose his coalition.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
ABBAS OUTLINES VISION
Hamas seeks Fatah talks, hints at giving up Gaza By Nidal al-Mughrabi Wed Oct 10, 6:51 PM ET
GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas said on Wednesday it would hold reconciliation talks with the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and hinted it might be ready to cede control of the Gaza Strip, which it seized in June. Abbas, who is pursuing a peace deal with Israel, has ruled out dialogue with Islamist Hamas unless it submits anew to his authority and gives up Gaza. Israel and the West want Hamas shunned until it accepts coexistence with the Jewish state.There is a serious movement in the realm of Palestinian dialogue and we have agreed to hold a dialogue with Fatah in one of the Arab capitals, said Ismail Haniyeh, who was Hamas prime minister in the former government that Abbas declared void.Our administration in Gaza is temporary, Haniyeh said in an urgent bulletin posted on a pro-Hamas Web site. He said the talks would be held after Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim festival that ends the holy month of Ramadan and falls on Friday or Saturday.
Foreign sanctions and an Israeli blockade have driven Gaza ever deeper into poverty and isolation, and put pressure on Hamas to find a breakthrough without compromising its doctrines.An official involved in Hamas-Fatah mediation but affiliated with neither group confirmed there would be a meeting as early as next week, and said Cairo was the likely venue.But a senior Abbas aide, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, denied talks had been set and accused Hamas, which has been vying with Fatah for Palestinian support since the factions fought a brief civil war in June, of trying to mislead the public.We have not heard about such a dialogue, Abdel-Rahman, who is also a Fatah spokesman, told Reuters. Hamas, he said, wanted to create a false positive atmosphere in Gaza so they can say they are the advocates of dialogue and Fatah rejects it.Abbas has made a precondition of factional talks that Hamas relinquishes the Fatah-linked security compound its forces overran. A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said such a gesture could come only as a result of dialogue being under way.Israel, whose prime minister, Ehud Olmert, will attend a U.S.-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood with Abbas next month, opposes reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.
ABBAS OUTLINES PALESTINE VISION
Israel believes that Hamas should be kept out of the game as it is a consistent detriment to any chance for progress between Israel and the Palestinians, Olmert spokesman David Baker said in Jerusalem.Haniyeh's statement came hours after Abbas, apparently staking out a position ahead of the November conference, said a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza must cover the same amount of land as Israel seized there 40 years ago.Abbas also raised the possibility of amending the pre-1967 lines as long as Palestinians ended up controlling territory equal to what Israeli forces captured in a war that year.All Israeli governments since the 1967 conflict have ruled out a complete pullback to pre-war boundaries, citing security concerns and the Jewish state's claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians want the eastern part of the holy city, which Israel annexed, as capital of their future state.
The U.S. government has backed the idea of a small territorial exchange between Israel and a future Palestine so that Palestinians would be compensated for Jewish settlement blocs that would remain under Israeli control in any peace deal.Negotiations on core issues such as the borders of a Palestinian state and the future of Jerusalem and millions of Palestinian refugees broke down in 2001 amid surging violence.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Dan Williams in Jerusalem)
GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas said on Wednesday it would hold reconciliation talks with the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and hinted it might be ready to cede control of the Gaza Strip, which it seized in June. Abbas, who is pursuing a peace deal with Israel, has ruled out dialogue with Islamist Hamas unless it submits anew to his authority and gives up Gaza. Israel and the West want Hamas shunned until it accepts coexistence with the Jewish state.There is a serious movement in the realm of Palestinian dialogue and we have agreed to hold a dialogue with Fatah in one of the Arab capitals, said Ismail Haniyeh, who was Hamas prime minister in the former government that Abbas declared void.Our administration in Gaza is temporary, Haniyeh said in an urgent bulletin posted on a pro-Hamas Web site. He said the talks would be held after Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim festival that ends the holy month of Ramadan and falls on Friday or Saturday.
Foreign sanctions and an Israeli blockade have driven Gaza ever deeper into poverty and isolation, and put pressure on Hamas to find a breakthrough without compromising its doctrines.An official involved in Hamas-Fatah mediation but affiliated with neither group confirmed there would be a meeting as early as next week, and said Cairo was the likely venue.But a senior Abbas aide, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, denied talks had been set and accused Hamas, which has been vying with Fatah for Palestinian support since the factions fought a brief civil war in June, of trying to mislead the public.We have not heard about such a dialogue, Abdel-Rahman, who is also a Fatah spokesman, told Reuters. Hamas, he said, wanted to create a false positive atmosphere in Gaza so they can say they are the advocates of dialogue and Fatah rejects it.Abbas has made a precondition of factional talks that Hamas relinquishes the Fatah-linked security compound its forces overran. A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said such a gesture could come only as a result of dialogue being under way.Israel, whose prime minister, Ehud Olmert, will attend a U.S.-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood with Abbas next month, opposes reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.
ABBAS OUTLINES PALESTINE VISION
Israel believes that Hamas should be kept out of the game as it is a consistent detriment to any chance for progress between Israel and the Palestinians, Olmert spokesman David Baker said in Jerusalem.Haniyeh's statement came hours after Abbas, apparently staking out a position ahead of the November conference, said a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza must cover the same amount of land as Israel seized there 40 years ago.Abbas also raised the possibility of amending the pre-1967 lines as long as Palestinians ended up controlling territory equal to what Israeli forces captured in a war that year.All Israeli governments since the 1967 conflict have ruled out a complete pullback to pre-war boundaries, citing security concerns and the Jewish state's claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians want the eastern part of the holy city, which Israel annexed, as capital of their future state.
The U.S. government has backed the idea of a small territorial exchange between Israel and a future Palestine so that Palestinians would be compensated for Jewish settlement blocs that would remain under Israeli control in any peace deal.Negotiations on core issues such as the borders of a Palestinian state and the future of Jerusalem and millions of Palestinian refugees broke down in 2001 amid surging violence.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Dan Williams in Jerusalem)
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
JERUSALEM DEBATE IN ISRAEL
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Manhigut Yehudit Opposes Any Division of Jerusalem
October 9, 2007.
Manhigut Yehudit opposes the upcoming November summit in Maryland in which the United States and Israel will seek to divide Jerusalem and relinquish Israeli sovereignty from Judaism's holiest site - The Temple Mount - while at the same time bringing Israel back to what Abba Eban called it's Auschwitz Borders.This summit is solely a tool for two desperate men - US President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - to attempt to make political gains on the backs of the Jewish People. Bush supports this plan (which will bring rockets raining down on all of Israel) as he desperately wants to focus attention away from Iraq, and if he can come up with a newfangled Mid-East Peace then he and the Republicans will walk away smelling like roses. Olmert is willing and eager to make Israel spiritually bankrupt and militarily defenseless by creating another Arab tyranny in its very backyard whose sole aim will be to destroy the Jewish State. Olmert's first objective is solely the opportunity to stay in office just a little while longer, and he thinks that by producing another false peace ala Oslo then he'll be able to do just that.
Neither of them care about Israel's identity, security or viability more than they care about their own political ambitions.
All recent polls in Israel show approximately 75% of Israeli Jews are opposed to dividing Jerusalem and giving up the Temple Mount. Olmert has NO MANDATE to make the concessions that he is rushing to make.
Olmert's declaration that he is willing to divide Jerusalem and risk countless Jewish lives is a betrayal of the Jewish People and new elections should be called immediately. The Olmert regime will go to any lengths to achieve its ultimate goal of stripping the Jewish Nation of all vestiges of it's Jewish character. Whether that means expelling one hundred thousand Jews (predominantly religious Jews) from their homes in Judea and Samaria or DIVIDING JERUSALEM, G-D forbid, Jews must wake up to the reality that a band of anti-Jewish corrupt individuals are leading the Jewish people to national suicide.Manhigut Yehudit is the authentic Jewish leadership that Israel needs and must have. We will continue to speak out with all of our might against the division of Jerusalem, the wholesale giveaway of Eretz Yisrael, and the risking of Jewish lives as sacrifices for peace.The Manhigut Yehudit website is www.jewishisrael.org
Israel minister draws fire over Jerusalem division call by Ron Bousso Mon Oct 8, 7:57 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - A close ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sparked controversy on Monday after saying that Israel should share sovereignty of Jerusalem with the Palestinians as part of a peace deal. It is in Israel's interest to tackle the issue of Jerusalem in the negotiations, deputy prime minister Haim Ramon said, reiterating his stance over the holy city, which Israel calls its eternal, indivisible capital.If we reach a deal with the Palestinians, the Arab world and the international community according to which the Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem will be recognised as the capital of Israel and the Arab neighbourhoods as part of the Arab capital, will that be a bad deal?
Ramon also urged Israel not to miss the opportunity presented by a US-sponsored Midde East conference expected to take place in Annapolis, Maryland in November to try to advance the dormant peace talks.Israel captured Arab east Jerusalem, including the Old City with its sites holy to Christianity, Islam and Judaism -- during the 1967 Six Day war and later annexed it.In 1980, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed a law proclaiming it the reunified and eternal capital of Israel, a claim not recognised by the international community.Ramon's comments as Israeli and Palestinian officials met for the first time to draw a joint statement outlining understandings ahead of the renewal of bilateral talks which are planned following the international meeting.But senior members of Olmert's coalition government were swift to criticise Ramon for breaking of one of Israel's strongest taboos.Of course, Jerusalem is not on the negotiations agenda, Trade and Industry Minister and chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Eli Yishai told AFP.
Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz of Olmert's centrist Kadima party warned that Ramon's proposal causes damage on the security level and also on the national level.The issue of the division of Jerusalem is an inalienable asset of the state of Israel. Palestinian refugees will not be returned to Israel and Jerusalem will not be divided, the former chief of staff told public radio.
The issue of Jerusalem -- which the Palestinians demand be the capital of their promised state -- is one of the most sensitive and intractable issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along with the question of refugees.Referring to the planned peace conference, the deputy prime minister told army radio: The meeting is an important occasion to reach an agreement on the political horizon with the Palestinian partners and we cannot miss this opportunity.The alternative in case of failure is that we will be left to face Hamas and fight it he said, referring to the Islamist movement that seized power in Gaza in June by routing forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Olmert is due to address the talks with the Palestinians issue during a speech at the opening of parliament's winter session on Monday, telling the chamber that he is absolutely determined.... to give momentum and a chance to a substantive peace process, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily said.
Jordanian NGOs to take part in Jerusalem forum
www.chinaview.cn 2007-10-07 17:24:32
AMMAN, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Jordanian non-governmental organizations will partake in the Jerusalem International Forum slated for next month in Turkey, which marks the 40th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967, the Jordan Times reported on Sunday. Around 3,000 intellectuals from Turkey and around the world will take part in the Nov. 15-17 forum, which aims to highlight the historical rights of the Palestinians as well as denying Israel's claims on East Jerusalem, the report said. Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) President Wael Saqqa was quoted as saying that the JEA will send 150 of its members to the forum, noting that the participants are keen to do their part in support of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. There are several committees formed by the JEA that work side-by-side with other concerned parties to fight against Jewish attempts to Judaise the holy city, said Saqqa.
Razan Zueiter, who will represent Jordan's civil sector at the forum, said she hoped the forum would offer an opportunity to work together with Palestinian institutions in the occupied territories, said the newspaper. She also called for reactivating the Arab boycott of Israeli products and increasing Arab investments in Jerusalem. On the sidelines of the forum, several folklore, cultural and art exhibitions will be held by the participating delegations, according to the report. Israel seized East Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Syria's Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967,which ended with Israel's stunning victory over the Arab armies. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242unanimously in November 1967, demanding the Jewish state withdraw from the occupied lands in return for peaceful actions from Arab states.
Editor: Wang Hongjiang
Report: Israel, PA agree Jordanian control of Temple Mount
London-based Palestinian daily quotes Abbas aide as saying, Israel and Palestinians have agreed to transfer control of parts of Old City in Jerusalem to Jordan as part of future peace agreement
Roee Nahmias 10.08.07, 10:14 / Israel News
Israel and the Palestinians have agreed that the Temple Mount as well as other parts of the Old City in Jerusalem will be under Jordanian control as part of a future peace deal, a Palestinian daily reported on Monday.The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reported that President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reached the agreement during recent talks in Jerusalem. Under the arrangement, the Old City's Arab residents will be granted Jordanian citizenship. The newspaper did not say whether Israel would keep control of Jewish holy sites and neighborhoods in the Old City. The arrangement will make the Jordanian monarchy a guardian of holy Muslim shrines in Jerusalem. The plan's details and implementation will be supervised by Jordan, Israel, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations, the newspaper said.
The report comes a day after remarks by Vice Premier Haim Ramon that Abbas and Olmert will discuss the status of Jerusalem during the US-sponsored talks in November. Ramon said it was in Israel's interest to hand over control of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods to the Palestinian Authority.A Palestinian official told Ynet it was agreed in principle that the neighborhoods of Shuafat, Wadi Jos, Beit Hanina, Ras el-Amoud and Jabal Mukaber would be transferred to PA control.He added that progress was also made regarding the excavations at the Temple Mount. The Palestinians have recently claimed that Israel is attempting to build a synagogue under the complex. The official said that under a future deal Israel would be responsible for security at the Temple Mount while the Palestinians would have sovereignty over the area. In addition, Israel agreed not to conduct any archeological digs at the complex.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office denied al-Quds al-Arabi's report, saying no agreement has been reached.Ali Waked contributed to the report.
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Manhigut Yehudit Opposes Any Division of Jerusalem
October 9, 2007.
Manhigut Yehudit opposes the upcoming November summit in Maryland in which the United States and Israel will seek to divide Jerusalem and relinquish Israeli sovereignty from Judaism's holiest site - The Temple Mount - while at the same time bringing Israel back to what Abba Eban called it's Auschwitz Borders.This summit is solely a tool for two desperate men - US President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - to attempt to make political gains on the backs of the Jewish People. Bush supports this plan (which will bring rockets raining down on all of Israel) as he desperately wants to focus attention away from Iraq, and if he can come up with a newfangled Mid-East Peace then he and the Republicans will walk away smelling like roses. Olmert is willing and eager to make Israel spiritually bankrupt and militarily defenseless by creating another Arab tyranny in its very backyard whose sole aim will be to destroy the Jewish State. Olmert's first objective is solely the opportunity to stay in office just a little while longer, and he thinks that by producing another false peace ala Oslo then he'll be able to do just that.
Neither of them care about Israel's identity, security or viability more than they care about their own political ambitions.
All recent polls in Israel show approximately 75% of Israeli Jews are opposed to dividing Jerusalem and giving up the Temple Mount. Olmert has NO MANDATE to make the concessions that he is rushing to make.
Olmert's declaration that he is willing to divide Jerusalem and risk countless Jewish lives is a betrayal of the Jewish People and new elections should be called immediately. The Olmert regime will go to any lengths to achieve its ultimate goal of stripping the Jewish Nation of all vestiges of it's Jewish character. Whether that means expelling one hundred thousand Jews (predominantly religious Jews) from their homes in Judea and Samaria or DIVIDING JERUSALEM, G-D forbid, Jews must wake up to the reality that a band of anti-Jewish corrupt individuals are leading the Jewish people to national suicide.Manhigut Yehudit is the authentic Jewish leadership that Israel needs and must have. We will continue to speak out with all of our might against the division of Jerusalem, the wholesale giveaway of Eretz Yisrael, and the risking of Jewish lives as sacrifices for peace.The Manhigut Yehudit website is www.jewishisrael.org
Israel minister draws fire over Jerusalem division call by Ron Bousso Mon Oct 8, 7:57 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - A close ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sparked controversy on Monday after saying that Israel should share sovereignty of Jerusalem with the Palestinians as part of a peace deal. It is in Israel's interest to tackle the issue of Jerusalem in the negotiations, deputy prime minister Haim Ramon said, reiterating his stance over the holy city, which Israel calls its eternal, indivisible capital.If we reach a deal with the Palestinians, the Arab world and the international community according to which the Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem will be recognised as the capital of Israel and the Arab neighbourhoods as part of the Arab capital, will that be a bad deal?
Ramon also urged Israel not to miss the opportunity presented by a US-sponsored Midde East conference expected to take place in Annapolis, Maryland in November to try to advance the dormant peace talks.Israel captured Arab east Jerusalem, including the Old City with its sites holy to Christianity, Islam and Judaism -- during the 1967 Six Day war and later annexed it.In 1980, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed a law proclaiming it the reunified and eternal capital of Israel, a claim not recognised by the international community.Ramon's comments as Israeli and Palestinian officials met for the first time to draw a joint statement outlining understandings ahead of the renewal of bilateral talks which are planned following the international meeting.But senior members of Olmert's coalition government were swift to criticise Ramon for breaking of one of Israel's strongest taboos.Of course, Jerusalem is not on the negotiations agenda, Trade and Industry Minister and chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Eli Yishai told AFP.
Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz of Olmert's centrist Kadima party warned that Ramon's proposal causes damage on the security level and also on the national level.The issue of the division of Jerusalem is an inalienable asset of the state of Israel. Palestinian refugees will not be returned to Israel and Jerusalem will not be divided, the former chief of staff told public radio.
The issue of Jerusalem -- which the Palestinians demand be the capital of their promised state -- is one of the most sensitive and intractable issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along with the question of refugees.Referring to the planned peace conference, the deputy prime minister told army radio: The meeting is an important occasion to reach an agreement on the political horizon with the Palestinian partners and we cannot miss this opportunity.The alternative in case of failure is that we will be left to face Hamas and fight it he said, referring to the Islamist movement that seized power in Gaza in June by routing forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Olmert is due to address the talks with the Palestinians issue during a speech at the opening of parliament's winter session on Monday, telling the chamber that he is absolutely determined.... to give momentum and a chance to a substantive peace process, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily said.
Jordanian NGOs to take part in Jerusalem forum
www.chinaview.cn 2007-10-07 17:24:32
AMMAN, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Jordanian non-governmental organizations will partake in the Jerusalem International Forum slated for next month in Turkey, which marks the 40th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967, the Jordan Times reported on Sunday. Around 3,000 intellectuals from Turkey and around the world will take part in the Nov. 15-17 forum, which aims to highlight the historical rights of the Palestinians as well as denying Israel's claims on East Jerusalem, the report said. Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) President Wael Saqqa was quoted as saying that the JEA will send 150 of its members to the forum, noting that the participants are keen to do their part in support of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. There are several committees formed by the JEA that work side-by-side with other concerned parties to fight against Jewish attempts to Judaise the holy city, said Saqqa.
Razan Zueiter, who will represent Jordan's civil sector at the forum, said she hoped the forum would offer an opportunity to work together with Palestinian institutions in the occupied territories, said the newspaper. She also called for reactivating the Arab boycott of Israeli products and increasing Arab investments in Jerusalem. On the sidelines of the forum, several folklore, cultural and art exhibitions will be held by the participating delegations, according to the report. Israel seized East Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Syria's Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967,which ended with Israel's stunning victory over the Arab armies. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242unanimously in November 1967, demanding the Jewish state withdraw from the occupied lands in return for peaceful actions from Arab states.
Editor: Wang Hongjiang
Report: Israel, PA agree Jordanian control of Temple Mount
London-based Palestinian daily quotes Abbas aide as saying, Israel and Palestinians have agreed to transfer control of parts of Old City in Jerusalem to Jordan as part of future peace agreement
Roee Nahmias 10.08.07, 10:14 / Israel News
Israel and the Palestinians have agreed that the Temple Mount as well as other parts of the Old City in Jerusalem will be under Jordanian control as part of a future peace deal, a Palestinian daily reported on Monday.The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reported that President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reached the agreement during recent talks in Jerusalem. Under the arrangement, the Old City's Arab residents will be granted Jordanian citizenship. The newspaper did not say whether Israel would keep control of Jewish holy sites and neighborhoods in the Old City. The arrangement will make the Jordanian monarchy a guardian of holy Muslim shrines in Jerusalem. The plan's details and implementation will be supervised by Jordan, Israel, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations, the newspaper said.
The report comes a day after remarks by Vice Premier Haim Ramon that Abbas and Olmert will discuss the status of Jerusalem during the US-sponsored talks in November. Ramon said it was in Israel's interest to hand over control of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods to the Palestinian Authority.A Palestinian official told Ynet it was agreed in principle that the neighborhoods of Shuafat, Wadi Jos, Beit Hanina, Ras el-Amoud and Jabal Mukaber would be transferred to PA control.He added that progress was also made regarding the excavations at the Temple Mount. The Palestinians have recently claimed that Israel is attempting to build a synagogue under the complex. The official said that under a future deal Israel would be responsible for security at the Temple Mount while the Palestinians would have sovereignty over the area. In addition, Israel agreed not to conduct any archeological digs at the complex.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office denied al-Quds al-Arabi's report, saying no agreement has been reached.Ali Waked contributed to the report.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
FORMER PA LEADER BOYCOTT SUMMIT
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Israel: US-sponsored talks have limits By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 7, 7:58 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet on Sunday that an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference would not replace direct negotiations with the Palestinians. He also said his talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have produced no agreements so far. Olmert and Abbas have met every few weeks in recent months in an effort to formulate a framework for full-fledged peace talks ahead of the international conference, expected to take place in Annapolis, Md., in late November.Israeli and Palestinian teams charged with drafting the document are to meet for the first time Monday, and next week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to return to the region to assess progress.
At the start of Sunday's regularly scheduled Cabinet meeting, Olmert told ministers that his talks with Abbas have been mostly brainstorming and an attempt to understand the other's viewpoint.
There have been no agreements or deals, he said.
While the international conference is designed to promote peacemaking, it will in no way replace direct negotiations with the Palestinians, Olmert said.The U.S. has not yet set a date for the meeting or announced a list of participants. Palestinian negotiators have said they expect Rice to set a date after she visits the region.Participation by leading Arab countries is considered key to the conference's success.So far, regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries without diplomatic ties with Israel have been reluctant to commit, first seeking proof that the meeting will address the core issues — final borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost their homes in the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation.
Olmert also told his Cabinet that any solution would be based on the U.S.-backed road map peace plan, a program that foundered shortly after it was presented in 2003, the Haaretz newspaper said. Both sides failed to carry out initial obligations under the three-phase plan, with Israel continuing to build in West Bank settlements and the Palestinians failing to disarm militants.
On Sunday, Palestinian militants fired a Russian-made rocket into southern Israel, causing no injuries but possibly signaling an escalation by armed groups in the Gaza Strip.In an interview published Saturday, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, urged Saudi Arabia and Egypt not to attend the conference, saying he did not expect the gathering to produce any results.The conference is aimed in part at giving Abbas an international boost of support in his rivalry with Hamas.The Islamic militant Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, wrested control of Gaza from Fatah security forces loyal to Abbas in mid-June. Abbas retaliated by expelling Hamas from government and setting up a Western-backed government that he says has authority over Gaza, but in practice has little influence there.
Former Palestinian PM Haniya calls for Arabs to boycott peace meeting Sat Oct 6, 8:31 AM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Senior Hamas leader and former Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya has called on Arab countries to boycott a US-sponsored Middle East peace meeting due to be held next month.
We call on our Arab brothers, particularly the Saudi Arabian kingdom and Egypt, to reconsider any decision to participate in this conference, he said in an interview published on Saturday in Palestine magazine, which is close to the Islamist group.We do not put the slightest hope in this conference, he added, speaking out against any normalisation of relations with Israel.Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, European Union and Israel because it refuses to renounce violence, recognise the Jewish state and respect past interim peace deals.
Haniya was speaking as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepares to visit the region next week to add her weight to preparations for the meeting, for which Washington has not yet issued invitations or settled on a precise date or venue.On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met for the fourth time in less than two months and told aides to start work on a joint document to serve as a basis for peace talks.Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in mid-June, ousting forces loyal to Abbas, who sacked Haniya as head of a national unity government and appointed a new cabinet.As a result, the Palestinian territories are effectively divided, as Fatah retains its power base in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Canada condemns remarks by Iranian president Sat Oct 6, 4:47 PM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada condemned Saturday new remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has vowed to liberate all of Palestine from Israel and questioned the scale of the Holocaust.
President Ahmadinejad's statement represents a wilful distortion of history and an attempt to prevent political reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, Canadian Foreign Minister Maxine Bernier said in a statement.It is comments like these that make Iran a country of concern for the international community, the minister said.Canada continues to work to focus attention on the Iranian government's atrocious human rights record. To that end, Canada will once again be leading a resolution on Iran at the UN this autumn.
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Israel: US-sponsored talks have limits By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 7, 7:58 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet on Sunday that an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference would not replace direct negotiations with the Palestinians. He also said his talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have produced no agreements so far. Olmert and Abbas have met every few weeks in recent months in an effort to formulate a framework for full-fledged peace talks ahead of the international conference, expected to take place in Annapolis, Md., in late November.Israeli and Palestinian teams charged with drafting the document are to meet for the first time Monday, and next week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to return to the region to assess progress.
At the start of Sunday's regularly scheduled Cabinet meeting, Olmert told ministers that his talks with Abbas have been mostly brainstorming and an attempt to understand the other's viewpoint.
There have been no agreements or deals, he said.
While the international conference is designed to promote peacemaking, it will in no way replace direct negotiations with the Palestinians, Olmert said.The U.S. has not yet set a date for the meeting or announced a list of participants. Palestinian negotiators have said they expect Rice to set a date after she visits the region.Participation by leading Arab countries is considered key to the conference's success.So far, regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries without diplomatic ties with Israel have been reluctant to commit, first seeking proof that the meeting will address the core issues — final borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost their homes in the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation.
Olmert also told his Cabinet that any solution would be based on the U.S.-backed road map peace plan, a program that foundered shortly after it was presented in 2003, the Haaretz newspaper said. Both sides failed to carry out initial obligations under the three-phase plan, with Israel continuing to build in West Bank settlements and the Palestinians failing to disarm militants.
On Sunday, Palestinian militants fired a Russian-made rocket into southern Israel, causing no injuries but possibly signaling an escalation by armed groups in the Gaza Strip.In an interview published Saturday, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, urged Saudi Arabia and Egypt not to attend the conference, saying he did not expect the gathering to produce any results.The conference is aimed in part at giving Abbas an international boost of support in his rivalry with Hamas.The Islamic militant Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, wrested control of Gaza from Fatah security forces loyal to Abbas in mid-June. Abbas retaliated by expelling Hamas from government and setting up a Western-backed government that he says has authority over Gaza, but in practice has little influence there.
Former Palestinian PM Haniya calls for Arabs to boycott peace meeting Sat Oct 6, 8:31 AM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Senior Hamas leader and former Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya has called on Arab countries to boycott a US-sponsored Middle East peace meeting due to be held next month.
We call on our Arab brothers, particularly the Saudi Arabian kingdom and Egypt, to reconsider any decision to participate in this conference, he said in an interview published on Saturday in Palestine magazine, which is close to the Islamist group.We do not put the slightest hope in this conference, he added, speaking out against any normalisation of relations with Israel.Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, European Union and Israel because it refuses to renounce violence, recognise the Jewish state and respect past interim peace deals.
Haniya was speaking as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepares to visit the region next week to add her weight to preparations for the meeting, for which Washington has not yet issued invitations or settled on a precise date or venue.On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met for the fourth time in less than two months and told aides to start work on a joint document to serve as a basis for peace talks.Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in mid-June, ousting forces loyal to Abbas, who sacked Haniya as head of a national unity government and appointed a new cabinet.As a result, the Palestinian territories are effectively divided, as Fatah retains its power base in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Canada condemns remarks by Iranian president Sat Oct 6, 4:47 PM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada condemned Saturday new remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has vowed to liberate all of Palestine from Israel and questioned the scale of the Holocaust.
President Ahmadinejad's statement represents a wilful distortion of history and an attempt to prevent political reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, Canadian Foreign Minister Maxine Bernier said in a statement.It is comments like these that make Iran a country of concern for the international community, the minister said.Canada continues to work to focus attention on the Iranian government's atrocious human rights record. To that end, Canada will once again be leading a resolution on Iran at the UN this autumn.
DETAILS KEPT QUIET
Details of Olmert-Abbas Meeting Kept Quiet
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz OCT 6,07 INN
(IsraelNN.com) A meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem on Wednesday led to few official statements. After the meeting, it was announced only that PA and Israeli negotiators will meet in coming weeks to work out a joint position paper for the planned Middle East summit in November. Prime Minister Olmert initially held talks with Abbas in private, after which they were Abbas expressed dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Olmert's refusal to discuss a fixed timeline.joined by their respective negotiating teams.
Reports in the Arab media indicated that Abbas expressed dissatisfaction with Olmert's continued refusal to discuss a fixed timeline for the resolution of final-status issues. According to IDF Radio, Olmert insisted that the PA accept the Israeli and American position that rejects an Arab right of return to Israel and includes Israeli annexation of certain areas in Judea and Samaria. On Thursday, the PA's Minister of Information, Riyad Al-Malki, told reporters that a joint document outlining a framework for final status talks will be drafted before the US-sponsored Middle East summit in November. Al-Malki said a final status agreement could be reached within six months of the summit. This agreement, he added, would be brought before a follow-up meeting of the November summit's participants, as well as before the residents of the PA in the form of a referendum.
A senior PA figure and former PA prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, said it will not be easy for Olmert and Abbas to draft an agenda for final status talks before the summit. Qurei's cautious view was echoed by David Baker, a spokesman for the Israeli government. The issues that would have to be included in any final status accord, and about which there is little agreement, include bilateral borders, the status of Arab refugees in other countries, the status and future of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and sovereignty in Jerusalem. The Hamas leadership of the PA, for its part, has rejected the idea of the November summit entirely. Spokesmen for the terrorist organization said the main purpose of the bilateral and multilateral meetings that include Israel is to prevent the resolution of what Hamas considers the fundamental issues.
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz OCT 6,07 INN
(IsraelNN.com) A meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem on Wednesday led to few official statements. After the meeting, it was announced only that PA and Israeli negotiators will meet in coming weeks to work out a joint position paper for the planned Middle East summit in November. Prime Minister Olmert initially held talks with Abbas in private, after which they were Abbas expressed dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Olmert's refusal to discuss a fixed timeline.joined by their respective negotiating teams.
Reports in the Arab media indicated that Abbas expressed dissatisfaction with Olmert's continued refusal to discuss a fixed timeline for the resolution of final-status issues. According to IDF Radio, Olmert insisted that the PA accept the Israeli and American position that rejects an Arab right of return to Israel and includes Israeli annexation of certain areas in Judea and Samaria. On Thursday, the PA's Minister of Information, Riyad Al-Malki, told reporters that a joint document outlining a framework for final status talks will be drafted before the US-sponsored Middle East summit in November. Al-Malki said a final status agreement could be reached within six months of the summit. This agreement, he added, would be brought before a follow-up meeting of the November summit's participants, as well as before the residents of the PA in the form of a referendum.
A senior PA figure and former PA prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, said it will not be easy for Olmert and Abbas to draft an agenda for final status talks before the summit. Qurei's cautious view was echoed by David Baker, a spokesman for the Israeli government. The issues that would have to be included in any final status accord, and about which there is little agreement, include bilateral borders, the status of Arab refugees in other countries, the status and future of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and sovereignty in Jerusalem. The Hamas leadership of the PA, for its part, has rejected the idea of the November summit entirely. Spokesmen for the terrorist organization said the main purpose of the bilateral and multilateral meetings that include Israel is to prevent the resolution of what Hamas considers the fundamental issues.
Friday, October 05, 2007
ISR - ARA TO DRAFT DECLARATION
Israelis, Palestinians To Draft Declaration
Negotiators Will Detail Core Issues In Preparation for Peace Conference - By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, October 4, 2007; Page A16
JERUSALEM, Oct. 3 -- Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Wednesday to begin work on a joint declaration setting out their positions on the core issues of their long conflict before a U.S.-proposed peace conference tentatively scheduled for next month.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams will meet privately next week to begin the contentious drafting process, which for the first time in years will expose the extent of their disagreement on such issues as the shape of a future Palestinian state, the right claimed by Palestinian refugees to return to homes inside Israel, and the division of Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who met here Wednesday for the latest in a series of confidence-building meetings, have disagreed on what standing the document should have in the international conference that President Bush proposed earlier this year. Olmert has favored drawing up a general declaration of principles, while Abbas has demanded a more detailed and binding document.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said after Wednesday's meeting that the document would not be a peace agreement. But he said it must be substantive if it is to serve as the basis for final-status talks following the meeting. The Israelis and Palestinians have not held formal negotiations since January 2001. Our differences will materialize once we sit down, Erekat said. But it is time to finish this. It is time for decisions, not negotiations.The Bush administration has yet to set a date for the meeting or issue invitations to possible participants. Israel would like to see in attendance such regionally powerful Arab countries as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which do not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. Israeli and Palestinian officials have been working under the assumption that the meeting will be held in mid-November, perhaps at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
But the late start on drafting a document to guide the conference has put the timing in doubt. Abbas, leader of the secular Fatah party, has warned that unless he can return from the meeting able to show tangible progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, the rival Hamas movement will gain political strength at his expense. Hamas, a radical Islamic movement classified as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after routing Fatah forces there. Abbas immediately dissolved the power-sharing government that Hamas led, but the movement continues to run a parallel administration in the strip. Abbas has appointed a new government in the West Bank, envisioned as the other main territorial component of a future Palestinian state. Olmert has sought ways to improve Abbas's political standing, including freeing up hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenue that Israel froze after Hamas's January 2006 victory in parliamentary elections.
Olmert this week released 86 Palestinian prisoners, the majority of them Fatah members from the West Bank. Israel holds about 10,000 Palestinians in prison, and even moderate Palestinian leaders dismissed the release of less than 1 percent of them as virtually meaningless. David Baker, an Olmert spokesman, said Wednesday's meeting was conducive to future progress as the two sides prepare for the conference. Erekat, who has been involved in peace talks with Israel for decades, said the date of the meeting and the guest list will be determined by how much progress the negotiating teams make in the coming weeks. It's up to us now, he said.
Negotiators Will Detail Core Issues In Preparation for Peace Conference - By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, October 4, 2007; Page A16
JERUSALEM, Oct. 3 -- Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Wednesday to begin work on a joint declaration setting out their positions on the core issues of their long conflict before a U.S.-proposed peace conference tentatively scheduled for next month.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams will meet privately next week to begin the contentious drafting process, which for the first time in years will expose the extent of their disagreement on such issues as the shape of a future Palestinian state, the right claimed by Palestinian refugees to return to homes inside Israel, and the division of Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who met here Wednesday for the latest in a series of confidence-building meetings, have disagreed on what standing the document should have in the international conference that President Bush proposed earlier this year. Olmert has favored drawing up a general declaration of principles, while Abbas has demanded a more detailed and binding document.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said after Wednesday's meeting that the document would not be a peace agreement. But he said it must be substantive if it is to serve as the basis for final-status talks following the meeting. The Israelis and Palestinians have not held formal negotiations since January 2001. Our differences will materialize once we sit down, Erekat said. But it is time to finish this. It is time for decisions, not negotiations.The Bush administration has yet to set a date for the meeting or issue invitations to possible participants. Israel would like to see in attendance such regionally powerful Arab countries as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which do not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. Israeli and Palestinian officials have been working under the assumption that the meeting will be held in mid-November, perhaps at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
But the late start on drafting a document to guide the conference has put the timing in doubt. Abbas, leader of the secular Fatah party, has warned that unless he can return from the meeting able to show tangible progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, the rival Hamas movement will gain political strength at his expense. Hamas, a radical Islamic movement classified as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after routing Fatah forces there. Abbas immediately dissolved the power-sharing government that Hamas led, but the movement continues to run a parallel administration in the strip. Abbas has appointed a new government in the West Bank, envisioned as the other main territorial component of a future Palestinian state. Olmert has sought ways to improve Abbas's political standing, including freeing up hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenue that Israel froze after Hamas's January 2006 victory in parliamentary elections.
Olmert this week released 86 Palestinian prisoners, the majority of them Fatah members from the West Bank. Israel holds about 10,000 Palestinians in prison, and even moderate Palestinian leaders dismissed the release of less than 1 percent of them as virtually meaningless. David Baker, an Olmert spokesman, said Wednesday's meeting was conducive to future progress as the two sides prepare for the conference. Erekat, who has been involved in peace talks with Israel for decades, said the date of the meeting and the guest list will be determined by how much progress the negotiating teams make in the coming weeks. It's up to us now, he said.
Monday, October 01, 2007
BUSH KICKS OFF NOV SUMMIT
Inside Today's Bulletin
Bush Kicks Off November Middle East Summit (10/1/07)
By: David Bedein, The Bulletin
Jerusalem - U.S. administration sources confirm that President George W. Bush plans to launch his Middle East Summit on Nov. 15 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., the 300-year-old city that once hosted the early days of the U.S. Continental Congress.
The choice of Nov. 15 coincides with the annual General Assembly of more than 3,000 well-organized Jewish community councils and Jewish federations from all over the United States, which convenes under the aegis of the United Jewish Communities. The General Assembly takes place this year in Nashville, Tenn., between Nov. 13 and Nov. 15.
Representatives of the Bush administration and the Israeli government are scheduled to address the UJC general assembly on Nov. 14. It is hoped that those speeches will generate grassroots enthusiasm amongst American Jews for the planned summit. As a matter of policy, the UJC promotes the policies of the government of Israel, no matter how unpopular the policies are in Israel itself or how unwise they may be. Throughout the 1990s, the UJC enthusiastically supported Israel's controversial initiatives with the PLO terror organization with great alacrity.
The UJC even decided to honor PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat with the Isaiah Peace Award in October 1999. Only after the UJC decision to bestow an award on Arafat was publicized prematurely did the UJC decide not to grant Arafat that award.Meanwhile, although the list of prospective invitees to the November Middle East Summit has not been finalized, assessments are that Syria will be invited and will send representatives to the conference. U.S. officials said they believed that Syria would try to exact a number of preconditions before announcing its acceptance of the invitation.
Aside from Syria, representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the Quartet-Russia, the European Union and the United Nations will also be invited.
The decision to invite Syria constitutes a reversal in U.S. foreign policy, since the administration has refused to engage in any contact with Damascus, which it has accused of being a member of the axis of evil and of sponsoring terrorism.The reason for the change in the American position apparently lies in the American recognition that it would be better for Syria to be part of the process than to have it try to torpedo it. American sources who were quoted by the wire services said that the decision to invite Syria was geared to spur the other Arab states to attend the conference. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas also asked to have Syria invited so as not to break Arab unity.
Regarding Saudi Arabia, the U.S. administration considers it to be of great importance to have the kingdom attend the conference and play an active role in it. Riyadh has yet to announce whether it intends to attend. What complicates matters is that Saudi Arabia remains in a formal and active state of war with Israel since 1948, having never agreed to any peace treaty (like Jordan and Egypt) or truce (like Syria and Lebanon).
Preparations for the conference are to begin next week. A sophisticated media center is being constructed to house the thousands of journalists who are expected to cover the conference. In public statements, administration spokesmen have been trying to lower expectations, but behind the scenes feverish efforts are being made to make the summit a grandiose and significant event, an event that will earn President Bush a few diplomatic points at the end of his term.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to chair the summit. However, President Bush intends to play an active and meaningful role in the talks. The assessment is that the president's expected presence will spur the invited countries to send high-ranking delegates.
King Abdullah of Jordan hinted this week that he intended to send his foreign minister to attend the conference. "Only if it becomes evident that the conference is going to deal with substantive issues and the final settlement will we agree to send a high-ranking delegation, which will be headed by the prime minister," he said.
Egypt has also hinted that it intended to dispatch its foreign minister to attend the Summit, but this weekend Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks with the Saudi king about the possibility of raising the level of the delegation sent. Syria, if it accepts the invitation, is expected to send Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who formerly served as its ambassador to the U.S.
Message To The Palestinians From Rice: Compliance Not A Priority
News analyst Aaron Lerner, director of Independent Media Research Associates, (www.imra.org.il), has analyzed Secretary Rice's recent statements and has discerned a policy shift in U.S. policy toward Palestinian Authority compliance and cooperation in the war on terror.
During Ms. Rice's remarks on Sept. 23, she at first said:
If you look at the phase-one commitments, it is very hard to imagine the establishment of a Palestinian state in which the phase-one commitments have not been realized or have not been carried through. And so, absolutely, those phase-one commitments have to be met.
But then she said: But it is absolutely the case that you're not going to be able to establish a Palestinian state if you don't have a commitment to end terror, if you don't have a commitment to end settlement activity, if you don't have a commitment to non-violence. All of those things have to be achieved.
Phase one of the road map requires the Palestinian Authority to implement a policy to crush terror. That policy has yet to be created or implemented .Mr. Lerner notes that Ms. Rice doesn't make it a red line. Instead the red line is commitment rather than action. While the road map spoke of action, Ms. Rice's red line appears to be only declarative in nature.
Ms. Rice repeats over and over that she envisions an independent, sovereign and armed Palestinian state to emerge from the November Middle East Summit. She downplays the Palestinian state's role in the war on terror.
Abbas Canard In 'Washington Post' Interview
On Saturday, on page B4 of the Washington Post, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was interviewed by the Washington Post's Lally Weymouth.
In answer to Ms. Weymouth's question Will Israelis agree to go to final-status talks when they are constantly threatened with attacks on their cities? Mr. Abbas answered, Last night, [our security forces] seized two rockets. We handed [them] over to the Israelis. We are very worried about these deeds and I think we can put an end to all this. Our security apparatus is ready to stop all kinds of violence.
However, Khaled Abu Toameh, Palestinian Affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, reporting on the same day, uncovered Mr. Abbas' answer to be less than truthful: It later turned out that the 'rockets' were simple pipes that had been set up by children who were trying to imitate Hamas. In the assessment of Abu Toameh, Fatah managed to sell another hoax to reporters when it claimed that its security forces had discovered rocket launchers in Bethlehem that were directed against Jerusalem. Both Palestinian and Israeli security sources confirm that the Palestinian Authority did not seize any rockets or rocket launchers.
David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com - ©The Evening Bulletin 2007
Bush Kicks Off November Middle East Summit (10/1/07)
By: David Bedein, The Bulletin
Jerusalem - U.S. administration sources confirm that President George W. Bush plans to launch his Middle East Summit on Nov. 15 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., the 300-year-old city that once hosted the early days of the U.S. Continental Congress.
The choice of Nov. 15 coincides with the annual General Assembly of more than 3,000 well-organized Jewish community councils and Jewish federations from all over the United States, which convenes under the aegis of the United Jewish Communities. The General Assembly takes place this year in Nashville, Tenn., between Nov. 13 and Nov. 15.
Representatives of the Bush administration and the Israeli government are scheduled to address the UJC general assembly on Nov. 14. It is hoped that those speeches will generate grassroots enthusiasm amongst American Jews for the planned summit. As a matter of policy, the UJC promotes the policies of the government of Israel, no matter how unpopular the policies are in Israel itself or how unwise they may be. Throughout the 1990s, the UJC enthusiastically supported Israel's controversial initiatives with the PLO terror organization with great alacrity.
The UJC even decided to honor PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat with the Isaiah Peace Award in October 1999. Only after the UJC decision to bestow an award on Arafat was publicized prematurely did the UJC decide not to grant Arafat that award.Meanwhile, although the list of prospective invitees to the November Middle East Summit has not been finalized, assessments are that Syria will be invited and will send representatives to the conference. U.S. officials said they believed that Syria would try to exact a number of preconditions before announcing its acceptance of the invitation.
Aside from Syria, representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the Quartet-Russia, the European Union and the United Nations will also be invited.
The decision to invite Syria constitutes a reversal in U.S. foreign policy, since the administration has refused to engage in any contact with Damascus, which it has accused of being a member of the axis of evil and of sponsoring terrorism.The reason for the change in the American position apparently lies in the American recognition that it would be better for Syria to be part of the process than to have it try to torpedo it. American sources who were quoted by the wire services said that the decision to invite Syria was geared to spur the other Arab states to attend the conference. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas also asked to have Syria invited so as not to break Arab unity.
Regarding Saudi Arabia, the U.S. administration considers it to be of great importance to have the kingdom attend the conference and play an active role in it. Riyadh has yet to announce whether it intends to attend. What complicates matters is that Saudi Arabia remains in a formal and active state of war with Israel since 1948, having never agreed to any peace treaty (like Jordan and Egypt) or truce (like Syria and Lebanon).
Preparations for the conference are to begin next week. A sophisticated media center is being constructed to house the thousands of journalists who are expected to cover the conference. In public statements, administration spokesmen have been trying to lower expectations, but behind the scenes feverish efforts are being made to make the summit a grandiose and significant event, an event that will earn President Bush a few diplomatic points at the end of his term.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to chair the summit. However, President Bush intends to play an active and meaningful role in the talks. The assessment is that the president's expected presence will spur the invited countries to send high-ranking delegates.
King Abdullah of Jordan hinted this week that he intended to send his foreign minister to attend the conference. "Only if it becomes evident that the conference is going to deal with substantive issues and the final settlement will we agree to send a high-ranking delegation, which will be headed by the prime minister," he said.
Egypt has also hinted that it intended to dispatch its foreign minister to attend the Summit, but this weekend Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks with the Saudi king about the possibility of raising the level of the delegation sent. Syria, if it accepts the invitation, is expected to send Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who formerly served as its ambassador to the U.S.
Message To The Palestinians From Rice: Compliance Not A Priority
News analyst Aaron Lerner, director of Independent Media Research Associates, (www.imra.org.il), has analyzed Secretary Rice's recent statements and has discerned a policy shift in U.S. policy toward Palestinian Authority compliance and cooperation in the war on terror.
During Ms. Rice's remarks on Sept. 23, she at first said:
If you look at the phase-one commitments, it is very hard to imagine the establishment of a Palestinian state in which the phase-one commitments have not been realized or have not been carried through. And so, absolutely, those phase-one commitments have to be met.
But then she said: But it is absolutely the case that you're not going to be able to establish a Palestinian state if you don't have a commitment to end terror, if you don't have a commitment to end settlement activity, if you don't have a commitment to non-violence. All of those things have to be achieved.
Phase one of the road map requires the Palestinian Authority to implement a policy to crush terror. That policy has yet to be created or implemented .Mr. Lerner notes that Ms. Rice doesn't make it a red line. Instead the red line is commitment rather than action. While the road map spoke of action, Ms. Rice's red line appears to be only declarative in nature.
Ms. Rice repeats over and over that she envisions an independent, sovereign and armed Palestinian state to emerge from the November Middle East Summit. She downplays the Palestinian state's role in the war on terror.
Abbas Canard In 'Washington Post' Interview
On Saturday, on page B4 of the Washington Post, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was interviewed by the Washington Post's Lally Weymouth.
In answer to Ms. Weymouth's question Will Israelis agree to go to final-status talks when they are constantly threatened with attacks on their cities? Mr. Abbas answered, Last night, [our security forces] seized two rockets. We handed [them] over to the Israelis. We are very worried about these deeds and I think we can put an end to all this. Our security apparatus is ready to stop all kinds of violence.
However, Khaled Abu Toameh, Palestinian Affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, reporting on the same day, uncovered Mr. Abbas' answer to be less than truthful: It later turned out that the 'rockets' were simple pipes that had been set up by children who were trying to imitate Hamas. In the assessment of Abu Toameh, Fatah managed to sell another hoax to reporters when it claimed that its security forces had discovered rocket launchers in Bethlehem that were directed against Jerusalem. Both Palestinian and Israeli security sources confirm that the Palestinian Authority did not seize any rockets or rocket launchers.
David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com - ©The Evening Bulletin 2007
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