7 YEAR PEACE TREATY SIGNING: February 2008

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Israel and Hamas violence spikes on Gaza border By Nidal al-Mughrabi FEB 27,08

GAZA (Reuters) - A rocket launched from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip killed a man in Israel on Wednesday, the first such fatality in nine months, after Israeli forces killed six Palestinian militants and four civilians in the territory. The rocket attack, claimed by Hamas, seemed certain to increase public pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to order tougher Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip which might include a widescale ground operation.Mounting violence could complicate peace talks between Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority which the United States hopes can lead to a statehood deal this year.The Hamas terror endangers not only the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, but also the peace and stability of the entire region, Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement which called rocket salvoes a war crime.

Earlier, five senior members of Hamas were killed when the van in which they were traveling was attacked from the air near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, medical officials said.Local residents who knew the men said some had undergone training in Syria or Iran and returned home after Hamas breached Gaza's border with Egypt last month in defiance of an Israeli blockade of the territory.Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, denied they had traveled outside Gaza, whose border with Egypt has been resealed.

ROCKET SALVOES

Hamas, which seized Gaza in June, struck back by firing more than 30rockets at southern Israel. Four Palestinian civilians -- two men and two youths, according to medics -- died in Israeli air strikes near launch sites in northern Gaza.The Israeli fatality was identified as a 47-year-old man who was visiting a college in Sderot, a town near Gaza's border.No one had been killed in Israel by a Palestinian rocket strike since May 2007. Such attacks are launched almost daily from Gaza, which Israeli soldiers and settlers quit in 2005.The (rocket) bombardment came in response to the Zionist massacre committed this morning in Khan Younis which led to the martyrdom of five of our best fighters, a Hamas statement said.A militant from the Islamic Jihad group was killed in a separate air attack east of Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, medical workers said.Hamas says attacks from Gaza, including rockets fired by its own militants and others, are a response to Israeli military operations in the territory and the occupied West Bank.They would end if Israel stopped all such military activity and lifted its blockade, Hamas says.In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli undercover forces killed one militant and wounded and detained four others, a Palestinian official said.

The men had been confined to a Palestinian security headquarters as part of an Israeli amnesty for militants affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, but had left the compound, a Palestinian official said.Israel's Shin Bet security service said the Nablus militants were suspected of planning to carry out a suicide bombing. (Additional reporting by Atef Sa'ad and Labib Nasir in Nablus and Ari Rabinovitch and Avida Landau in Jerusalem, Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Israeli PM say Iran can be stopped from getting nuclear capacity by Patrick Anidjar

TOKYO, Feb 27, 2008 (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday it was possible to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapons capacity as he praised what he called Japan's firm stance towards Tehran. Olmert told reporters accompanying him on a rare trip to Japan that Iran was putting substantial energy into developing a non-conventional capacity.It is still possible to stop them. It's not too late. There is still time. But it is not unlimited. It's a matter of no more than a few months, he said.

Western powers are currently stepping up efforts to impose a third set of UN Security Council sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, to punish its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a potential weapons-making process.Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed only at generating atomic energy.Olmert, the first Israeli premier to visit Tokyo in 11 years, has met with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Emperor Akihito on a trip primarily aimed at boosting tepid trade ties.He signed a deal pledging to work to boost commerce between the two countries, including through cooperation in science and technology.According to Olmert, the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear activities released Friday had, in Israel's eyes, played down the seriousness of the problem.International efforts must be stepped up, he said.I hope that soon, in the coming days, the UN Security Council will adopt a third course of sanctions against Iran and that certain states will adopt their own sanctions in order to limit the activities of this country in the nuclear arena, he said.Top officials of the council's five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Germany on Wednesday discussed the IAEA report in Washington and the next steps at the UN panel.The UN atomic watchdog said it could still not confirm if the Iranian atomic drive was peaceful, prompting the United States and its European allies to push for new sanctions.Olmert said Iran and the issue of nuclear proliferation had an important role in his discussions with Japan's leaders.

We are in agreement on the need to act on the Iranian front and on that of North Korea. The position of Japan is clear on this point, he said.The Asian economic giant, which has virtually no natural energy resources, has long maintained close commercial and political ties with Arab nations and Iran, which counts on Japan as the top customer for its oil.But Japan, the only nation to have suffered atomic attack, has taken an increasingly critical stance on Iran's nuclear drive. In 2006, Japan pulled out of a project to develop Iran's largest online oilfield.I thanked the prime minister for his support for the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Olmert said after talks with his counterpart Yasuo Fukuda.I also express my appreciation for Japan's firm stance against Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and its contribution to the global campaign against nuclear proliferation, he told a joint press appearance. Japan has been seeking a greater role in the Middle East in line with its aspirations for more global influence. The country is funding a project to build an agro-industrial park in the West Bank in a bid to create jobs in the ailing Palestinian economy. Japan will give the utmost support to achieve peace in the Middle East, Fukuda told reporters. A joint statement said the two countries reaffirmed that the solution of the Arab-Israel conflict will contribute to achieving stability and prosperity in the Middle East.Olmert was expected to have spoken with Fukuda about the joint dangers of Iran and North Korea, the arch-enemies of Israel and Japan, respectively. A Japanese newspaper had said Tuesday that Olmert would share intelligence photos purporting to show military cooperation between the Islamic republic and communist state. Olmert said on Thursday morning he would meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is currently on a three-nation regional tour. He will be back in Israel on Friday.

Rice to visit Mideast next week: State Dept FEB 27,08

WASHINGTON, Feb 27, 2008 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on a trip starting March 3, State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Wednesday. Next week, from March 3 to 7, Secretary Rice will be traveling to Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as continuing on to attend the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, Casey said.In Israel and the Palestinian territories she will meet with officials from both sides and obviously this is part of the follow-up to the Annapolis process for Middle East peace initiated by President George W. Bush, he said.I'm sure she'll get a good sense there from the parties as to the state of play in their discussions and negotiations and cover a variety of other bilateral issues as well.At the summit hosted by Bush in the US city of Annapolis in November, the Israelis and Palestinians set a target of reaching a two-state peace settlement by the end of 2008.

Casey's statement followed reports Wednesday of a spate of violence across the Gaza Strip. Ten Palestinians including at least six militants were killed in Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rockets killed an Israeli.We condemn as we always do these kinds of unprovoked attacks on innocent civilians, Casey said, referring to that rocket attack.Despite the attacks he expressed confidence that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were committed to pressing on with the drive for a settlement this year.That is an ambitious timetable but it's one that they continue to hold to and we continue to support their efforts to do so, Casey said.At next week's NATO meeting, there will be a number of topics under discussion, including I am sure the situation in Kosovo as well as NATO's mission in Afghanistan and the desire ... to meet the criteria and meet the demand for additional forces there.The meeting of NATO ministers will prepare the ground for a summit of NATO heads of state scheduled for April in Bucharest.

Monday, February 25, 2008

SYRIA NO PEACE THIS YEAR

EU condemns uncivilised Iranian comments on Israel: statement Mon Feb 25, 9:42 AM ET

BRUSSELS, Feb 25, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union condemned in the strongest terms Monday remarks by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials about Israel, after the killing of a top Hezbollah commander. Their comments ... against Israel are unacceptable, damaging and uncivilised, a statement from the EU's Slovenian presidency said.The EU calls on Iran to stop hostile rhetoric and refrain from all threats towards other states, members of the international community, it said.Last week, Ahmadinejad called Israel a dirty microbe and savage animal, as Iran stepped up its rhetoric against the Jewish state after the murder of a top Hezbollah commander.World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and have unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region, he said at a rally, in remarks broadcast on state television.

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari --who along with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was also singled out by the EU -- had predicted the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah would destroy Israel.The EU calls again on the Iranian leadership to support the need for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to the search for lasting peace between Israel and its neighbours, the statement said.Israel has denied involvement in the killing in a car bombing on February 12 in Damascus of Imad Mughnieh, a top Hezbollah commander hailed by Iran as a great martyr.

Gazans form human chain to protest Israeli blockade by Mai Yaghi Mon Feb 25, 11:58 AM ET

BEIT HANUN, Gaza Strip (AFP) - Palestinians formed a human chain in the Gaza Strip on Monday in protest at a crushing Israeli blockade, with Israeli forces on alert for any rush on the border. Under a light late-morning rain, thousands of schoolchildren were joined by adults along Salaheddin Road, the main highway traversing the centre of the impoverished coastal strip, an AFP correspondent witnessed.Slogans such as The Siege of Gaza Will Only Strengthen Us, The World Has Condemned Gaza to Death and Save Gaza were among banners brandished by demonstrators, who gathered peacefully.As the demonstrators dispersed a few hours later, a small group of youths set fire to a tyre a few dozen metres (yards) from the Israeli army position at the Erez crossing and began throwing stones.The incident drew fire from Israeli soldiers, and two of the youths were wounded, medical sources said.At the same time, the army said it had arrested around 50 Palestinians who had approached the crossing.

The Popular Committee Against the Siege, a politically independent group headed by Jamal al-Khudari, an MP with close links to the Islamist Hamas movement, had called for the demonstration against the months-long siege.This is a peaceful and civilised act to let the people express their rejection of the siege and of collective punishment, Khudari told journalists. We are raising a cry to the world for it to act.Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in June from forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, backed the demonstration.This is a message addressed to the international community and to the Israeli occupation, and I hope it will seize the opportunity to lift the siege, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.Hamas MP Ismail al-Ashqar warned that if this does not happen there will be a hurricane that will flood the whole region.Israel has sealed the territory to all but vital humanitarian supplies since Hamas seized power in June, in a bid to pressure the group to halt rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel by its own militants and others.Huzeifa al-Masri, 14, said he and his classmates from the northern border town of Beit Hanun attended the protest because there is hardly any food, and the Israeli incursions are frequent. We want to live in security like the rest of the world.Most of Gaza's 1.5 million population depends on foreign aid.Israel had warned Hamas it would defend its territory if there was any trouble.Israel will not intervene in demonstrations inside the Gaza Strip but it will ensure the defence of its territory and prevent any violation of its sovereign borders, said a joint statement from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.Their statement accused Hamas of orchestrating a premeditated effort to put civilians on the front line.

Israel is working to prevent an escalation, but has made it absolutely clear that if there is an escalation, the responsibility will be entirely on Hamas's shoulders.Media reports said the army had been prepared for any attempt to storm the border fence around the Gaza Strip aimed at breaking the blockade. The army and police had beefed up forces in the border area. Media reports said organisers were planning to place one person every metre (yard) along the roughly 40-kilometre (24-mile) road running from Rafah to Beit Hanun, for a total of around 40,000 people. Salaheddin Road runs through the centre of the territory and is never much closer than around three kilometres (two miles) from the border. Reports said the Israelis' main concern was what could have happened at the road's northern terminus near Erez. On January 23, Palestinian militants blasted several holes in the border barrier between Gaza and Egypt, sending a human tide of hundreds of thousands streaming into the Sinai on a mission to replenish depleted stocks. Hamas gunmen and Egyptian troops resealed the border on February 3.

Meanwhile, an Israeli youth was moderately wounded when a rocket fired from Gaza hit the entrance to a housing complex in the southern city of Sderot, officials said. That attack came after four Palestinian militants were killed by Israel raids overnight.

Syria sees no chance for peace this year By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 25, 4:33 PM ET

PITTSBURGH - Israel and Palestinians will not reach a peace deal this year, and a recent Mideast peace conference in Annapolis was only an exercise in public relations, Syria's ambassador to the United States said Monday. Imad Moustapha said President Bush has no real desire to broker a peace deal and that there are powerful forces within his administration who believe chaos is constructive in the Middle East.I don't know who he is referring to, responded Tom Casey, a U.S. State Department spokesman. I certainly know that we have serious and ongoing concerns about Syria's unconstructive role in the region.The White House accuses Syria of harboring terrorists, supporting Hezbollah — a Lebanese group classified by the United States as a terrorist organization — and of allowing insurgents to freely cross its border into Iraq. Moustapha said Hezbollah leaders will remain active in Syria despite the mysterious killing earlier this month of one of the group's top commanders, Imad Mughniyeh.Moustapha represented Syria at the Annapolis, Md., conference in November, and later expressed optimism that the talks could ease tensions between Washington and Damascus.

But in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, hours before he was scheduled to speak at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Moustapha said the United States only makes positive statements about Syria when it serves a political purpose.We believe that the whole Annapolis thing was an exercise in public relations, Moustapha said. The only thing that happened there was people were smiling and saying cheese.Moustapha added, I don't think there is a unanimous belief among the administration, across the departments of this administration, that peace should be the path forward in the Middle East.Palestinian officials are also pessimistic, he said, adding that they have told him no progress has been made in one-on-one negotiations with Israel.Bush announced in Annapolis that Israel and the Palestinians would relaunch long-stalled peace talks with the goal of reaching a deal by the end of this year. Since then, high-level talks have been held, including several meetings between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.No breakthroughs have been reported, and the talks have been overshadowed by increasing violence along the Israel-Gaza border and Israeli construction in areas the Palestinians want for a future state.Bush is happy with Annapolis' outcome and has no real enthusiasm to pursue matters further, Moustapha said.They have now their photographs for their memoirs, he said. The Syrian leadership does not believe that this year will witness any major movement.

He said Syria's investigation into Mughniyeh's killing in a Damascus car bombing is progressing. He said Damascus will allow Hezbollah to remain active because it is popular throughout the Muslim world, viewed by many as successfully resisting Israel.Many Muslims and Arabs believe Hezbollah's resistance led Israel to end its 18-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000. Many also believe Hezbollah was victorious in a 2006 war with Israel.Hezbollah leaders have accused Israel of killing Mughniyeh and have vowed to retaliate. Israel has denied involvement in the Feb. 12 car bombing. Mughniyeh, who helped set up the Shiite guerrilla group, was one of the world's most wanted terror masterminds, accused by the West of killing hundreds in suicide bombings and hijackings in Lebanon and around the world.Syria demands Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, as part of a peace deal.Moustapha has been Syria's ambassador to the United States since 2004. At times, he has said he is the loneliest ambassador in Washington, because no one in the Bush administration will talk to him.

Israeli police detain African migrants By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 25, 5:50 PM ET

TEL AVIV, Israel - Israeli police arrested about 200 African migrants Monday, a day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a crackdown on the growing problem of illegal immigration, officials said. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the migrants, mostly Sudanese who entered through the porous border with Egypt, were arrested in a raid near Tel Aviv's old bus station, where many live. Rosenfeld said the arrests would continue this week.The dilapidated buildings that shelter migrants in southern Tel Aviv were nearly empty after the raid as people tried to avoid arrest. They left hundreds of barren mattresses side-by-side in smelly underground dwellings.Solomon Mangstie-Dayan, a 40-year-old migrant from Ethiopia who crossed into Israel nine days ago, said police officers raided his shelter, seizing fellow African migrants and hurrying them onto three buses. He said he was spared only because of the cries of his 3-year-old daughter, Sunight.Olmert on Sunday ordered security officials to tighten supervision of the Egyptian border and directed officials to expedite the processing of those seeking asylum, to decide which were just seeking work and could be deported.

Africans have been sneaking into Israel in increasing numbers over the past year. More than 7,000 have entered the country illegally through Egypt in just over a year, including more than 2,000 so far in 2008, said Michael Bavly, a representative in Israel of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.Israeli government statistics estimate about 100,000 legal foreign workers in the country. At least 100,000 others, many from Africa, work in Israel without permits, according to experts.Foreign workers flock to Israel because the higher wages allow them to send relatively large amounts of money back home to their families. Refugees seeking asylum from wars or persecution see Israel as a welcoming, Westernized country.Many Israelis feel an obligation to help refugees because of the centuries of persecution Jews endured before they created their own state.Most migrants are from Sudan, including southern Sudan, where a 22-year conflict left 2.5 million people dead, and Darfur, where a rebellion has cost more than 200,000 civilian lives and made 2.5 million homeless. Others have fled Eritrea and forced military conscription there.

This year, Israel granted temporary residency status to 600 refugees from Darfur. It also recognized about 2,000 migrants from Eritrea whose lives would be endangered if sent home.But the nation plans to deport another 4,500, many of whom came from countries like Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria.Their route to Israel is often treacherous. Egyptian border police on Monday shot and wounded a Sudanese and a man from Ivory Coast in separate incidents as they tried to cross into Israel. On Sunday, Egyptian forces shot and killed an African woman who was trying to cross the border into Israel, a medical official said.A spokeswoman for Israel's Interior Ministry said those arrested Monday who have work permits would be released. Those whose refugee status is being reviewed by the U.N. would be granted a limited stay, and the others would be deported.

Sigal Rozen, of the Hotline for Migrant Workers in Tel Aviv, who represents the migrants, said authorities were shipping some of the arrested migrants to a prison in southern Israel.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

EU PRESSURES ISRAEL ON GAZA

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

US floats NATO troop plan for West Bank: Israeli report Wed Feb 20, 3:45 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The United States is floating an idea to temporarily deploy NATO troops in the West Bank after Israeli troops eventually withdraw, a newspaper said on Wednesday, quoting Israeli defence officials. General James Jones, the US special Middle East envoy, is spearheading the idea, the Jerusalem Post reported.It said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak had been briefed but had not finalised his position. Israel has traditionally been hostile to any suggestions of using foreign troops to help achieve peace in the region.Under such a deal, third-party troops would be stationed in the West Bank to secure the area between the time of an Israeli withdrawal and when the Palestinian Authority is able to take over full security control.The deployment of such a force has come up in talks, and Jones is known to be working on it, a senior defence official was quoted as saying. At the moment, it's just an idea and yet to be accepted or adopted by Israel.Asked about the report, US embassy spokesman Stewart Tuttle said only that General Jones hasn't said anything in public about any discussions he may be having in private, and it is very early in the process.Jones, a former commander of the US Marine Corps and NATO military chief, was named in November as US envoy on Middle East security issues.

One concern for Israel is the degree to which its troops would still have freedom of operation in the West Bank under such a deal, the Post said.If they fire a Qassam rocket into Israel, will we be able to respond, or will we need to rely on the foreign troops staioned there? one defence official was quoted as asking.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Israeli official says EU pressure grows to end Gaza blockade by Ron Bousso FEB 21,08

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The European Union is increasing pressure on Israel to end its nine-month old blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to prevent a humanitarian crisis, an Israeli official said on Thursday. EU ministers are expressing growing concern over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the lack of progress in the peace talks with the Palestinians, he told AFP on condition of anonymity.Our embassies in Europe report increasing pressure to try to end the blockade.Meanwhile the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Israel to lift the blockade, with MEPs saying the policy of isolation of the Gaza Strip has failed at both the political and humanitarian level.Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a meeting with her Romanian counterpart Adrian Cioroianu that any talk of ending the blockade only weakens Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, with whom Israel renewed peace talks in November.Any indirect support of Hamas, even if it is done through discussions on the crossings or the humanitarian situation, weakens those interested in reaching an agreement, Livni's office quoted her as saying.The Palestinian people has no future with Hamas and we will continue to fight its terrorism, she added.

Brussels does not recognise Hamas's government in Gaza and considers the Islamist group a terror organisation, but it has repeatedly opposed Israel's blockade, urging it to allow supply shipments into the impoverished territory.We're in favour of opening up crossings into Gaza, particularly Rafah (with Egypt) and Karni, an EU official told AFP.We've expressed our concern about the limitation of fuel and electricity supplies, which we don't think is helpful and could compound the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The European Parliament resolution adopted on Thursday said the blockade had failed and called for the controlled reopening of crossings in and out of the impoverished strip.It also called for Israel to cease military action killing and endangering civilians, as well as extrajudicial targeted killings.As for Hamas, whose June takeover of Gaza it called illegal, the parliament said the Islamist group should prevent the firing of rockets on Israeli territory.Israel closed vital border crossings and restricted supplies to Gaza after Hamas, which does not recognise the Jewish state, seized control of the strip.Last month Israel began reducing fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza in response to near daily rocket fire on southern Israel, further raising fears of a humanitarian crisis among Gaza's 1.5-million population.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier this week that Israel would maintain the tight blockade.We will continue to apply sanctions that are hurtful to the needs of the (Palestinian) population in order for it to be clear that living conditions cannot be altered only from our side, he told MPs of his Kadima party in allusion to rocket attacks from Gaza.Hamas bears responsibility for everything that goes on in the Gaza Strip, and it matters little whether it is or is not directly responsible for any given incident, Olmert said.

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.

WELL I HAVE NEWS FOR IRAN WHO THINKS ISRAEL WILL DISAPPEAR, ITS THE MUSLIM ARMIES AS WELL AS RUSSIA AND IRAN THAT DISAPPEAR IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE WHEN GOD DESTROYS 5/6THS OF THE RUSSIA - MUSLIM ARMIES THAT COME TO DESTROY ISRAEL. SO IRAN I WOULD REPENT AND TURN TO THE GOD OF ISRAEL NOW BEFORE THE COMING DESTRUCTION.

Israel faces certain death: Iran leader adviser Thu Feb 21, 4:52 AM ET

TEHRAN (AFP) - The assassination of a top commander of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah has hastened the certain death of Israel, the top military adviser to Iran's supreme leader said on Thursday. General Yahya Rahim Safavi, in the latest of a spate of anti-Israel verbal attacks by Iran, said the murder of Imad Mughnieh in a Damascus car bombing last week had enraged thousands of young members of Hezbollah.With this anger, the certain death of the Zionist regime had been brought forward, he said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.Safavi, who was for a decade top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, again accused Israel of carrying out the attack that killed Mughnieh but also said that security terrorists from the United States and one Arab nation had cooperated.

He did not name the Arab country.

Iran has stepped up its rhetoric against Israel in the last days after the murder of Mughnieh, which it blamed on the Jewish state. Israel has denied any involvement.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday called Israel a dirty microbe and savage animal.The current head of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, Mohammad Ali Jafari, weighed in with a prediction that Hezbollah would destroy the Jewish state.Israel said it had protested to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after Ahmadinejad's latest tirade.I have told the secretary general of the United Nations that these are demented remarks that are reminiscent of Nazi propaganda, ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman told Israeli public radio.

Israel keeps Palestinian offices shut By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer FEB 21,08

JERUSALEM - Israel is keeping Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem shut tight, despite its pledge to reopen them under a recently revived peace plan, Palestinian officials said Thursday. Israel this month renewed its order to close a leading Palestinian center known as Orient House, the city's Arab Chamber of Commerce and other symbolic buildings that are rallying points for the Palestinians' claims to Jerusalem's eastern sector, the officials said.The fate of east Jerusalem is the most explosive issue facing Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators, and the closures are the latest area of dispute in the peace talks, relaunched in November after seven years of violence.The two sides have set a December 2008 target for completing a peace agreement, but Israeli construction in disputed areas and continuing Palestinian rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have clouded talks so far.

Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem — home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites — in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future independent state.During peace talks in the 1990s, Israel allowed the Palestinians to operate institutions such as Orient House, an elegant century-old mansion that served as the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization.Israeli police shut down the institutions in 2001, shortly after the second Palestinian uprising erupted. It has issued orders every six months since then renewing the closure.With the resumption of peace talks, the Palestinians say these places should reopen. The U.S.-backed road map peace plan, the basis for negotiations, calls on Israel to reopen the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce and other Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem.Azzam Abu Saoud, director of the 72-year-old Chamber of Commerce, said the closure order on his offices was extended on Feb. 7.Despite all the expectations the closure order was renewed for another six months, Abu Saoud told The Associated Press. U.S. consular officials asked for copies of the order, which he provided, he said.

Officials at the U.S. Consulate declined comment.

A similar closure on the Orient House was renewed a few days ago, Palestinian lawmaker Hatem Abdel Khader said, insisting it went against Israeli promises to reopen the site. This is not a good sign for the peace process, he said.He said U.S. officials told the Palestinians the issue was unlikely to be resolved quickly. They told us they need time to negotiate with the Israelis, he said.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld could not confirm the extension of the closure orders. But he confirmed that officers periodically visit Orient House to ensure that it is not being used. He cited a law prohibiting Palestinian political activity in the city.I am not aware of any change in our policy, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev told the AP.When Orient House was shut down, Israel said it would only withdraw if the Palestinian Authority, today headed by Abbas, promised not to operate there. Abdel Khader said the Palestinians had given the necessary assurances.Orient House is owned by the Husseinis, a prominent Palestinian clan in Jerusalem. The scion of the family, the late Faisal Husseini, was the top Jerusalem official of the Palestine Liberation Organization and used the building as his base.As the PLO Headquarters in the occupied city, the Orient House aspires to develop Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of the emerging Palestinian state, the center's Web site says.

The road map also states that the Palestinians must dismantle militant groups and that Israel must cease settlement construction in the West Bank. Neither side has met its obligations. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were still committed to trying to reach a peace agreement by the end of this year, although other Palestinian officials have said the December target is not realistic because talks are proceeding too slowly. Olmert and I are both determined to have these negotiations end by the end of this year, Abbas said after meeting Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. We are going to exert every possible effort to make these negotiations succeed within that time frame.

Washington rejects Palestinian-Kosovo comparison Wed Feb 20, 5:10 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday rejected comparisons between the Palestinian situation and Kosovo, after a senior Palestinian official called for a Kosovo-like declaration of independence. Kosovo is a unique situation, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. It is not a precedent for any other situation around the world.McCormack said the United States is holding out hope that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will result in a solution.The Israelis and the Palestinians have been trying for some time in the confines of the political process to try to work something out and come to an accommodation, a solution, McCormack said.The international community has spoken to that, as well. We believe that there is hope in that process. It has not run its course.Asked why Kosovo had to wait just nine years under UN administration to obtain its independence, while the Palestinians have been waiting since 1948, McCormack said the situations were different.The situation in Kosovo had run its course, in terms of trying to find a solution, a negotiated political solution, McCormack said.We believe that there still is the possibility of a negotiated settlement in the Palestinian territories, he said, citing peace talks held in Annapolis, Maryland last year under the auspices of President George W. Bush.

Witness the effort that we put into the Annapolis process and that we are now putting into that process to help it work. So they are different situations.However, in Ramallah, senior Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo told AFP that the failure of those talks in November to show any movement was precisely the reason why Palestinians should proclaim their independence.Our people have the right to proclaim independence as the people of Kosovo did. We were occupied long before the Kosovo problem emerged, Abed Rabbo told AFP.Measures must be taken with a view to a unilateral declaration of independence as Kosovo did, and the world will then have to ensure the end of the occupation of our land, he said.Palestinians should consider this option as talks with Israel have made no progress since they were relaunched in November.However, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas insisted he will continue negotiating and that he was optimistic and hopeful about the recently revived talks.The United States and several European powers have led international recognition of the independence declaration approved by Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian majority on Sunday.
However, Russia has supported its traditional ally Serbia in the international dispute over Kosovo and has warned that independence for the province could boost separatist movements around the world.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
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.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Israel readies Patriot missiles in north By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 18, 12:27 PM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel has deployed U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles near the northern city of Haifa in case of an attack by Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas in response to the killing of the group's top commander, security officials said Monday. Hezbollah and its Iranian backers swiftly blamed Israel for last week's car bombing that killed Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, Syria. Israel's government denied involvement, but Israel is widely believed to have carried out similarly daring, complex and deadly strikes against other terror masterminds in the past.In his eulogy for Mughniyeh, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israeli and Jewish targets anywhere in the world.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel is prepared on all fronts for an attack.Security officials said the a Patriot battery was put on standby Sunday for the first time since Israel's monthlong war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, when the Lebanese guerrillas fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.The Israeli military said it did not comment on operational readiness.Patriot batteries were first deployed in Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, but they failed to stop most of the 39 Scud missiles launched by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. They were originally designed to intercept aircraft, and Israeli media reported their role in the current situation would be to shoot down bomb-laden pilotless planes as well as rockets.Israel blamed Mughniyeh for the 1992 bombing of its embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 29 people. Argentine prosecutors linked him to the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed 85 people.He was also implicated in bombings that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s and the kidnapping of Westerners in Lebanon.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

JERUSALEM DIVISION CLOSE TO DONE

ISRAEL

Whose Promised Land? Psalm 78:54-55 (ISRAELS)
54 And He brought them to His holy border, This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55 He also drove out the nations before them,Allotted them an inheritance by survey, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

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.

ISRAEL WILL BECOME A NATION. LITERALLY IN THE SPRING.

GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram,(CHANGED TO ABRAHAM LATER) Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:(PALESTINE,ISRAEL)
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

EZEKIEL 36:24
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

EZEKIEL 37:9-28
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds,(ALL THE WORLD) O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.(COME TO LIFE)
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.(ISRAEL WILL HAVE A POWERFUL ARMY)
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.(BURNED BY HITLER)
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.(THE DRY BONES COME TO LIFE IN ISRAEL)
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

MATTHEW 24:32
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:(ISRAEL WAS LITERALLY REBORN JUST BEFORE SUMMER,MAY 14,1948).

MARK 13:28
28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

DANIEL 9:24
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

ISRAEL WILL BE IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM, THE SIGN OF THE START OF THE LAST GENERATION.

LUKE 21:24
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST

1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

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)

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.

ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE

EZEKIEL 47:13-23,48:1-35
13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
15 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad;
16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.
17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.
18 And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.
19 And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
20 The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.
21 So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.
22 And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
23 And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.
1 Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan.
2 And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Asher.
3 And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali.
4 And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Manasseh.
5 And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim.
6 And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Reuben.
7 And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Judah.
8 And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.
9 The oblation that ye shall offer unto the LORD shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.
10 And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst thereof.
11 It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
12 And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.
13 And over against the border of the priests the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.
14 And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the LORD.
15 And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof.
16 And these shall be the measures thereof; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.
17 And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty.
18 And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city.
19 And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.
20 All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city.
21 And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof.
22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince.
23 As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion.
24 And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion.
25 And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion.
26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion.
27 And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion.
28 And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea.
29 This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord GOD.
30 And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures.
31 And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
32 And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan.
33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun.
34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.
35 It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.

THIS IS SAD BUT THE BIBLE SAYS JERUSALEM WILL BE DIVIDED SO WORLD WAR THREE OCCURS. THIS IS HOW ISRAEL WILL GET THE LAND PROMISED THEM THROUGH WAR WITH GODS HELP. BUT THE TRIBULATION ISRAEL WILL GO THROUGH WILL BE HARD TO HANDLE.

Warning to Shas: Jerusalem Has Already Been Given Away
by Hillel Fendel FEB 19,08

(IsraelNN.com) A 4-page pamphlet distributed in synagogues around the country this past Sabbath is devoted to one topic: Getting Shas to quit the government. It warns that Olmert is using the continued presence of Shas in the government to formulate an agreement endangering Jerusalem, other areas of the land of Israel - and hundreds of thousands of Jews.No address, organization or publisher is printed on the pamphlet. However, it does feature a full-page article by Yossi Elituv, long-time Shas affairs commentator and writer for the weekly Mishpacha magazine.The top article is headlined, Israel has Secretly Agreed to Divide Jerusalem, and cites a PA source bragging that major progress has been made in the secret talks, especially regarding Jerusalem. The source said, Today we can say that Israel is agreeable to withdraw from nearly all the Arab neighborhoods and villages in Jerusalem. Israel is willing to re-divide Jerusalem, and this is a positive development.

Two other front-page stories remind readers - and Shas MKs - that Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, Israel's former Chief Rabbi, has stated his objections in the past to giving away Jerusalem and other areas. Don't Talk About Jerusalem, and Giving Away Parts of our Holy Land Endangers Jewish Lives are two of the Rabbi's quotes that are headlined.Similarly, a recent decision by the Shas Council of Torah Sages, headed by Rabbi Yosef, is featured, with this headline: Council of Torah Sages Rules: The Moment They Begin Talking About Jerusalem, Shas will Immediately Quit the Government.

Olmert is Using You to Give Away Jerusalem

Elituv's article, an open letter to the leaders of Shas, praises their governmental work on behalf of their constituents over the past two years - but then goes for the jugular: This period has now ended. Your mandate is over. Shas must leave the government, simply because the Prime Minister has decided to take advantage of the time that is left until the coming elections to formulate an unreal and dangerous diplomatic agreement that has major and far-reaching concessions.Jerusalem is being torn to pieces, and all in the merit of the votes of the Shas Knesset Members. We are talking about terrorist attacks against good Jews all over the country! ... We are begging you! What good will it do to get extra benefits for young Torah scholars, if those same Torah scholars won't return home one day because of a bomb on a bus? And to have new positions for rabbis is truly very important - but what will be the point if the whole country turns into Sderot?

You said you would rush out of the government the moment they begin talking about Jerusalem. Really now. What do you think [Foreign Minister] Tzipi Livni and Abu Ala were talking about on the day that a terrorist blew himself up and murdered a woman in Dimona? Do you think they were exchanging recipes for Hamentaschen [Purim pastries]?! ... You well know that someone has sold Jerusalem at the same time he was selling you contradictory messages. But you are addicted to the false sweetness of the illusion... Jerusalem is not 'about' to be put on the agenda; we're already in another phase: Jerusalem has already been sold out!

Olmert is speaking to you in two voices, without even clearing his throat in between: On the one hand, he freezes construction in Jerusalem, and with the other he enwraps you with embraces of promises. With one voice, he calls rabbis and swears allegiance to Jerusalem, and with the other voice, he calls his clerks and instructs them to stop every project, to strangle the city, and bring down the hareidi cities. All the neighborhoods that were built past the '67 borders have been arbitrarily and unforgivably frozen. His hand did not tremble when he signed away our normal lives here... He is busy fooling you with smiles and stories of heroism, while you debate him about the precise definition of 'talking' about Jerusalem... How can you remain partners in a government that is willing to trade Jerusalem neighborhoods and is willing to abandon the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews? You don't have to be a Gush Emunim refugee or a Complete Land of Israel Movement supporter to be devastated at what is happening...

How noble it would be if you would quit now, in an honorable manner. You can tell about your fine achievements of the past two years... and explain that the time has now come to leave... The train is hurtling towards an abyss, but you have the chance to jump out before it crashes. There must be some red lines that will get you out - and those red lines have already been crossed. Your four Cabinet ministers are a source of pride; Yeshai, Attias, Nahari and Cohen can tell us what they have done, collectively and individually, for the People of Israel. We believe you that you have accomplished much. But now, please make a courageous decision and change the tune.

Other stories in the pamphlet talk about the negative impact of the construction freeze in Beitar Illit, and its impact on poverty, apartment prices, and population decrease in Jerusalem. A map shows the various Jerusalem neighborhoods that will come into range of rockets of varying ranges, while another headline states that an overwhelming majority of Shas voters want their party to quit the government now.

Finally, former IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon is quoted as saying, You have to be blind to think that if we give the [Arab] neighborhoods to the Arabs, that this will bring quiet to Israel. Giving up these neighborhoods means that the Knesset, nurseries, the university and the Western Wall will all come into Kassam rocket range.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

MUSLIM CARTOON REBOOTED

WAY TO GO ISRAEL KEEP SETTING UP THOSE SETTLEMENTS, GOD GAVE USE THE LAND NOT THE ARAB MUSLIMS.

Israelis set up new West Bank settlement By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 15, 1:57 PM ET

MASKIOT, West Bank - Nine Israeli families staked out homesteads in a valley deep in the West Bank on Friday and promised to bring more settlers to the area that the Palestinians want for a future state.
Palestinian charges of bad faith over the move were fueled by reports that the Israeli government has awarded permits for more Jewish housing in an east Jerusalem neighborhood.The wildcat action at Maskiot, in the northern West Bank, was funded in part by a private American group and is just one of recent Israeli actions to anger Palestinians as peace negotiators try to reach a final treaty.

President Bush hopes to get the sides to complete a deal by year's end, but Israeli settlement activity and Palestinian failure to rein in militant violence are widely seen as stumbling blocks.The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the government has issued permits for construction of 307 Jewish homes in the Har Homa area of east Jerusalem. That drew sharp comment from a leading Palestinian peace negotiator.In the morning there are new violations at Har Homa and then in the afternoon we hear of caravans in the northern West Bank, Saeb Erekat said.When announced in December, plans for the east Jerusalem units prompted criticism from the U.S. and marred peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians as they were getting under way after seven years of bloodshed.This week, Israel announced that plans for an additional 350 units in the neighborhood would go ahead once the first 307 had been contracted out.We condemn this move and we believe this will undermine our efforts to begin the negotiations on Jerusalem and settlements and other ... issues. The Israeli government has an obligation to stop settlement activity, Erekat said.At Maskiot on Friday, the air smelled of fresh earth dug up for the trailers. A drill could be heard inside one of the homes.A barefoot boy peeked out the door of one home, calling for his father. Cardboard boxes from newly installed electric heaters littered the muddy ground. A bulldozer sat nearby.About two dozen Israelis from a former Gaza Strip settlement have moved to Maskiot despite a government decision last year to freeze plans to build a settlement here.

The international community criticized Israel in 2006 when it announced plans to establish Maskiot, saying the project violated Israel's commitments under an internationally sponsored peace plan.
Yossi Hazut, the settler leader at Maskiot, said 28 families are waiting for more trailer homes to arrive. He said his group decided to move in after being forcibly evacuated from Gaza in 2005.Like many settlers, those at Maskiot are Orthodox Jews and believe the West Bank is part of land given to the Jewish people by God.We hope that we will be able to bring all the families here, Hazut said, holding his year-old daughter, Shir, while his wife made pizza.

Maskiot has 150 acres where olive trees grow and date trees will be planted, said Hazut, who grew up in a tightly guarded Gaza settlement.A sign in English and Hebrew on one of the trailer homes read: This caravan was built in part through a grant from One Israel Fund. The organization's Web site says it is a New York-based charitable group that helps Israelis who were evacuated from Gaza. While Hazut said he understands Israel's government froze construction of permanent homes at Maskiot, he said a Defense Ministry official who visited him Friday did not say authorities would block any attempt to expand the community. The Defense Ministry oversees settlement activity. A call requesting ministry comment was not returned Friday. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said Friday that Israel would abide by its commitments in the internationally backed peace plan known as the road map.There will be no new settlements, Regev said. Israel agreed in the plan not to establish new settlements or expand existing ones and to dismantle dozens of unauthorized outposts established by settlers to prevent land from being transferred to the Palestinians.

But Israel has not taken down any of the outposts, and Palestinians fear they will eventually become established communities. Most of the time our experience shows that they come move in and then the government keeps them there, Erekat said. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Israel, Stewart Tuttle, said Israel must evacuate all settlement outposts. We have commitments from the government of Israel and we expect that the government of Israel will meet them, he said.

French FM urges Israel to lift Gaza blockade by Ezzedine Said Sat Feb 16, 6:59 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner urged Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip and to freeze its policy of building settlements in the West Bank, at the start of a visit to the region on Saturday. Kouchner visited east Jerusalem and met UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes before travelling to Bethlehem in the West Bank to meet officials.Later he will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah and is expected to have talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minster Ehud Barak in Jerusalem on Sunday.The economic and humanitarian situation in Gaza is especially bad. The blockade directly affects the entire economy and living conditions as well, Kouchner said in an interview with Al-Quds newspaper, published on Saturday.We call for the Gaza blockade to be lifted -- there must be free movement of both people and goods, Kouchner told the main Arabic daily in the Palestinian territories.Israel has kept Gaza under effective lockdown since last June following the territory's takeover by the Islamist movement Hamas, and on January 17 it tightened the blockade before easing it again slightly.The Israelis say the measure is in response to rockets being fired at it by Palestinian militants inside the impoverished coastal territory.

In the interview Kouchner also called on Olmert and Abbas to respect their commitments agreed at the relaunch of Middle East peace talks in the United States last November.Kouchner's arrival overnight on Friday came just hours after eight Palestinians, including a leading Islamic Jihad militant and members of his family, were killed in what medics and witnesses in the Gaza Strip said was an Israeli air strike.A military spokesman in Tel Aviv denied Israeli involvement in the blast.Both Israel and the Palestinians relaunched the US-sponsored peace process after a near seven-year hiatus with the aim of reaching an agreement by the end of 2008.President George W. Bush has said he would like to see an accord before he leaves office in January next year.Israel must completely freeze settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, dismantle all those deemed illegal, and reopen Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem, namely the chamber of commerce, Kouchner told the daily.It cannot be said enough that the settlements are an obstacle to peace, he added.On Thursday five firms won bids from the Israeli authorities to expand the Har Homa settlement in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians consider to be the capital of their future state.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the move doesn't help to build confidence, while Abbas adviser Adnan Husseini said that if construction continues the Palestinians may suspend peace talks.

Kouchner also called on the Palestinians to take steps to improve conditions for a peace agreement.The Palestinian Authority must make very important efforts to fight against terrorist movements and reform the security services in order to make them more efficient, he said. Encouraging progress has been achieved but more must be done, he added. Kouchner also said that improving living conditions in the West Bank could have a positive knock-on effect on the Gaza Strip.

Militants vow revenge for Gaza dead by Adel Zaanoun FEB 16,08

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Saturday vowed revenge on Israel after eight Palestinians, including a senior military commander and family members, were killed in an explosion in the Gaza Strip. The bloodshed came hours before French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner began a visit to the region, calling for Israel to end its punishing blockade on Gaza.In the Hamas-run territory, anger boiled over as thousands of mourners attended the funeral of the eight Palestinians killed late Friday in the teeming Bureij refugee camp south of Gaza City.The dead included Ayman al-Fayed, 43, a senior militant in Islamic Jihad's armed wing the Al-Quds Brigades, his 37-year-old wife and three of their children aged 21, 19 and six, the Palestinian health ministry said.Three other people were also killed while 42 others, including 17 children, were wounded.Palestinian medics and witnesses said the blast was caused by a missile fired at the Fayed home during an air raid, but the Israeli military denied all involvement.

We condemn the Israeli crime perpetrated against the Bureij refugee camp, said Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for the Islamist Hamas movement that has ruled the Gaza Strip since June.Israel bears full responsibility and will also suffer the consequences, he told reporters. The occupation (Israel) will pay a huge price for this crime.The Israeli army insisted it was not involved.We did not undertake any operations on Friday against the Gaza Strip, a military spokeswoman told AFP.The radical Islamic Jihad was adamant.
The enemy is trying to deny responsibility for this crime, but it alone is responsible and all of its denials will change nothing, the group said in a statement.The Fayed house was completely destroyed in the blast, while 10 others were damaged in the Bureij, the most populous of eight refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.Emergency services searched overnight through the rubble for people buried under the debris as hundreds of Palestinians, demanding revenge, gathered outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital south of Gaza City.Israel has kept Gaza under effective lockdown since Hamas violently seized control of the territory, and on January 17 it tightened the blockade in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

Kouchner, who is due to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas later Saturday and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, urged the Jewish state to lift the Gaza blockade.The economic and humanitarian situation in Gaza is especially bad. The blockade directly affects the entire economy and living conditions as well, Kouchner said in an interview published on Saturday with Al-Quds newspaper.We call for the Gaza blockade to be lifted -- there must be free movement of both people and goods, Kouchner said. He also called on Olmert and Abbas to respect their commitments agreed at the relaunch of Middle East peace talks in the United States last November. Israel must freeze settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which are an obstacle to peace, Kouchner said, while the Palestinians must fight against terrorist movements and reform the security services.At least 180 people, mostly Gaza militants, have been killed since the November revival of the peace process, according to an AFP count. The latest deaths brought to 6,141 the total number of people killed since the eruption of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, most of them Palestinians, according to an AFP tally.

HERE WE GO AGAIN ROUND 2 OF THE RIOTS AND BURNING OF INNOCENT PLACES AGAIN BY MUSLIMS.

Hamas supporters protest over Prophet cartoon Fri Feb 15, 8:37 AM ET

JABALYA, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of the Islamist group Hamas protested in the Gaza Strip on Friday against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad that sparked Muslim outrage two years ago. Hamas, which controls the coastal Palestinian territory, demanded that the Danish cartoonist be brought to trial and that an official apology be made to Muslims. It urged an end to what it called organized campaigns to spread hatred of Islam.We are all a sacrifice to the Prophet Mohammad, our blood, our property and our families are all a sacrifice to him, a Hamas activist shouted through a loudspeaker after Friday prayers in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.Danish newspapers said they reprinted a cartoon showing the Prophet with a bomb in his turban in protest over a plot to murder the cartoonist. The original drawing published in September 2005 sparked criticism and riots in the Muslim world.At least 4,000 Hamas supporters took part in the rally on Friday, many waving green Hamas flags and others holding banners condemning the cartoons and urging Muslims to take action against Denmark.Muslims must not be silent against these cartoons which are offensive to the great Prophet Mohammad, one banner read.

Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as offensive.We urge Arab and Muslim countries to exert their efforts and to use all pressure tools under their control to stop these organized campaigns that spread hatred of Islam under so-called freedom of expression, a Hamas statement said.Masked militants blew up the library of the YMCA in Gaza early on Friday, destroying the building but causing no injuries. Security sources said they were investigating whether it was an attack on a specifically Christian symbol, and whether it was related to the reprinting of the Danish cartoon.Some 3,000 Christians live among 1.5 million Muslims in the Gaza Strip, which was taken over by Hamas in June, and relations between the two communities have generally been good, although a Christian bookshop was blown up last year and its owner killed.

Hezbollah appoints successor to slain commander By Nadim Ladki Fri Feb 15, 8:13 AM ET

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah has appointed a successor to its senior guerrilla commander Imad Moughniyah who was assassinated in Syria this week, a Lebanese security source said on Friday. The source said the appointment was made hours after the announcement of Moughniyah's death in a car bomb in Damascus on Tuesday. He did not identify the successor who would now command Hezbollah's formidable and well-armed guerrilla army.A joint investigation into the bombing by Syrians, Iranians and Hezbollah was well under way and suspects had been arrested in the Syrian capital, the source said.Hezbollah and its main backer Iran have accused Israel of killing Moughniyah, who was among the United States' most wanted men. The Israeli government has denied any links, though its Mossad spy service had been hunting him for two decades.A successor to Imad Moughniyah has been appointed, which is natural, said the source, who requested anonymity. That's how Hezbollah works, they move quickly to choose successors of fallen leaders.The source said the successor was not one of the two names being circulated in the Israeli media. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has threatened Israel with open war in retaliation for the killing.

Moughniyah had been in charge of Hezbollah's security organ. He gained legendary status in Hezbollah for a string of attacks on Israeli and Western targets in Lebanon in the 1980s.An Iranian Arabic television station released mobile phone footage of the scene minutes after the blast that killed Moughniyah, chief of the forces of a group that fought a 34-day war against Israel in 2006.It showed the car on fire and people running past it.The source said the investigation showed Moughniyah was killed by a car bomb parked close to his car. It was detonated remotely as he walked past after leaving a building he had been visiting.Early reports said the bomb had been placed inside Moughniyah's car.

JOINT INVESTIGATION

The suspects arrested were mostly Palestinians residing in Syria, the Lebanese source said.Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki agreed with Syrian officials during a visit to Damascus on Thursday to set up a joint team to investigate the killing, Mottaki's deputy Alireza Sheik-Attar said on Friday.Mottaki had attended Moughniyah's funeral in Beirut.Moughniyah commanded the Islamic Jihad, a shadowy pro-Iranian group which emerged in Lebanon in the early 1980s and was believed to be linked to Hezbollah.The group claimed many kidnappings and bombings but disappeared after the release of the last Western hostages in Lebanon shortly after the end of the civil war in 1990.Moughniyah was implicated in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy and U.S. Marine and French peacekeeping barracks in Beirut, which killed more than 350 people.
Israel accuses Moughniyah of planning the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and of involvement in a 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in the Argentine capital that killed 28. The United States indicted him for his role in planning and participating in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner and the killing of an American passenger. (Editing by Robert Woodward)

Israel moves ahead to expand Jerusalem settlement Fri Feb 15, 5:34 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli authorities have appointed five companies to expand a Jewish settlement in occupied east Jerusalem, work which could undermine peace talks with the Palestinians, officials said on Friday. The call for tenders for 307 housing units last December to be built in Har Homa was criticised by the United States and European Union and denounced by the Palestinians who want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.The five companies whose winning bids were announced on Thursday have 60 days to sign a contract, with the work to be completed within three years, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday.This will make it harder to stop the planned building in this controversial district and could jeopardize peace talks with the Palestinians, the newspaper said.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the move to extend the settlement doesn't help to build confidence at a time of renewed peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.Haaretz quoted Adnan Husseini, adviser to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, as saying that if construction continues, the Palestinians may suspend the peace talks.

Rice and Livni discuss Gaza, Iran in Washington talks: israeli official Fri Feb 15, 2:13 AM ET

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipni Livni discussed the situation in Gaza and new sanctions against Iran in talks Thursday, an Israeli official said. Rice and Livni released no statement after their afternoon meeting at the State Department. But a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, David Siegel, said they were to discuss conditions in the Gaza strip and peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority which are very intensive.A draft UN resolution on Iran calling for the tightening of sanctions against the regime over its disputed nuclear program was also on the agenda, he said.We would like to see a third resolution pass and we would like to see further measures and sanctions through the Security Council and outside the council, he said.The draft resolution would form the basis of a third set of economic and trade sanctions against Iran for defying Security Council demands to stop uranium enrichment activities.State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice expected to receive an update on peace negotiations from Livni, head of the Israeli delegation.

I expect they will talk about Gaza too, he said.The unscheduled meeting was arranged at the last moment with Livni in Washington to attend memorial services for US lawmaker Tom Lantos, the Holocaust survivor and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who died on Monday.

Canadian loses battle for Jerusalem, Israel passport by Michel Comte Thu Feb 14, 3:28 PM ET

OTTAWA (AFP) - A Canadian immigrant has lost his court battle to have his birthplace, Jerusalem, recognized as part of Israel on his passport as Ottawa insists it must remain neutral on the contested holy city. The Supreme Court refused Thursday to hear the appeal of Eliyahu Veffer, who immigrated to Canada about 12 years ago and wanted his Canadian passport to show he was born in Jerusalem, Israel.The decision means that Veffer has no further legal remedy in Canada for the differential treatment he faces under the policy, David Matas, Veffer's attorney, said in a statement.Veffer's passport states only his birth city with no reference to any country because Canada does not want to be seen as taking sides in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians over claims to the holy city, officials said.Matas argued unsuccessfully in federal court that Canada allows people to choose which state appears in their passport if a birth city is in disputed territory.

But Jerusalem is an exception to this policy.

Ottawa contends the status of Jerusalem, which is important to three major religions -- Judaism, Islam and Christianity -- has been disputed since 1948 when the state of Israel came into existence.The city, which dates back some 5,000 years, holds several places of religious significance, including the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built where Jesus Christ is believed to have been crucified and buried; and the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque where Mohammed is said to have briefly ascended to heaven.Both Israelis and Palestinians claim it as their capital or future capital.Until the claims of sovereignty over the city are settled, officials said, Canada would continue its current passport policy, to avoid showing favoritism to either side and prejudicing a peaceful political settlement.

Matas said these reasons are unpersuasive.I feel that the government is rejecting and denying my religious belief in the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish religion, Veffer wrote in a court affidavit at the start of his legal fight in April 2006.My religion teaches me that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Mohammed Boudjenane, on behalf of the multi-faith group Canadians for Jerusalem, countered then: A Canadian passport is not a billboard to project your religion.

Israel on alert after militant killed By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer Thu Feb 14, 12:28 PM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel put its military and embassies on alert Thursday and advised Jewish institutions worldwide to follow suit as Lebanese guerrillas threatened to avenge the killing of a militant tied to spectacular attacks against U.S. and Jewish targets. Imad Mughniyeh, one of the world's most wanted and elusive terrorists, was killed in a car bombing Tuesday in the Syrian capital of Damascus. He was the suspected mastermind of attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s.The Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah and its Iranian backers blamed Israel. Israel's government denied the charge, although military officials were more vague, refusing to confirm or deny involvement. And officials made no effort to conceal their satisfaction he was dead.

On Thursday, Hezbollah's chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah vowed in a videotaped eulogy broadcast at Mughniyeh's Beirut funeral to retaliate against Israeli targets anywhere in the world. Israel beefed up its troop presence along the Lebanese border.Mughniyeh, 45, was the Hezbollah's former security chief. Israel blamed him for the 1992 bombing of its embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which 29 people were killed. Argentina linked him to the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed 85 people.Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi put forces on heightened alert, instructing them to take the necessary precautions by air, land and sea in order to protect the northern border and other Israeli interests, the army said.The military sent more troops to the already heavily patrolled northern border with Lebanon, defense officials said, without elaborating. And soldiers were ordered to be on guard for attacks and kidnappings on both the border with Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories.Israeli embassies worldwide also were put on alert, and Jewish institutions across the globe were advised to be vigilant, Israeli officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss security matters with the media.

Israel Radio reported that security had been raised on airplanes and ships and at sensitive installations.A statement from the prime minister's office said the Israeli anti-terror command center warned Israelis abroad to act with extra caution, noting the threat of kidnapping. It recommended staying out of Arab and Muslim countries, avoiding concentrations of other Israelis and turning down unexpected invitations to meetings in remote places.Israel fought a fierce but inconclusive monthlong war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, and residents of northern Israel feared a new conflict was brewing.Everything can get all messy after one incident like this, said Shuli Oozan, a 47-year-old convenience store employee in the town of Shlomi near the Lebanese border. The town was a frequent target of Hezbollah rocket attacks during the war, and was hit by two rockets fired last month, apparently by a smaller Lebanese group.The war killed 40 Israeli civilians and 119 Israeli soldiers and more than 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians.But while Israelis worried about the possibility of renewed war on their turf, Nasrallah declared on Thursday that his guerrilla group would hit Israeli targets anywhere in the world.

Israeli analysts were taking the threats seriously.Hezbollah doesn't want to heat up the border, said Ephraim Kam, an Israel-based Iran analyst. It's afraid Israel would strike it again hard, and Israel is better prepared to fight now, having learned the lessons of the war.The likelier avenue would be a spectacular terror attack, not necessarily against Israel itself, but something like the embassy attack in Argentina, Kam said. It won't necessarily take place tomorrow morning, he added. It takes time to carry out a spectacular attack.Yaakov Perry, a former chief of Israel's internal security service, said Hezbollah might act against Israel through allied Palestinian militant groups.

Hezbollah doesn't usually act alone, but acts with others, the best-known being Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Those who live among us, alongside us, could be its long arm.After word of the assassination got out, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, appealed to the Muslim world to rise up to confront the Zionist devil, which is backed by the Americans.Despite its denials, Israel is widely believed to have carried out daring, complex and deadly strikes against other terror masterminds in the past, sometimes deep in enemy territory. Palestinian Liberation Organization official Khalil Al-Wazir, linked to attacks that killed dozens of Israelis, was assassinated at close range in his home in Tunis in 1988, reportedly by an Israeli commando team ferried from Israel by boat, and aided ashore by Mossad intelligence agency operatives. Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shkaki was gunned down in Malta in 1995 by a man on a motorcycle. In 2004, a senior Hamas militant was killed in a car bombing in Damascus.

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