Thursday, July 31, 2008
EU VIDEO - LISBON TREATY
GET TO KNOW ABOUT THE EU WITH THESE VIDEOS
ISRAEL - PALESTINIANS TALK AT MEDITERRANEAN UNION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFnXWksoFIA
EU TALKS ABOU MEDITERRANEAN UNION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70CAOwh4Olg
BARROSO MED UNION ADRESS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJu82glr-bg&feature=related
BUILDING BRIDGES ACROSS THE EU-MED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBTjwA_RsvY
EU - ISRAEL MEET IN JERUSALEM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sOr4caK17c&feature=related
BARASSO - EU IS EMPIRE (REVIVED ROME)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I8M1T-GgRU&feature=related
LISBON A STRATEGY FOR ALL SEASONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OFGh3Hgb4U&feature=related
MARGOT WALLSTROM PRESS CONFERENCE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glNHqBuGv-0
50 YRS EU PARLIAMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy7bLr1qJ3I
A TV DEBATE ON EU TREATY P-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXSo0RyDSsc&feature=related
A TV DEBATE ON EU TREATY P-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLA4iU4NU1M
A TV DEBATE ON EU TREATY P-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3ZIDalh51c&feature=related
THE EU-THE CITIZENS DISCUSS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1f112yRV3k
THE LISBON COUNCIL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZC2NLhex8
KAREN COLEMAN ON THE EU TREATY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqAFrFXR1h4
FACISTS LISBON TREATY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFWzJ6_n5nc
JIM CORR ON EU NEW WORLD ORDER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPfszpqq2o4
MEP EXPOSES LISBON TREATY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kr0Foq3CQE
END OF NATIONS - EU TAKEOVER AND THE LISBON TREATY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p9VC_P3Gf8&feature=related
LISBON TREATY HELPS RISE TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1AR8igGNGk&feature=related
LIVE LISBON TREATY DEBATE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKGFBtIPiyI&feature=related
EU DITURBANCE - PROTESTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOcG2G_6uC0&feature=related
SOLANA ON THE EU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsDqM8UXsi4&feature=user
EU - THE NEW RUSSIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM2Ql3wOGcU
IRELAND REJECTS EU LISBON TREATY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLT5w2f78JQ
BAR PRESS CON AFTER IRELAND NO VOTE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAUeaq31UPs
WELCOME TO THE EU 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAh-RnPXa5o&feature=related
WESTERN POWER - EU,US ARMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5gFhQSO_Hk&feature=related
EUROPEAN FORCES - EU ARMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv9D8agUzLY&feature=related
EURO-CORPS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcDtnuk_7Dk&feature=related
EUROPEAN ARMY P-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVKLhjdhJto&feature=related
EU - RUSSIA DIAGREEMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IwiNR5Expk
EU CONFERENCE OF RELIGOUS LEADERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TDLEJ8p88E
EUROPE DAY 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPnZO8Ft7zk
ZOELLICK PRESS CONFERENCE - WORLD BANK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRIcwsNHUWY
NANO - THE NEXT DEMENTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCpkq_AeX50
LIBERAL ELDR CONGRESS HIGHLIGHTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2j2Qx9Mz9c
NO MED SHORTCUT
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9696.shtml
Mediterranean Union summit ends
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:18:41
The first summit of the Europe and Mediterranean rim nations spearheaded by French President, Nicolas Sarkozy has ended in Paris. Six cooperation projects as well as the principles of how the Union for the Mediterranean would actually function were approved during Sunday's summit. Leaders from the 27 EU member-states along with 16 North African, Middle Eastern and Western Balkan countries agreed that a summit would take place every two years and that their foreign ministers would meet annually. The six cooperation projects approved comprise of de-pollution of the Mediterranean, the building of maritime and coastal land highways, the fight against disasters, a solar energy program, an EU-Mediterranean university and a business development initiative, Xinhua reported. However, the items over which the leaders failed to reach an agreement on were the seat of a secretariat, its financing, and the nationality of the secretary general which is expected to be decided by foreign ministers of the participating nations in November 2008. The Paris summit was also attended by the European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon as well as representatives from half a dozen international and regional organizations. SM/MMN
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
OLMERT GONE IN SEPTEMBER
OLMERT PM TO STEP DOWN
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9051324&ch=4226714&src=news
Israeli prime minister to resign in September By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer JULY 30,08
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday he will resign in September, throwing his country into political turmoil and raising doubts about progress for U.S.-backed Mideast peace efforts. Olmert's brief address included harsh criticism of police investigations of corruption allegations against him. He said he was choosing the public good over his personal justice. He has denied wrongdoing but pledged to resign if indicted.Olmert said he would not run in his party's primary election, set for Sept. 17, and would step down afterward in order to allow the chairman to be elected and form a different government quickly and efficiently.His decision not to run in the Kadima Party primary sets in motion a process to choose a new prime minister.If Olmert's successor as party leader can form a coalition, Israel could have a new government in October. If not, an election campaign could take several months.Olmert, 62, served as Jerusalem mayor for 10 years until 2003, when he was appointed trade minister in former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government. He held that position until he became prime minister in 2006 after Sharon suffered a devastating stroke.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday he will resign in September, throwing his country into political turmoil and raising doubts about progress for U.S.-backed Mideast peace efforts.Olmert's brief address included harsh criticism of police investigations of corruption allegations against him. He said he was choosing the public good over his personal justice. He has denied wrongdoing but pledged to resign if indicted.Olmert said he would not run in his party's primary election, set for Sept. 17, and would step down afterward in order to allow the chairman to be elected and form a different government quickly and efficiently.His decision not to run in the Kadima Party primary sets in motion a process to choose a new prime minister.If Olmert's successor as party leader can form a coalition, Israel could have a new government in October. If not, an election campaign could take several months.
Israel's Olmert to quit after September Kadima vote JULY 30,08
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Dogged by corruption scandals, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday he would resign after his ruling Kadima party chooses a new leader in a September 17 internal election. Olmert's decision not to run in the upcoming leadership election and then to step down throws Israeli politics into fresh turmoil and may cast into limbo peace talks that he launched with the Palestinians and Syria.I have decided I won't run in the Kadima movement primaries, nor do I intend to intervene in the elections, Olmert said in a surprise announcement from his official residence in Jerusalem.When a new (Kadima party) chairman is chosen, I will resign as prime minister to permit them to put together a new government swiftly and effectively, Olmert added.Four Kadima ministers, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, have already launched campaigns to replace Olmert as prime minister.Political analysts say the process of replacing Olmert could drag on for months and could lead to early national elections. Polls suggest that right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu would win such a contest.Olmert's successor as Kadima party leader would not automatically take over as prime minister.He or she must first cobble together a coalition government, a challenge that could prove time-consuming and complicated because of bitter divisions within parliament.The two most prominent investigations against Olmert involve suspicions that he took bribes from an American businessman, and that he double-claimed for travel expenses when he was trade minister and mayor of Jerusalem.
Olmert has denied wrongdoing.
I will step aside properly in an honorable and responsible way, and afterwards I will prove my innocence, he said.(Reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
US set for three-way talks in quest for Middle East peace deal by P. Parameswaran JULY 30,08
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States was set Wednesday for three-way peace talks with top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators amid pessimism President George W. Bush can bag a comprehensive Middle East peace deal before he leaves office in January. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni separately Wednesday before holding trilateral talks later in the day with chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qorei and Livni at the State Department.Qorei and Livni have been meeting at least once a week for several months since the Israelis and Palestinians committed to forging a comprehensive deal by the end of 2008 during a conference Bush hosted in Annapolis, Maryland in November.The objective in bringing them together in a trilateral format is to help them to bridge differences, perhaps highlight areas of convergence or agreement where it may not be apparent to them, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters ahead of the talks.The focus is on the substance, he said. In trying to move the process forward, the two parties are intensely engaged with one another and all of the core issues in trying to bridge differences.
Rice herself acknowledged difficulty in achieving a peace deal by the end of the year as targeted under the US-brokered talks, but noted growing recognition that the Palestinian question should be resolved swiftly for regional security.The Middle East is not going to get better without the creation of a Palestinian state to live side-by-side with Israel in peace, security and democracy, she said on Tuesday.It simply isn't going to get better. And so the question is, if not now, when? she said amid growing pessimism about a breakthrough before Bush leaves the White House in January 2009.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threw cold water this week on hopes of a quick deal when he said Monday that he did not think the two sides could agree on the crucial issue of Jerusalem this year.
Qorei also highlighted the importance of the Jerusalem question, saying there could be no deal without its resolution.There's no (Palestinian) state without Jerusalem and no agreement without Jerusalem, he told reporters Tuesday.Rice, who the White House said will be travelling to the Middle East pretty soon, is reportedly anxious to get the two sides to agree on a document of understanding on other key issues, such as borders for a Palestinian state and the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.Such a document is in the cards ahead of the United Nations General Assembly session in September, some reports suggested.When asked to comment, McCormack said, I like all of this talk about memorializing and documenting and what format it will take.I tell you the Secretary is focused on the substance and helping these two parties come to an agreement, he said.Meanwhile, tensions ran high in the occupied West Bank amid a 3,000 strong funeral Wednesday for a Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli forces during a protest against Israel's separation barrier.Olmert will also make a special announcement on Wednesday, his office said in a statement, amid speculation he may be preparing to stand down.
Israeli military radio, citing political sources, said Olmert, 62, was preparing to announce that he would not run in a leadership election for his Kadima party scheduled for September.
Palestinian security forces unleash wave of abuses: rights group JULY 30,08
NEW YORK (AFP) - Security forces on both sides of the internal Palestinian conflict have unleashed a wave of illegal arrests and torture, a leading rights group said Wednesday. Human Rights Watch (HRW), based in New York, said in a report that forces run by Hamas and its rival Fatah were committing serious abuses.The political fight between Hamas and Fatah is claiming more and more victims of serious human rights violations every day, said Joe Stork, HRW's deputy director for the Middle East.The rights organization called on international backers of Hamas and Fatah to condition support, including financial aid, on the Palestinians taking concrete and verifiable steps to end serious human rights abuses.According to HRW, Hamas forces in Gaza have recently arrested about 200 people. Many were reportedly released shortly after, but Hamas also raided more than 100 civic organizations and charities, HRW said.
Meanwhile, Fatah forces in the West Bank detained as many as 100 suspected Hamas sympathizers, the report said, including academics and local officials.Both sides were accused of using torture.West Bank security forces often tortured detainees during interrogation, using mock executions, beatings, and stress positions causing intense pain and sometimes internal injury.Meanwhile, Hamas forces in Gaza committed many of the same abuses. Security forces there also conducted arbitrary arrests of suspected political opponents, tortured detainees, clamped down on freedom of expression and assembly.Several detainees are believed to have died in custody, HRW said.The two main Palestinian factions have been bitterly divided since Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007 and drove Fatah from the impoverished territory.The rift deepened when Hamas blamed Fatah for a beachside Gaza City bombing last week that killed five senior Hamas militants and a five-year-old girl, the deadliest attack on the Islamist movement since it seized power.
Fatah has denied any involvement in the attack, which it said was part of an internal Hamas conflict.HRW's Stork said at least some Hamas leaders apparently prefer to use these crimes as a pretext to eliminate Fatah.
Lebanon ministers to meet in 13th bid to draft manifesto by Rima Abushakra JULY 30,08
BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese cabinet ministers are set to meet again on Thursday to try to reach accord on a policy statement that will allow government to take office, after a twelfth attempt failed on Wednesday. A new national unity cabinet was formed two weeks ago but negotiations on a manifesto have been hampered by disputes on the issue of weapons held by Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim political movement and militia.Ministers met on Wednesday for the twelfth time but again failed to reach agreement, with Information Minister Tarek Mitri saying the discussions revolved around the phrasing of the document.Hopefully I will read a statement to you that is as clear as sunshine, Mitri said adding that the committee would meet again on Thursday.The government will take office only after a parliamentary vote of confidence on the policy statement.
The cabinet, in which the Hezbollah-led opposition has the right of veto, was formed on July 11 after weeks of bickering despite a May power-sharing agreement struck in Qatar that ended a protracted political dispute.The socio-economic issues have been settled, the stumbling block is the issue of Hezbollah's weapons, said a member of the ministerial drafting committee that was meeting on the policy statement.The Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, insists on the right to resist Israel, while the ruling bloc, supported by the West and most Arab states, insists that only the state can make decisions of war and peace.No single party has a monopoly on the right (to resist), or imposing its own methods and choices without taking into account the principle of preserving the state, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said in a statement.The controversy over Hezbollah's weapons intensified after its guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July 2006 that sparked a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.The issue boiled to the surface again when Hezbollah led an armed takeover of large swathes of predominantly Sunni west Beirut in fierce fighting in May that left 65 people dead and sparked fears of a return to all-out civil war.The situation has become more dangerous because the weapons were used domestically in clashes between Lebanese, majority MP Elias Atallah told AFP.
But Hezbollah, whose name means Party of God, remains adamant it will not give up its weapons.We have not made any concessions on the resistance in the past and we will not under any pretext do so in the future, said Hashem Saifeddin, the head of Hezbollah's executive council.Oussama Safa, who heads the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, said he expected the policy manifesto would only be agreed once Hezbollah gets its way.They are going to have to find a way to accommodate Hezbollah whether they like it or not... Hezbollah feels triumphant. It feels victorious and it will get what it wants, he said.The Western-backed parliamentary majority has 16 cabinet seats, and the opposition 11, including the post of labour minister held by a Hezbollah MP, while three are held by people nominated by President Michel Sleiman was allocated three seats, considered to be neutral.
Israeli-Syrian talks to continue in August Wed Jul 30, 11:05AM ET
ISTANBUL (AFP) - Israeli and Syrian officials completed a fourth round of Turkish-mediated indirect talks here on Wednesday and agreed to resume negotiations in August, a Turkish diplomat said.
The talks were held in a constructive atmosphere, the diplomat, who asked not to be named, told AFP after the negotiations, which he said began on Monday, were wrapped up.The two sides agreed to hold a fifth round of talks in August, again indirectly, he said.Under the format of the talks, which started in May after an eight-year freeze, Israeli and Syrian officials do not see each other and Turkish diplomats shuttle between the two sides.Turkish officials have said that face-to-face talks would become possible if sufficient progress is recorded.Syria said in May that it had received an Israeli commitment for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which it seized four decades ago. Israeli officials have been tight-lipped on the controversial issue.Olmert has said Israel is willing to make major concessions, seen as a reference to the Golan Heights, seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 -- a move never recognised by the international community.
Hamas and Fatah both violate human rights: report By Adam Entous Wed Jul 30, 10:00 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas and Fatah have both carried out serious human rights abuses over the past year, including arbitrary arrests and torture, according to a report on the bitter power struggle. Human Rights Watch, in the report released on Wednesday, cited a pattern of politically motivated arrests, mock executions and severe beatings in detention centers run by Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction in the West Bank.It faulted the United States and other donors, who have bankrolled Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Fatah-dominated security forces, for not paying adequate attention to the systematic abuses by those forces.
Hamas, which receives support from Iran and other Islamist allies, routed Fatah in the Gaza Strip a year ago, seizing control of the coastal enclave after months of fighting that killed hundreds. Abbas and his Fatah-led security forces still hold sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Internal tensions spiked again after a bomb blast killed five Hamas militants and a girl in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Hundreds of Hamas and Fatah supporters have since been detained in both territories in tit-for-tat crackdowns.The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip declined to comment on the Human Rights Watch report, but the group says those who commit abuses are punished.Abbas's Interior Ministry said arrests by West Bank forces were in accordance with Palestinian law and that it does not condone some individual practices during interrogation.
Most abuse cases documented by Human Rights Watch in the West Bank involved Abbas's General Intelligence and Preventive Security services, which Abbas has granted broad law enforcement powers to protect his West Bank-based government.
SERIOUS ABUSES
Joe Stork, a deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said Western powers should make support conditional on Abbas's security forces stopping torture and other serious abuses.Washington helps train and equip Abbas's National Security force and Presidential Guard, while the European Union provides training to Abbas's civil police. The funding sources for General Intelligence and Preventive Security remain unclear.Stork said money and training should not go to forces that ignored Palestinian or international human rights law, adding that Hamas's backers should likewise make aid conditional on reforms to avoid complicity with human rights violations.Dov Schwartz, spokesman for U.S. Security Coordinator Keith Dayton, said training for the National Security force and Presidential Guard, conducted by Jordanian police near Amman, emphasized human rights and the proper use of force.According to Human Rights Watch, masked Fatah security men in the West Bank have arrested hundreds of Hamas members and supporters without warrants.
The report said Fatah forces often tortured detainees during interrogation, apparently resulting in one death. Torture methods included mock executions, kicks and punches, and beatings with sticks, plastic pipes and hoses, it said.The most common form of torture was forcing detainees to stay in stress positions, a practice known in Arabic as shabah, which causes intense pain and sometimes internal injury but leaves no physical mark, Human Rights Watch said.Hamas forces in Gaza committed many of the same abuses, including arbitrary detentions accompanied by severe beatings and, in two cases, multiple gunshots at close range to the legs, Human Rights Watch said. In at least three cases, individuals died in custody, apparently from torture, the report said.Human Rights Watch said Hamas and Fatah have both largely failed to hold accountable security men implicated in abuses. Hamas officials in Gaza told Human Rights Watch that they had punished or disciplined more than 700 police officers for rights abuses, but provided few details. West Bank officials told the group they had disciplined or punished officers for abuses, but provided no cases or numbers.
(Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Israeli PM's Kadima faction sets September 17 primary Tue Jul 29, 1:44 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's ruling Kadima party announced that primary elections that could replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be held on September 17. Olmert is facing a police investigation that could force him out of office. Several Kadima leaders, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, have already stepped up campaigns to replace him as prime minister.In the event of a run-off, a second round of elections would be held on September 24, Kadima said in a statement.
Palestinian PM seeks emergency funds from World Bank Tue Jul 29, 12:46 PM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday requested emergency funding from the World Bank to pay Palestinian Authority staff, one of his aides said. Prime minister Fayyad requested emergency funding from the World Bank's trust fund, the aide told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the amount requested was 120 million dollars.Since president Mahmud Abbas appointed the former World Bank economist as premier following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Fayyad has struggled to resurrect the economy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The international community has pledged over 7.4 billion dollars in reconstruction aid to underpin US-backed peace talks but economic development has been stymied by Israeli restrictions on movement and access.The Palestinian Authority has struggled to bridge massive budget shortfalls and pay its 160,000 civil servants in the West Bank and Gaza.
ARABS TO BE EVICTED - COURT
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9014459&ch=4226714&src=news
Israeli foreign minister admits she was Mossad agent Tue Jul 29, 5:46 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a contender to replace Ehud Olmert as prime minister, publicly acknowledged on Tuesday she had been an agent for the Mossad spy agency. I served for four years within Mossad, she told army radio. I also followed training courses and worked overseas.Livni decline to discuss any missions she may have conducted for the agency.I quit Mossad when I married because I could not continue to lead this kind of life, she said.Israeli and foreign media had previously said Livni worked for Mossad between 1980 and 1984 but she had not publicly confirmed the reports.Livni, 49, is a candidate in a leadership election that Olmert's centrist Kadima party is scheduled to hold by September 23. Olmert, who is dogged by a series of graft scandals, is yet to announce whether he will compete.
Israeli, US defense chiefs meet Mon Jul 28, 4:46 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met Monday with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates for talks that an Israeli adviser said would focus on the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed that Gates and Barak met at the Pentagon but would provide no details on the substance of the discussions.They met for about an hour, he said. The meeting was part of standard defense consultations.The meeting comes amid a continuing diplomatic impasse with Iran over its nuclear program and just two days after Tehran announced that its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz has now expanded to 6,000 centrifuges.In an interview with Israeli public radio, Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to Barak, said the defense minister would discuss the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme.This is a very important visit. Israel cannot tolerate living under an Iranian nuclear threat, Gilad said. For the moment our priority is the diplomatic track, but Israel has to be prepared to use all options.
Barak also was expected to meet with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and members of Congress, according to Israeli officials.Barak's visit to the Pentagon was held without the usual honor cordon or other trappings of a typical ministerial visit to the Pentagon.He's come here several times, and we haven't done honor cordons before. He has a longstanding relationship with the secretary, Whitman said of Barak.In another low-profile visit, the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, met Thursday at the Pentagon with Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Mullen's spokesman said they had cordial and candid discussions of issues of mutual concern, which included a wide array of security issues in the Middle East.
Olmert sees no deal on Jerusalem before year-end Mon Jul 28, 6:05 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that Israel and the Palestinians would not be able to agree on the final status of Jerusalem by the end of the year. I don't believe that we can reach an understanding that will include Jerusalem by the end of the year, Olmert told parliament's powerful foreign affairs and defence committee, according to a senior official.He expressed optimism the two sides could bridge their differences on other core issues in the decades-old conflict. But he seemed to rule out a comprehensive deal by year-end, despite a commitment by the two sides made at a US-sponsored conference last November that revived peace talks.There is no practical possibility of reaching an overall understanding on the issue of Jerusalem at this time, Olmert said.But there is an intention to create a mechanism that will continue to deal with the issue for a much longer period until we reach understandings that we can live with.Israel captured mostly Arab east Jerusalem -- including the Old City with its holy sites sacred to Christians, Muslims, and Jews -- in the 1967 war and annexed it shortly afterwards.
It declared the whole city its eternal and undivided capital, a claim never recognised by the international community, and the Palestinians have demanded east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.The two sides launched their latest round of peace talks after a seven-year hiatus, vowing to try to reach a comprehensive agreement by the end of the year.The talks have made little tangible progress since then, but Olmert said the gaps on other core issues, including the fate of 4.5 million UN-registered Palestinian refugees and final borders, could be bridged by the end of 2008.On the other core issues the gaps are not dramatic. On the issue of refugees we can reach an understanding that will not make us assume responsibility or have to solve the issue within Israel's borders, he said.On the question of the borders there is a gap that is not unbridgable.Olmert has vowed to put any agreement to a national referendum.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9051324&ch=4226714&src=news
Israeli prime minister to resign in September By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer JULY 30,08
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday he will resign in September, throwing his country into political turmoil and raising doubts about progress for U.S.-backed Mideast peace efforts. Olmert's brief address included harsh criticism of police investigations of corruption allegations against him. He said he was choosing the public good over his personal justice. He has denied wrongdoing but pledged to resign if indicted.Olmert said he would not run in his party's primary election, set for Sept. 17, and would step down afterward in order to allow the chairman to be elected and form a different government quickly and efficiently.His decision not to run in the Kadima Party primary sets in motion a process to choose a new prime minister.If Olmert's successor as party leader can form a coalition, Israel could have a new government in October. If not, an election campaign could take several months.Olmert, 62, served as Jerusalem mayor for 10 years until 2003, when he was appointed trade minister in former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government. He held that position until he became prime minister in 2006 after Sharon suffered a devastating stroke.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday he will resign in September, throwing his country into political turmoil and raising doubts about progress for U.S.-backed Mideast peace efforts.Olmert's brief address included harsh criticism of police investigations of corruption allegations against him. He said he was choosing the public good over his personal justice. He has denied wrongdoing but pledged to resign if indicted.Olmert said he would not run in his party's primary election, set for Sept. 17, and would step down afterward in order to allow the chairman to be elected and form a different government quickly and efficiently.His decision not to run in the Kadima Party primary sets in motion a process to choose a new prime minister.If Olmert's successor as party leader can form a coalition, Israel could have a new government in October. If not, an election campaign could take several months.
Israel's Olmert to quit after September Kadima vote JULY 30,08
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Dogged by corruption scandals, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday he would resign after his ruling Kadima party chooses a new leader in a September 17 internal election. Olmert's decision not to run in the upcoming leadership election and then to step down throws Israeli politics into fresh turmoil and may cast into limbo peace talks that he launched with the Palestinians and Syria.I have decided I won't run in the Kadima movement primaries, nor do I intend to intervene in the elections, Olmert said in a surprise announcement from his official residence in Jerusalem.When a new (Kadima party) chairman is chosen, I will resign as prime minister to permit them to put together a new government swiftly and effectively, Olmert added.Four Kadima ministers, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, have already launched campaigns to replace Olmert as prime minister.Political analysts say the process of replacing Olmert could drag on for months and could lead to early national elections. Polls suggest that right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu would win such a contest.Olmert's successor as Kadima party leader would not automatically take over as prime minister.He or she must first cobble together a coalition government, a challenge that could prove time-consuming and complicated because of bitter divisions within parliament.The two most prominent investigations against Olmert involve suspicions that he took bribes from an American businessman, and that he double-claimed for travel expenses when he was trade minister and mayor of Jerusalem.
Olmert has denied wrongdoing.
I will step aside properly in an honorable and responsible way, and afterwards I will prove my innocence, he said.(Reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
US set for three-way talks in quest for Middle East peace deal by P. Parameswaran JULY 30,08
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States was set Wednesday for three-way peace talks with top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators amid pessimism President George W. Bush can bag a comprehensive Middle East peace deal before he leaves office in January. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni separately Wednesday before holding trilateral talks later in the day with chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qorei and Livni at the State Department.Qorei and Livni have been meeting at least once a week for several months since the Israelis and Palestinians committed to forging a comprehensive deal by the end of 2008 during a conference Bush hosted in Annapolis, Maryland in November.The objective in bringing them together in a trilateral format is to help them to bridge differences, perhaps highlight areas of convergence or agreement where it may not be apparent to them, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters ahead of the talks.The focus is on the substance, he said. In trying to move the process forward, the two parties are intensely engaged with one another and all of the core issues in trying to bridge differences.
Rice herself acknowledged difficulty in achieving a peace deal by the end of the year as targeted under the US-brokered talks, but noted growing recognition that the Palestinian question should be resolved swiftly for regional security.The Middle East is not going to get better without the creation of a Palestinian state to live side-by-side with Israel in peace, security and democracy, she said on Tuesday.It simply isn't going to get better. And so the question is, if not now, when? she said amid growing pessimism about a breakthrough before Bush leaves the White House in January 2009.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threw cold water this week on hopes of a quick deal when he said Monday that he did not think the two sides could agree on the crucial issue of Jerusalem this year.
Qorei also highlighted the importance of the Jerusalem question, saying there could be no deal without its resolution.There's no (Palestinian) state without Jerusalem and no agreement without Jerusalem, he told reporters Tuesday.Rice, who the White House said will be travelling to the Middle East pretty soon, is reportedly anxious to get the two sides to agree on a document of understanding on other key issues, such as borders for a Palestinian state and the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.Such a document is in the cards ahead of the United Nations General Assembly session in September, some reports suggested.When asked to comment, McCormack said, I like all of this talk about memorializing and documenting and what format it will take.I tell you the Secretary is focused on the substance and helping these two parties come to an agreement, he said.Meanwhile, tensions ran high in the occupied West Bank amid a 3,000 strong funeral Wednesday for a Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli forces during a protest against Israel's separation barrier.Olmert will also make a special announcement on Wednesday, his office said in a statement, amid speculation he may be preparing to stand down.
Israeli military radio, citing political sources, said Olmert, 62, was preparing to announce that he would not run in a leadership election for his Kadima party scheduled for September.
Palestinian security forces unleash wave of abuses: rights group JULY 30,08
NEW YORK (AFP) - Security forces on both sides of the internal Palestinian conflict have unleashed a wave of illegal arrests and torture, a leading rights group said Wednesday. Human Rights Watch (HRW), based in New York, said in a report that forces run by Hamas and its rival Fatah were committing serious abuses.The political fight between Hamas and Fatah is claiming more and more victims of serious human rights violations every day, said Joe Stork, HRW's deputy director for the Middle East.The rights organization called on international backers of Hamas and Fatah to condition support, including financial aid, on the Palestinians taking concrete and verifiable steps to end serious human rights abuses.According to HRW, Hamas forces in Gaza have recently arrested about 200 people. Many were reportedly released shortly after, but Hamas also raided more than 100 civic organizations and charities, HRW said.
Meanwhile, Fatah forces in the West Bank detained as many as 100 suspected Hamas sympathizers, the report said, including academics and local officials.Both sides were accused of using torture.West Bank security forces often tortured detainees during interrogation, using mock executions, beatings, and stress positions causing intense pain and sometimes internal injury.Meanwhile, Hamas forces in Gaza committed many of the same abuses. Security forces there also conducted arbitrary arrests of suspected political opponents, tortured detainees, clamped down on freedom of expression and assembly.Several detainees are believed to have died in custody, HRW said.The two main Palestinian factions have been bitterly divided since Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007 and drove Fatah from the impoverished territory.The rift deepened when Hamas blamed Fatah for a beachside Gaza City bombing last week that killed five senior Hamas militants and a five-year-old girl, the deadliest attack on the Islamist movement since it seized power.
Fatah has denied any involvement in the attack, which it said was part of an internal Hamas conflict.HRW's Stork said at least some Hamas leaders apparently prefer to use these crimes as a pretext to eliminate Fatah.
Lebanon ministers to meet in 13th bid to draft manifesto by Rima Abushakra JULY 30,08
BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese cabinet ministers are set to meet again on Thursday to try to reach accord on a policy statement that will allow government to take office, after a twelfth attempt failed on Wednesday. A new national unity cabinet was formed two weeks ago but negotiations on a manifesto have been hampered by disputes on the issue of weapons held by Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim political movement and militia.Ministers met on Wednesday for the twelfth time but again failed to reach agreement, with Information Minister Tarek Mitri saying the discussions revolved around the phrasing of the document.Hopefully I will read a statement to you that is as clear as sunshine, Mitri said adding that the committee would meet again on Thursday.The government will take office only after a parliamentary vote of confidence on the policy statement.
The cabinet, in which the Hezbollah-led opposition has the right of veto, was formed on July 11 after weeks of bickering despite a May power-sharing agreement struck in Qatar that ended a protracted political dispute.The socio-economic issues have been settled, the stumbling block is the issue of Hezbollah's weapons, said a member of the ministerial drafting committee that was meeting on the policy statement.The Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, insists on the right to resist Israel, while the ruling bloc, supported by the West and most Arab states, insists that only the state can make decisions of war and peace.No single party has a monopoly on the right (to resist), or imposing its own methods and choices without taking into account the principle of preserving the state, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said in a statement.The controversy over Hezbollah's weapons intensified after its guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July 2006 that sparked a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.The issue boiled to the surface again when Hezbollah led an armed takeover of large swathes of predominantly Sunni west Beirut in fierce fighting in May that left 65 people dead and sparked fears of a return to all-out civil war.The situation has become more dangerous because the weapons were used domestically in clashes between Lebanese, majority MP Elias Atallah told AFP.
But Hezbollah, whose name means Party of God, remains adamant it will not give up its weapons.We have not made any concessions on the resistance in the past and we will not under any pretext do so in the future, said Hashem Saifeddin, the head of Hezbollah's executive council.Oussama Safa, who heads the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, said he expected the policy manifesto would only be agreed once Hezbollah gets its way.They are going to have to find a way to accommodate Hezbollah whether they like it or not... Hezbollah feels triumphant. It feels victorious and it will get what it wants, he said.The Western-backed parliamentary majority has 16 cabinet seats, and the opposition 11, including the post of labour minister held by a Hezbollah MP, while three are held by people nominated by President Michel Sleiman was allocated three seats, considered to be neutral.
Israeli-Syrian talks to continue in August Wed Jul 30, 11:05AM ET
ISTANBUL (AFP) - Israeli and Syrian officials completed a fourth round of Turkish-mediated indirect talks here on Wednesday and agreed to resume negotiations in August, a Turkish diplomat said.
The talks were held in a constructive atmosphere, the diplomat, who asked not to be named, told AFP after the negotiations, which he said began on Monday, were wrapped up.The two sides agreed to hold a fifth round of talks in August, again indirectly, he said.Under the format of the talks, which started in May after an eight-year freeze, Israeli and Syrian officials do not see each other and Turkish diplomats shuttle between the two sides.Turkish officials have said that face-to-face talks would become possible if sufficient progress is recorded.Syria said in May that it had received an Israeli commitment for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which it seized four decades ago. Israeli officials have been tight-lipped on the controversial issue.Olmert has said Israel is willing to make major concessions, seen as a reference to the Golan Heights, seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 -- a move never recognised by the international community.
Hamas and Fatah both violate human rights: report By Adam Entous Wed Jul 30, 10:00 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas and Fatah have both carried out serious human rights abuses over the past year, including arbitrary arrests and torture, according to a report on the bitter power struggle. Human Rights Watch, in the report released on Wednesday, cited a pattern of politically motivated arrests, mock executions and severe beatings in detention centers run by Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction in the West Bank.It faulted the United States and other donors, who have bankrolled Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Fatah-dominated security forces, for not paying adequate attention to the systematic abuses by those forces.
Hamas, which receives support from Iran and other Islamist allies, routed Fatah in the Gaza Strip a year ago, seizing control of the coastal enclave after months of fighting that killed hundreds. Abbas and his Fatah-led security forces still hold sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Internal tensions spiked again after a bomb blast killed five Hamas militants and a girl in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Hundreds of Hamas and Fatah supporters have since been detained in both territories in tit-for-tat crackdowns.The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip declined to comment on the Human Rights Watch report, but the group says those who commit abuses are punished.Abbas's Interior Ministry said arrests by West Bank forces were in accordance with Palestinian law and that it does not condone some individual practices during interrogation.
Most abuse cases documented by Human Rights Watch in the West Bank involved Abbas's General Intelligence and Preventive Security services, which Abbas has granted broad law enforcement powers to protect his West Bank-based government.
SERIOUS ABUSES
Joe Stork, a deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said Western powers should make support conditional on Abbas's security forces stopping torture and other serious abuses.Washington helps train and equip Abbas's National Security force and Presidential Guard, while the European Union provides training to Abbas's civil police. The funding sources for General Intelligence and Preventive Security remain unclear.Stork said money and training should not go to forces that ignored Palestinian or international human rights law, adding that Hamas's backers should likewise make aid conditional on reforms to avoid complicity with human rights violations.Dov Schwartz, spokesman for U.S. Security Coordinator Keith Dayton, said training for the National Security force and Presidential Guard, conducted by Jordanian police near Amman, emphasized human rights and the proper use of force.According to Human Rights Watch, masked Fatah security men in the West Bank have arrested hundreds of Hamas members and supporters without warrants.
The report said Fatah forces often tortured detainees during interrogation, apparently resulting in one death. Torture methods included mock executions, kicks and punches, and beatings with sticks, plastic pipes and hoses, it said.The most common form of torture was forcing detainees to stay in stress positions, a practice known in Arabic as shabah, which causes intense pain and sometimes internal injury but leaves no physical mark, Human Rights Watch said.Hamas forces in Gaza committed many of the same abuses, including arbitrary detentions accompanied by severe beatings and, in two cases, multiple gunshots at close range to the legs, Human Rights Watch said. In at least three cases, individuals died in custody, apparently from torture, the report said.Human Rights Watch said Hamas and Fatah have both largely failed to hold accountable security men implicated in abuses. Hamas officials in Gaza told Human Rights Watch that they had punished or disciplined more than 700 police officers for rights abuses, but provided few details. West Bank officials told the group they had disciplined or punished officers for abuses, but provided no cases or numbers.
(Editing by Alistair Lyon)
Israeli PM's Kadima faction sets September 17 primary Tue Jul 29, 1:44 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's ruling Kadima party announced that primary elections that could replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be held on September 17. Olmert is facing a police investigation that could force him out of office. Several Kadima leaders, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, have already stepped up campaigns to replace him as prime minister.In the event of a run-off, a second round of elections would be held on September 24, Kadima said in a statement.
Palestinian PM seeks emergency funds from World Bank Tue Jul 29, 12:46 PM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday requested emergency funding from the World Bank to pay Palestinian Authority staff, one of his aides said. Prime minister Fayyad requested emergency funding from the World Bank's trust fund, the aide told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the amount requested was 120 million dollars.Since president Mahmud Abbas appointed the former World Bank economist as premier following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Fayyad has struggled to resurrect the economy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The international community has pledged over 7.4 billion dollars in reconstruction aid to underpin US-backed peace talks but economic development has been stymied by Israeli restrictions on movement and access.The Palestinian Authority has struggled to bridge massive budget shortfalls and pay its 160,000 civil servants in the West Bank and Gaza.
ARABS TO BE EVICTED - COURT
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9014459&ch=4226714&src=news
Israeli foreign minister admits she was Mossad agent Tue Jul 29, 5:46 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a contender to replace Ehud Olmert as prime minister, publicly acknowledged on Tuesday she had been an agent for the Mossad spy agency. I served for four years within Mossad, she told army radio. I also followed training courses and worked overseas.Livni decline to discuss any missions she may have conducted for the agency.I quit Mossad when I married because I could not continue to lead this kind of life, she said.Israeli and foreign media had previously said Livni worked for Mossad between 1980 and 1984 but she had not publicly confirmed the reports.Livni, 49, is a candidate in a leadership election that Olmert's centrist Kadima party is scheduled to hold by September 23. Olmert, who is dogged by a series of graft scandals, is yet to announce whether he will compete.
Israeli, US defense chiefs meet Mon Jul 28, 4:46 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met Monday with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates for talks that an Israeli adviser said would focus on the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed that Gates and Barak met at the Pentagon but would provide no details on the substance of the discussions.They met for about an hour, he said. The meeting was part of standard defense consultations.The meeting comes amid a continuing diplomatic impasse with Iran over its nuclear program and just two days after Tehran announced that its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz has now expanded to 6,000 centrifuges.In an interview with Israeli public radio, Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to Barak, said the defense minister would discuss the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme.This is a very important visit. Israel cannot tolerate living under an Iranian nuclear threat, Gilad said. For the moment our priority is the diplomatic track, but Israel has to be prepared to use all options.
Barak also was expected to meet with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and members of Congress, according to Israeli officials.Barak's visit to the Pentagon was held without the usual honor cordon or other trappings of a typical ministerial visit to the Pentagon.He's come here several times, and we haven't done honor cordons before. He has a longstanding relationship with the secretary, Whitman said of Barak.In another low-profile visit, the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, met Thursday at the Pentagon with Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Mullen's spokesman said they had cordial and candid discussions of issues of mutual concern, which included a wide array of security issues in the Middle East.
Olmert sees no deal on Jerusalem before year-end Mon Jul 28, 6:05 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that Israel and the Palestinians would not be able to agree on the final status of Jerusalem by the end of the year. I don't believe that we can reach an understanding that will include Jerusalem by the end of the year, Olmert told parliament's powerful foreign affairs and defence committee, according to a senior official.He expressed optimism the two sides could bridge their differences on other core issues in the decades-old conflict. But he seemed to rule out a comprehensive deal by year-end, despite a commitment by the two sides made at a US-sponsored conference last November that revived peace talks.There is no practical possibility of reaching an overall understanding on the issue of Jerusalem at this time, Olmert said.But there is an intention to create a mechanism that will continue to deal with the issue for a much longer period until we reach understandings that we can live with.Israel captured mostly Arab east Jerusalem -- including the Old City with its holy sites sacred to Christians, Muslims, and Jews -- in the 1967 war and annexed it shortly afterwards.
It declared the whole city its eternal and undivided capital, a claim never recognised by the international community, and the Palestinians have demanded east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.The two sides launched their latest round of peace talks after a seven-year hiatus, vowing to try to reach a comprehensive agreement by the end of the year.The talks have made little tangible progress since then, but Olmert said the gaps on other core issues, including the fate of 4.5 million UN-registered Palestinian refugees and final borders, could be bridged by the end of 2008.On the other core issues the gaps are not dramatic. On the issue of refugees we can reach an understanding that will not make us assume responsibility or have to solve the issue within Israel's borders, he said.On the question of the borders there is a gap that is not unbridgable.Olmert has vowed to put any agreement to a national referendum.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
NUCLEAR POWER ISRAEL 18 TIMES
SCOFFERS - NUCLEAR ATOMIC POWER From Jack Van Impes Show Sunday July 27, 2008
SCOFFERS
Religion under fire because their not teaching Doctrine.
2 TIMOTHY 4:2-4
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Lots of preachers want nothing to do with the return of JESUS to EARTH LITERALLY.
2 PETER 3:3-4
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep,(GRAND FATHERS) all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
A Lady told Jack that she asked her preacher, when will you ever do a sermon on CHRISTS RETURN. His answer: When pigs learn to fly. A guy like that needs to get out of the Ministry.
Another Woman asked he Minister the same question. His answer was: I don't wanna preach that doom and gloom. Now wait a minute, we did not create 21 judgements in the Book of Revelation, it was JESUS who sanctioned this.
REVELATION 22:16
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things (these 21 chapters of the Book of Revelation, and want it preached) in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Another preacher was asked: Do you believe in Prophecy! His lunatic answer was: any time the Apostles brought up prophecy, Jesus changed the subject. Thats scoffing, it isn't true. In Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 17+21 and John 14:3, Talk about the signs of his return.
JOHN 14:3
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Its JESUS who said in Matthew 24:27
MATTHEW 24:27
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Its JESUS who gave all the SIGNS in Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:21 JESUS said.
MATTHEW 24:21
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
CHRIST often quoted the Old Testament Prophecies. Do you know that there are 16 Old Testament Prophets? And Gods word verifies what they taught.
2 PETER 1:19-21
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Who were these Men of old? The New Testament was not written yet. The 16 Old Testament Prophets. There you got sixteen Books. You got 4 by JESUS, theres 18.
The Apostle Paul in all 14 of his books talked about the return of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. So now you have got 18 + 14 more, plus the Book of REVELATION. Thats 33, theres no end to it. Theres 10,385 verses in the Bible about CHRISTS RETURN. One out of every four verses, and you preachers can't find once a month, 1 out of 4 times, to talk about JESUS coming again. Paul rejoyced in it. Its a comforting hope.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:18
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
One of these days, you men are going to give account. Now listen to this again.
2 TIMOTHY 4:2
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Preach the Word they say. Don't ever take a verse out of context, I WON'T. When he says to preach the Word in verse 2, he tells what that Word is in verse 8.
2 TIMOTHY 4:8
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
The return of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. And its only given to those looking for his appearing. So you preachers are not only Scoffers and mockers, but you are robbing your members of a special crown to lay at the feet of JESUS as a reward in REV 4:10-11
REVELATION 4:10-11
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Because they were looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing, AMEN.
500 PROPHECIES ALREADY FULFILLED IN THE BIBLE
I'm gonna give Jack some questions about Prophecy fulfilled in our days and he will answer by the verse in the BIBLE.
1-THE ALIGNMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.
Its out of the REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE (THE EU) that the WORLD DICTATOR comes.
1 JOHN 2:18
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
And we know its that part of the WORLD (EUROPE) through Daniel Chapters 2 +7
THE EUROPEAN UNION DAN CHAPTERS 2 + 7
Only 7 World Empires in History REV 17: 9-10,
DANIEL 2:31-33,36-43, DAN 7:3-8,17
First From Daniel Chapter 2
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (HEAD OF GOLD) DAN 2:31-32,36-38, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (CHEST & ARMS OF SILVER) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (WAIST & HIPS OF BRONZE) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (2 LEGS OF IRON) DAN 2:33,40, ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) (FEET IRON & CLAY) DAN 2:33,41-43,10 TOES
Now From Daniel Chapter 7
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (LION WITH EAGLES WINGS) DAN 7:4, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (BEAR ON HIND LEGS) DAN 7:5, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (LEOPARD 4 WINGS, 4 HEADS) DAN 7:6, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (HUGE IRON TEETH) DAN 7:7 (10 HORNS), ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) DAN 7:8,19-20,23-25 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS REV 17:9,12, 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS, 7 HILLS ROME. REV 13:1 BEAST WITH 7 HEADS. THE E.U LEADER OF WORLD
GOVERNMENT DAN 2:40-45, 7:7-8,23-25,27, 8:23, REV 13:3,7,8,12,14,16
REVELATION 12:3
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
REVELATION 13:3,7,12,16
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
2-KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION
3-GREAT INCREASES IN TRAVEL
DANIEL 12:4
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, and knowledge shall be increased.
4-FALSE CHRISTS AND FALSE PROPHETS.
MATTHEW 24:5,11,24
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
5-WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS
MATTHEW 24:7
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
6-FAMINES
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
7-EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8-PESTILENCES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
9-INIQUITY ABOUNDING
MATTHEW 24:12
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
10-THE GOSPEL BEING PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD.
MATTHEW 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
11-SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON, STARS
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
12-THE INTRODUCTION OF EVIL SPIRITS, OCCULTISM AND APOSTATES
1 TIMOTHY 4:1
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
REVELATION 9:20
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
13-THE HORDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-4
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
14-FALSE PROPHETS DENYING JESUS IS GOD
2 PETER 2:1-2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
15-THE INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
2 PETER 3:10-12
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
TERRORISM
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
LUKE 21:25-26
25 and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
DANIEL 12:1
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
REVELATION 7:14
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
MATTHEW 24:33-37
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
GENESIS 6:11
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
LUKE 21:9
9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
ROMANS 8:23
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
REVELATION 4:1
1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:52
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
NUCLEAR POWER IN THE LAST DAYS
The BIBLE says Nuclear Power is going to be developed just before the return of the LORD. RUSSIA MARCHES AGAINST ISRAEL.
EZEKIEL 38:11
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,
When you study: Daniel 11:40-45
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
EZEKIEL 38:5-7
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.
PSALMS 83:5-7
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)
17 Nations of the Arab (Muslim) group are the ones that are preparing to create these new Atom Bombs. Its right there in scripture, this is it. There goal is the elimination of ISRAEL.
PSALMS 83:3-4
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.
Who wants to do it RUSSIA AND HER ALLIES.
ISRAEL is mentioned 18 times in EZEKIEL 38+39 of being the battle ground.
EZEKIEL 38:8,14-18
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.
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
EZEKIEL 39:2,4,7,9,11-12,17,22-23,25,29
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, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, 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.
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.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
ATOMIC WARFARE
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
ISAIAH 66:15
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.
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.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; 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.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
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.
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.
WE SEE ALL THE SIGNS OF THE END ARE IN THERE BEGGINING STAGES - GET YOUR HEART RIGHT WITH LORD.
PRAY
LORD, JESUS. YOU ARE THE SAVIOUR, YOU DIED FOR ME, AND TODAY I REALIZE IT. I WANT YOU LORD JESUS, COME INTO MY HEART, SAVE ME NOW, I PRAY THIS IN YOUR HOLY NAME, AMEN.
SCOFFERS
Religion under fire because their not teaching Doctrine.
2 TIMOTHY 4:2-4
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Lots of preachers want nothing to do with the return of JESUS to EARTH LITERALLY.
2 PETER 3:3-4
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep,(GRAND FATHERS) all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
A Lady told Jack that she asked her preacher, when will you ever do a sermon on CHRISTS RETURN. His answer: When pigs learn to fly. A guy like that needs to get out of the Ministry.
Another Woman asked he Minister the same question. His answer was: I don't wanna preach that doom and gloom. Now wait a minute, we did not create 21 judgements in the Book of Revelation, it was JESUS who sanctioned this.
REVELATION 22:16
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things (these 21 chapters of the Book of Revelation, and want it preached) in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Another preacher was asked: Do you believe in Prophecy! His lunatic answer was: any time the Apostles brought up prophecy, Jesus changed the subject. Thats scoffing, it isn't true. In Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 17+21 and John 14:3, Talk about the signs of his return.
JOHN 14:3
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Its JESUS who said in Matthew 24:27
MATTHEW 24:27
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Its JESUS who gave all the SIGNS in Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:21 JESUS said.
MATTHEW 24:21
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
CHRIST often quoted the Old Testament Prophecies. Do you know that there are 16 Old Testament Prophets? And Gods word verifies what they taught.
2 PETER 1:19-21
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Who were these Men of old? The New Testament was not written yet. The 16 Old Testament Prophets. There you got sixteen Books. You got 4 by JESUS, theres 18.
The Apostle Paul in all 14 of his books talked about the return of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. So now you have got 18 + 14 more, plus the Book of REVELATION. Thats 33, theres no end to it. Theres 10,385 verses in the Bible about CHRISTS RETURN. One out of every four verses, and you preachers can't find once a month, 1 out of 4 times, to talk about JESUS coming again. Paul rejoyced in it. Its a comforting hope.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:18
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
One of these days, you men are going to give account. Now listen to this again.
2 TIMOTHY 4:2
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Preach the Word they say. Don't ever take a verse out of context, I WON'T. When he says to preach the Word in verse 2, he tells what that Word is in verse 8.
2 TIMOTHY 4:8
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
The return of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. And its only given to those looking for his appearing. So you preachers are not only Scoffers and mockers, but you are robbing your members of a special crown to lay at the feet of JESUS as a reward in REV 4:10-11
REVELATION 4:10-11
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Because they were looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing, AMEN.
500 PROPHECIES ALREADY FULFILLED IN THE BIBLE
I'm gonna give Jack some questions about Prophecy fulfilled in our days and he will answer by the verse in the BIBLE.
1-THE ALIGNMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.
Its out of the REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE (THE EU) that the WORLD DICTATOR comes.
1 JOHN 2:18
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
And we know its that part of the WORLD (EUROPE) through Daniel Chapters 2 +7
THE EUROPEAN UNION DAN CHAPTERS 2 + 7
Only 7 World Empires in History REV 17: 9-10,
DANIEL 2:31-33,36-43, DAN 7:3-8,17
First From Daniel Chapter 2
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (HEAD OF GOLD) DAN 2:31-32,36-38, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (CHEST & ARMS OF SILVER) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (WAIST & HIPS OF BRONZE) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (2 LEGS OF IRON) DAN 2:33,40, ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) (FEET IRON & CLAY) DAN 2:33,41-43,10 TOES
Now From Daniel Chapter 7
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (LION WITH EAGLES WINGS) DAN 7:4, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (BEAR ON HIND LEGS) DAN 7:5, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (LEOPARD 4 WINGS, 4 HEADS) DAN 7:6, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (HUGE IRON TEETH) DAN 7:7 (10 HORNS), ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) DAN 7:8,19-20,23-25 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS REV 17:9,12, 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS, 7 HILLS ROME. REV 13:1 BEAST WITH 7 HEADS. THE E.U LEADER OF WORLD
GOVERNMENT DAN 2:40-45, 7:7-8,23-25,27, 8:23, REV 13:3,7,8,12,14,16
REVELATION 12:3
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
REVELATION 13:3,7,12,16
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
2-KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION
3-GREAT INCREASES IN TRAVEL
DANIEL 12:4
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, and knowledge shall be increased.
4-FALSE CHRISTS AND FALSE PROPHETS.
MATTHEW 24:5,11,24
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
5-WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS
MATTHEW 24:7
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
6-FAMINES
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
7-EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8-PESTILENCES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
9-INIQUITY ABOUNDING
MATTHEW 24:12
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
10-THE GOSPEL BEING PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD.
MATTHEW 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
11-SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON, STARS
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
12-THE INTRODUCTION OF EVIL SPIRITS, OCCULTISM AND APOSTATES
1 TIMOTHY 4:1
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
REVELATION 9:20
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
13-THE HORDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-4
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
14-FALSE PROPHETS DENYING JESUS IS GOD
2 PETER 2:1-2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
15-THE INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
2 PETER 3:10-12
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
TERRORISM
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
LUKE 21:25-26
25 and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
DANIEL 12:1
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
REVELATION 7:14
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
MATTHEW 24:33-37
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
GENESIS 6:11
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
LUKE 21:9
9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
ROMANS 8:23
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
REVELATION 4:1
1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:52
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
NUCLEAR POWER IN THE LAST DAYS
The BIBLE says Nuclear Power is going to be developed just before the return of the LORD. RUSSIA MARCHES AGAINST ISRAEL.
EZEKIEL 38:11
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,
When you study: Daniel 11:40-45
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
EZEKIEL 38:5-7
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.
PSALMS 83:5-7
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)
17 Nations of the Arab (Muslim) group are the ones that are preparing to create these new Atom Bombs. Its right there in scripture, this is it. There goal is the elimination of ISRAEL.
PSALMS 83:3-4
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.
Who wants to do it RUSSIA AND HER ALLIES.
ISRAEL is mentioned 18 times in EZEKIEL 38+39 of being the battle ground.
EZEKIEL 38:8,14-18
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.
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
EZEKIEL 39:2,4,7,9,11-12,17,22-23,25,29
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, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, 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.
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.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
ATOMIC WARFARE
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
ISAIAH 66:15
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.
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.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; 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.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
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.
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.
WE SEE ALL THE SIGNS OF THE END ARE IN THERE BEGGINING STAGES - GET YOUR HEART RIGHT WITH LORD.
PRAY
LORD, JESUS. YOU ARE THE SAVIOUR, YOU DIED FOR ME, AND TODAY I REALIZE IT. I WANT YOU LORD JESUS, COME INTO MY HEART, SAVE ME NOW, I PRAY THIS IN YOUR HOLY NAME, AMEN.
Monday, July 28, 2008
OBAMA MESSIAH COMPLEX
Monday, July 28, 2008 OBAMA MANIA
THE OBAMA AFFAIR WITH THE PEOPLE.
IF OBAMA IS LOVED AROUND THE WORLD LIKE THIS, JUST THINK HOW DECEPTIVE THE FUTURE EUROPEAN UNION PRESIDENT WILL BE TO BE GIVEN WORLD POLITICAL CONTROL. WE DEFINATELY ARE IN THE LAST DAYS AS DECEPTION IS WORLD WIDE.
OBAMA AT UNITY CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO JULY 27,2008
MALVEAUX: Senator, I want to use a word that you love to use, audacity. A lot of people looked at the trip and they saw the palaces, the world leaders, the 200,000 that were gathered in Berlin, and they said, The audacity of this trip, it looks like he is running for president of the world.
And a lot of people looked and they want to know, what out of this trip did you take away that you feel makes you a stronger candidate to be a leader here?
OBAMA: Well, let me make a couple points. First of all, I basically met with the same folks that John McCain met with after he won the nomination. He met with all these leaders. He also added a trip to Mexico, a trip to Canada, a trip to Colombia, and nobody suggested that that was audacious.
I think people assumed that what he was doing was...
(APPLAUSE)
... talk to world leaders who we may have deal with should we become president. That's part of the job that I'm applying for.
(LAUGHTER)
And so -- so I was puzzled by this notion that somehow what we were doing was in any way different from what Senator McCain or a lot of presidential candidates have done in the past. Now, I admit we did it really well.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
But that shouldn't be a strike against me. You know, if I was bumbling and fumbling through this thing, I would have been criticized for that. And so -- so that's point number one. I don't know the political effect of this when I come back. You know, I think people are worried about gas prices; they're worried about job security; they're worried about their retirement fund, as the stock market goes down. So probably a week of me focusing on international issues doesn't necessarily translate into higher poll numbers here in the United States, because people are understandably concerned about the immediate effects of the economy. And that's what we will be talking about for the duration.
I do think that, in terms of me governing, being an effective president, that that trip was helpful, because I think I've established relationships and a certain bond of trust with key leaders around the world who have taken measure of my positions and how I operate and I think can come away with some confidence that this is somebody I can deal with.
ZAKARIA INTERVIEW OF FRENCH - GERMAN ON OBAMA EUROPEAN TRIP
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/07/28/gps.obama.in.europe.cnn?iref=videosearch
THE OBAMA AFFAIR WITH THE PEOPLE.
IF OBAMA IS LOVED AROUND THE WORLD LIKE THIS, JUST THINK HOW DECEPTIVE THE FUTURE EUROPEAN UNION PRESIDENT WILL BE TO BE GIVEN WORLD POLITICAL CONTROL. WE DEFINATELY ARE IN THE LAST DAYS AS DECEPTION IS WORLD WIDE.
OBAMA AT UNITY CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO JULY 27,2008
MALVEAUX: Senator, I want to use a word that you love to use, audacity. A lot of people looked at the trip and they saw the palaces, the world leaders, the 200,000 that were gathered in Berlin, and they said, The audacity of this trip, it looks like he is running for president of the world.
And a lot of people looked and they want to know, what out of this trip did you take away that you feel makes you a stronger candidate to be a leader here?
OBAMA: Well, let me make a couple points. First of all, I basically met with the same folks that John McCain met with after he won the nomination. He met with all these leaders. He also added a trip to Mexico, a trip to Canada, a trip to Colombia, and nobody suggested that that was audacious.
I think people assumed that what he was doing was...
(APPLAUSE)
... talk to world leaders who we may have deal with should we become president. That's part of the job that I'm applying for.
(LAUGHTER)
And so -- so I was puzzled by this notion that somehow what we were doing was in any way different from what Senator McCain or a lot of presidential candidates have done in the past. Now, I admit we did it really well.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
But that shouldn't be a strike against me. You know, if I was bumbling and fumbling through this thing, I would have been criticized for that. And so -- so that's point number one. I don't know the political effect of this when I come back. You know, I think people are worried about gas prices; they're worried about job security; they're worried about their retirement fund, as the stock market goes down. So probably a week of me focusing on international issues doesn't necessarily translate into higher poll numbers here in the United States, because people are understandably concerned about the immediate effects of the economy. And that's what we will be talking about for the duration.
I do think that, in terms of me governing, being an effective president, that that trip was helpful, because I think I've established relationships and a certain bond of trust with key leaders around the world who have taken measure of my positions and how I operate and I think can come away with some confidence that this is somebody I can deal with.
ZAKARIA INTERVIEW OF FRENCH - GERMAN ON OBAMA EUROPEAN TRIP
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/07/28/gps.obama.in.europe.cnn?iref=videosearch
ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER TO VISIT US
Tensions surge after Gaza bombings By Wael al-Ahmed
Sun Jul 27, 3:24 PM ET
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Hamas and Fatah carried out tit-for-tat arrests of each other's followers on Sunday after deadly Gaza bomb attacks fuelled tension between the Palestinian factions. In the West Bank, security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas detained 20 Hamas activists in the city of Jenin. They netted 15 more in similar raids in Tulkarm.A security official in Jenin said the Hamas detainees would be interrogated about arms caches and militant activities.The arrests followed a crackdown in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where Fatah officials said their Islamist rivals had rounded up nearly 200 Fatah men after one of three bomb blasts killed five Hamas militants and a girl on Friday.Hamas policemen set up roadblocks across the Gaza Strip to check for guns, explosives and suspects, local residents said.One senior security officer loyal to Abbas fled across the border into Israel to escape arrest by Hamas forces, sources with the Islamist group said.Police seeking Fatah activists clashed with gunmen of the Army of Islam, an al Qaeda-inspired group, who feared they were being targeted. Two Army of Islam gunmen were arrested.Hamas blamed Friday's bombings on Fatah, which denied involvement.The factional flare-up sparked fears of more violence and was one of the gravest since Hamas routed its Fatah foes and seized control of Gaza a year ago, when hundreds died.We are afraid that the devil is pitting brothers against each other and they will shed one another's blood, said Fatima Ahmed-Salama, a 40-year-old mother of six in Gaza.Abu Adel, 65, said the internecine fighting harmed only Palestinians, not Israel. I ask God to calm them down and make them stop before we have more dead, he added.
ABBAS URGES DIALOGUE
Abbas renewed calls for dialogue with Hamas, which won a majority in a 2006 parliamentary poll, and said an independent Palestinian committee should investigate Friday's blast.Speaking in Cairo after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Abbas said the attack was regrettable and unacceptable, but rejected Hamas accusations that Fatah was behind it.He said Egypt would invite representatives of Palestinian factions within days to dialogue sessions in Cairo. Past attempts to mend fences between Hamas and Fatah have collapsed.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri rejected Abbas's call to form an investigative committee, and said it would bypass the legitimate government, and the Hamas security forces who are doing their job.
Abu Zuhri also said investigations into Friday's deaths showed senior Fatah officials were involved.The bombing and killings in Gaza proved that Fatah was not interested in dialogue with Hamas, and all they aspired to was to cause anarchy and chaos, the Hamas spokesman said. Hamas rejects demands by Abbas, who joined U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel last year, that it cede control of Gaza. An Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza took effect last month. It calls on Hamas to halt rocket fire in return for Israel easing its embargo of the poverty-stricken territory. The truce does not extend to the West Bank. Israeli troops killed a Hamas militant, Shihab al-Natsheh, in the West Bank city of Hebron. Hamas's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigade, vowed a swift and painful revenge. An Israeli army spokesman said Natsheh, 25, was killed during an exchange of fire with troops who came to arrest him. The army said he had made the bomb belt used in a suicide attack in the Israeli town of Dimona in February that killed an Israeli woman and the two Palestinian attackers. (Additional reporting by Haitham Tamimi in Hebron, Mu'een Shadid in Tulkarm and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Andrew Roche)
Palestinians call on Israel to rethink water deal By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 27, 1:43 PM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank - West Bank Palestinians are suffering a serious water shortage this year as a severe drought exacerbates supply problems, the head of the Palestinian Water Authority said Sunday. Shadad Ateli said since mid-May, many Palestinians have been going without water for hours, and sometimes days at a time as a regional drought enters its fifth year. He called on Israel, which controls some 90 percent of water sources in the West Bank to rethink its water policies.Water shouldn't be a part of the conflict. It should be divided according to human needs equally, Ateli said.Uri Shani, spokesman for Israel's Water Authority, says Palestinians are receiving more water than their agreed share under an interim peace deal. The drought has affected Israel as well, with fresh water supplies below their acceptable minimum, but there have been no cases of community water supplies being cut off.A recent report by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem described water distribution as unfair and called on Israel to rectify the built-in, constant shortage of water in the West Bank.In the city of Nablus, residents report only receiving running water once a week. In the nearby village of Salem, there hasn't been running water for months and a nearby well is going dry. Residents there say they pay for expensive water brought in by tanker truck.Most Palestinians have already used up water they conserve from rainfall in large rooftop barrels, B'Tselem reported.Under interim agreement signed with Palestinians in 1995, Palestinians receive an allocated supply from Israel.Palestinian negotiators had expected to work out a better water deal in a final status agreement that was meant to be concluded in 2000. Instead, fighting broke out between Israel and Palestinians, and eight years later, the water allocation system has remained as it was.West Bank residents use around 15 gallons of water a day, two-thirds of what the World Health Organization recommends for urban needs. In northern villages that number drops to 7 gallons a day.
Daily water consumption in Israeli cities is 60 gallons per capita, B'Tselem reported.Shani said the Palestinian Authority was not cracking down on herders who steal water supplies — a problem Palestinians acknowledge — and could recycle waste water for agriculture, as Israel does.The only solution to this problem is creating more water, Shani said.
Islamic group claims India blasts that killed 45 By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer JULY 28,08
AHMADABAD, India - An obscure Islamic militant group warning of the terror of Death claimed responsibility for bombings that killed at least 45 people and authorities stepped up security Sunday after India's second series of blasts in two days. The city's police commissioner, O.P. Mathur, said that 30 people had been detained for questioning, but there was scant information about the Indian Mujahideen, the little known group that took credit for the bombings in western India.In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death! said an e-mail from the group sent to several Indian television stations minutes before the blasts began.The e-mail's subject line said Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat, an apparent reference to 2002 riots in the western state which left 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead. The historic city of Ahmadabad was the scene of much of the 2002 violence.Saturday's e-mail, sent from a Yahoo account and written in English, was made available to AP by CNN-IBN, one of the TV stations that received the warning.State government spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas said 45 people were killed and 161 wounded when at least 16 bombs went off Saturday evening in several crowded neighborhoods.The attack came a day after seven smaller blasts killed two people in the southern technology hub of Bangalore.
Investigators in Surat, a city about 160 miles south of Ahmadabad, found a car carrying detonators and a liquid that police suspect may be ammonium nitrate, a chemical often used in explosive devices, city police Chief R.M.S. Brar told reporters.The e-mail was sent by a group calling itself Indian Mujahideen that was unknown before May, when it said it was behind a series of bombings in Jaipur, also in western India, that killed 61 people.In its e-mail, the group did not mention the bombings in Bangalore and it was not clear if the attacks were connected. But both Ahmadabad and Bangalore are in states ruled by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as is Jaipur, raising suspicions that whoever was behind the attacks may have wanted to make a political statement.
There were reports the e-mail may have been sent from a suburb of Mumbai, India's financial capital. But the city's police chief, A.N. Roy, said, We are inquiring into that. We haven't traced it yet.The Saturday bombs went off in two separate spates. The first, near a busy market, left some of the dead sprawled beside stands piled high with fruit, next to twisted bicycles. The second group of blasts went off near a hospital.The side of a bus was blown off and its windows shattered, while another vehicle was engulfed in flames. Most of the blasts took place in the narrow lanes of the older part of Ahmadabad, which is tightly packed with homes and small businesses. Bomb-sniffing dogs scoured the areas.Distraught relatives of the victims crowded the city's hospitals. One of the wounded was a 6-year-old boy whose father was killed in the blasts. He lay in a hospital bed with his arms covered in bandages and wounds on his face.Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state where Ahmadabad is located, said the bombings appeared to have been masterminded by a group or groups who are using a similar modus operandi all over the country.India has been hit repeatedly by bombings in recent years. Nearly all have been blamed on Islamic militants who allegedly want to provoke violence between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority, although officials rarely offer hard evidence implicating a specific group.The perpetrators also rarely claim responsibility — a fact that raised doubts about the Indian Mujahedeen when it took credit in May for attacking Jaipur.
But fears that an attack could spark religious riots are real in India, which has seen sporadic violence between Hindus and Muslims since independence from Britain in 1947. Those fears were amplified by the recent history of the 2002 religious riots. The violence was triggered by a fire that killed 60 passengers on a train packed with Hindu pilgrims. Hindu extremists blamed the deaths on Muslims and rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods, although the cause of the blaze remains unclear. Ahmadabad is also known for the elegant architecture of its mosques and mausoleums, a rich blend of Muslim and Hindu styles. It was founded in the 15th century and served as a sultanate, fortified in 1487 with a wall six miles in circumference. Associated Press Writer R.K. Misra contributed to this report.
Britain's first sharia-compliant insurance firm launched JULY 28,08
LONDON (AFP) - Britain's first sharia-compliant insurance company was launched Monday, offering motoring policies in line with the Islamic legal code. Salaam Halal insurance uses Takaful principles, whereby the risk is spread between all policy holders. In contrast, conventional insurance policies shift the risk from the policy holder to the insurance firm.People taking out a policy with Salaam Halal pay contributions into a pool, with that money then put into sharia-compliant investments -- avoiding companies that are involved in alcohol or pay interest.The central pool of funds is used to pay any claims that arise, and at the end of the year, if the pool is over-funded, the excess will be distributed back to policyholders through a discount on their next premium.The policies are aimed at Britain's 1.6 million Muslims, who constitute 2.7 percent of the total population, according to the 2001 census.The launch of Salaam insurance -- the first independent, fully sharia-compliant Takaful operator available in this country -- is a significant step for the growth of Islamic finance in the UK, said Abdulaziz Hamad Aljomaih, the chairman of Salaam insurance.The group, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, an independent watchdog, hopes to launch home insurance policies later this year.Their call centres in Britain can take calls in English, Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati or Urdu.In 2004, Britain authorised a 100 percent Islamic bank, the Islamic Bank of Britain. And the traditional bank Lloyds TSB last year launched Islamic finance products targeted at businesses, and offered sharia-compliant bank accounts.
Israeli defence minister to visit US Sun Jul 27, 7:28 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is to travel to the United States on Monday for talks with senior officials expected to focus on Iran. Public radio said the talks are expected to focus on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, which Israel views as a major strategic threat, and on preserving the qualitative advantage of the Jewish state's armed forces.A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the agenda of the talks, but said Barak planned to meet Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, senior military officials and members of Congress.Barak is also expected to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, he said.In an interview with public radio Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to Barak, said the defence minister would discuss the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme.This is a very important visit. Israel cannot tolerate living under an Iranian nuclear threat, Gilad said. For the moment our priority is the diplomatic track, but Israel has to be prepared to use all options.Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former defence minister involved in US-Israeli strategic relations, is also expected in Washington on Wednesday, and he too will meet Cheney and Rice, his spokesman told AFP.The main subject under discussion will be the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme to the entire region, the spokesman said.Mofaz, who is expected to be a candidate to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a party primary in September, sparked a political firestorm in June when he said Israel would attack Iran if it did not halt its nuclear drive.Israel's army chief of staff said on a visit to Washington last week that he favoured a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Tehran's nuclear programme but that all options must be prepared.The United States and Israel suspect Iran's nuclear drive is aimed at developing an atomic bomb, a claim vehemently denied by Tehran which says its programme is designed for civilian use only.Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme and repeated predictions by senior Iranian leaders of the Jewish state's demise.Public radio has quoted Olmert as saying that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the end of 2009, fuelling speculation that Israel may attempt to set its efforts back with a military strike.
Unexplained explosions kill 5, wound 20 in Gaza By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 25, 6:10 PM ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A powerful explosion ripped through a car on a busy Gaza City beach Friday night, killing a Hamas field commander and three other people, security officials said. It was the third unexplained blast of the day in this coastal territory after a relatively calm period since Israel and the Islamic militants of Hamas agreed on a cease-fire last month. A total of five people died from the explosions, and 23 suffered injuries.No one in Gaza blamed Israel for the violence, indicating it was likely Palestinian infighting.The late night blast killed Amar Musubah, a Hamas military field commander, and another Hamas militant, Eyad Al-Hia, medical officials said. A child and a fourth unknown individual also died.Earlier, unknown assailants set off two bombs in Gaza City, killing one man.
The first explosion took place just after midnight outside the Al Jazera cafe. The cafe had been hit two other times this year in similar attacks presumably perpetrated by hard-line Muslims who target record shops and other sites they see as signs of Western influence.The powerful blast wounded three people and killed the man who set off the bomb, Hamas officials said.Another bomb exploded outside the house of a Hamas lawmaker, Marwan Abu Rass, not long afterward, causing light damage but no casualties, the officials said. An activist in the rival Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was arrested as a suspect.Hamas officials said police were investigating all the blasts.Gaza is the scene of regular bloodshed between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, though the territory has been quiet over the past month because of the truce between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers.Gaza is also a common site of internal Palestinian violence between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas fighters defeated Fatah forces during five days of combat in Gaza a year ago, and tensions remain high.Violence has also been blamed on Islamic fundamentalists who oppose what they see as signs of Western cultural encroachment.
In recent years, shadowy groups have firebombed internet cafes, music stores and Christian institutions. The bombings are typically carried out late at night and most have caused no casualties. But a Christian activist was murdered in one attack last October.
U.S. still hopes for Israeli-Palestinian deal By Sue Pleming Fri Jul 25, 6:56 AM ET
PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday there was still time for Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace deal by the end of 2008. Rice said trilateral peace talks in Washington next week between the United States, Israel and the Palestinian Authority should be closed to offer the best hope of progress.Rice said the latest round of talks which began in Annapolis in the United States in November 2007 had laid a firm foundation on which these two parties can finally end their conflict.There is still time for them, in accordance with the Annapolis, to reach agreement by the end of the year and we will keep working towards that goal, Rice told a news conference in Perth in western Australia on Friday.The United States revived Palestinian statehood negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November, with the hope of completing a deal by the time President George W. Bush leaves office.But disputes over Jewish settlement expansion on occupied West Bank land, a corruption scandal involving Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's own political troubles, and security issues have all undercut U.S. efforts.Rice plans to host peace talks between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie and his Israeli partner, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in Washington on July 30.Rice said the Washington talks should remain confidential.The most effective negotiations they probably ever had were Oslo and no one ever knew they were negotiating, said Rice.We won't be providing details of what goes on in the trilateral. The Israelis and Palestinians have their first serious peace process in seven years and they are discussing very sensitive and difficult issues, she said.The work now is to keep pressing ahead, but pressing ahead in a way that preserves the workability of this process and that really means preserving the confidentiality of this process.(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Still time for Mideast peace deal under Bush: Rice Fri Jul 25, 5:09 AM ET
PERTH, Australia (AFP) - There is still time for Israel and the Palestinians to reach a peace agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday. There's still time for them to, in accordance with Annapolis, reach agreement by the end of the year and we'll keep working towards that goal, Rice told a news conference in the West Australian capital Perth.At talks in Annapolis outside Washington last November, Israel and the Palestinians revived negotiations aiming at concluding a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of 2008.The Israelis and the Palestinians have their first serious peace process in seven years and they are discussing very sensitive and difficult issues, Rice said.She said details of a trilateral meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington next week would not be made public on a day-by-day basis.But the most important thing right now is to take note of how very seriously they are negotiating, to note that there was not even last year a peace process at this time, Rice said.Since this president came into office, the notion of two states living side by side in peace and security has just become kind of common wisdom. We all say it.
Well, in fact, in 2001, that was not the position either of the Likud Gvoernment of Ariel Sharon or of much of the international community.Bush had laid a firm foundation on which these two parties can finally end their conflict, she said.Rice was in Perth for a brief visit to the hometown of Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith before leaving for New Zealand.
Israelis, Palestinians: Mixed feelings about Obama By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 25, 1:24 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Both Israelis and Palestinians came away from Barack Obama's visit to the Holy Land with the feeling he would do more for Mideast peace than President Bush has. But neither side seemed fully convinced that Obama would have their interests at heart.
Israelis fear that an Obama administration would be too soft on Iran and too hard on them, and his visit didn't seem to fully dispel those concerns. And Palestinians spoke of a clear bias toward Israel.Instead of running away from the Middle Eastern issues, he intends to place them on the top of his diplomatic list of priorities, Israeli commentator Nahum Barnea wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily.The Democratic presidential candidate toured Yad Vashem's Holocaust memorial, where he donned a skullcap, and he stopped in an Israeli town that has been barraged by Palestinian rocket fire. Obama also visited the Western Wall — Judaism's holiest site — where he touched it and prayed. His one stop in the West Bank was the headquarters of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.What if Obama had put a Palestinian headdress on his head, as he put on a Jewish skullcap yesterday? What if he took off his shoes and stepped into the Al-Aqsa mosque, as he did at the Western Wall? That would be balanced behavior, wrote editor Hafeth Barghouti in Thursday's edition of the West Bank newspaper Al-Hayyat al-Jedida.Still, Obama's stop in the West Bank stood in sharp contrast to a decision by Republican challenger John McCain to visit only Israel and not the Palestinian territories during a trip to the region in March.Israelis and Palestinians were in rare agreement on one point: Obama told each what they wanted to hear, but his real audience was Jewish voters back home in America.
He is here in order to impress the voters back home, said Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher. Israelis find him interesting, he says the right things carefully, but it's not the kind of visit that one can assess in any substantive or qualitative way.Obama's candidacy has raised concern among some in Israel and Jewish communities elsewhere because of his declared willingness to speak to Iran. His family's Muslim roots have added to the unease, even though Obama is a Christian.During his trip, Obama assured Israelis that if elected, he would not pressure them to compromise their security. He also backed Israel's right to defend itself against attacks. The special relationship between the U.S. and Israel would be preserved, he said.He told the Jerusalem Post daily that I will do everything in my power to stop Iran getting the bomb — a welcome statement in a country that considers Iran to be its fiercest enemy. Speaking to the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot, he said a military option must be on the table to make sure Iran takes diplomatic efforts to prevent it from building nuclear weapons seriously.Before dawn Thursday, Obama inserted a small written prayer into a crevice of the Western Wall — a common practice among visitors there — and bowed his head in worship.Orthodox men at the wall for morning prayers ran down the steps to get a look at the candidate. Many reached out to shake his hand, although one Israeli hard-liner called out in a booming voice, Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale! Hard-liners don't want Israel to cede to the Palestinians any part of east Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war. But Palestinians want the eastern sector of the disputed city to serve as capital of a future state.
Obama had caused a flap over the issue days before his visit here when he said Jerusalem should not be divided — a statement that infuriated the Palestinians. Obama later said the city's fate should be negotiated.Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, a U.S.-based Jewish organization, said he met briefly with Obama on Wednesday evening, and the candidate repeated his commitments to Israel. Foxman said he had heard Israelis express concerns earlier.To what extent he's laid them to rest, time will tell, he said, adding that Israelis were impressed with the depth of his knowledge, his understanding and his response.In his brief visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, Obama expressed strong support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, backed negotiations between Israel and moderate Palestinians and rejected talks with the violently anti-Israel Islamic Hamas group that overran Gaza last year. It was a campaign visit, but the positive thing for Palestinians was the pledge that Barack Obama will work from the first day in the White House, if he gets elected, to find a solution to the Palestinian issue, said Abbas political adviser Nimr Hamad. Because it was a campaign visit, it was focused much more on Israel, to attract the Jewish vote.Mansour Habayed, 28, who works for a Palestinian cell phone company, noted that Obama spent much more time in Israel than in the West Bank. I am not optimistic that Obama will be a different president of the U.S., in terms of finding a solution to our problem,he said.
Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Israel revives plan to build new West Bank settlement Thu Jul 24, 6:35 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Defense Ministry has revived a plan it had shelved under U.S. pressure to build a new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, government officials said on Thursday.
A ministry committee approved the construction of 20 housing units in Maskiot, an abandoned military base in the Jordan Valley for some of the families removed from settlements in the Gaza Strip during Israel's pullout in 2005, the officials said.But the project cannot go ahead without approval from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.Such a move would probably draw further opposition from the United States, which is trying to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.We condemn this Israeli decision in the strongest possible terms, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. This is undermining us, and killing and destroying the peace process.Asked about the Maskiot plan, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said the prime minister had yet to receive any new request to build homes there.Israel will continue to honor our commitments. There will be no new settlements, there will be no expansion of existing settlements and there will be no expropriation of land for settlement construction, Regev said.
Olmert has continued to allow building within West Bank settlements that Israel considers to be part of Jerusalem and which it says it will keep in any peace agreement.The Palestinians say settlements, which the World Court has deemed illegal, could deny them a viable and contiguous state.In 2006, the United States pressured Israel to halt plans to build settler homes in Maskiot, saying it would violate the terms of a U.S.-backed peace road map.The road map calls for a halt to Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and for Palestinians to rein in militants.Israel Radio said a revival of the Maskiot plan was part of a deal between the Defense Ministry and settler leaders under which settlers would agree to evacuate West Bank outposts they established without Israeli government approval.Twenty units in the Jordan Valley is significant, as there are only 1,000 (for Israelis) in the entire Jordan Valley, Dubi Tal, head of the area's local Israeli council, told Israel Radio.
Israel's Peace Now movement, which opposes Jewish settlement in the West Bank, said capitulation to the settlers would kill chances for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and eventually drag us to a bi-national state.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Ori Lewis, Additional reporting by Adam Entous and Mohammed Assadi, Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Obama visits Jerusalem's Western Wall Thu Jul 24, 4:44 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made a surprise pre-dawn visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall on Thursday, at the end of a trip aimed at showing his strong support for Israel. Obama, wearing a Jewish skullcap, placed a prayer he had written in the wall and bowed his head while a rabbi read a psalm calling for peace in the holy city.One worshipper chanted Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale and Jerusalem is our land as the Illinois senator stood at the wall, a relic of the ancient Jewish temple destroyed during Roman rule nearly 2,000 years ago.Obama assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters on Wednesday he was a friend who would not press for concessions in peace talks with Palestinians that would compromise its security.Hailing Israel as a miracle, he vowed staunch support and held only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank.Last month Obama dismayed Palestinians when he said Jerusalem must be Israel's undivided capital. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967, including the Old City where the Western Wall is situated, but Palestinians want it to be the capital of a future state.Obama later said he had used poor phrasing.He is due to fly on Thursday to Germany, where he will give the only public speech of his week-long foreign tour, an outdoor address on transatlantic ties that is likely to draw tens of thousands.Highly popular in Germany, where he is often likened to former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Obama will also meet for the first time Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposed his initial plan to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.Instead, Obama will give his evening address at the Victory Column in Berlin's central Tiergarten park, down the road but still within sight of the Gate, a landmark that stood behind the Berlin Wall for decades as a potent symbol of the Cold War.(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Obama tries to balance solidarity and neutrality By Ilene R. Prusher Thu Jul 24, 4:00 AM ET
Ramallah, West Bank - US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama visited Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, seeking to send signals of support to both sides of the conflict. But Senator Obama's latest stop in his multinational tour was a whirlwind primer in trying to simultaneously express solidarity and neutrality in the political minefield that is the Middle East. I'm here on this trip to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the United States and my abiding commitment to Israel's security and my hope that I can serve as an effective partner, whether as a US senator or as president, Obama said during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Such comments sound positive to Israelis, but are frustrating Palestinians and other Arabs, who were hoping that Obama's pledge for change would include a more evenhanded approach. Obama made a short visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but made no comments to the press. Obama has had difficulty balancing his statements, says George Giacaman, who teaches at Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah. He pointed to Obama's comments to AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee], in which he said Jerusalem must remain undivided. He has since said that its status must be negotiated. I think his visit here is a courtesy visit, Mr. Giacaman says, noting that Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who gets higher ratings among Israelis than does Obama, made no trips to Palestinian Authority offices on a visit in March, but went to the rocket-pocked Israeli town of Sderot. The criticism between McCain and Obama over this is just a way for them to gain credit with one constituency or another. It's hard to judge what policy will look like....Obama is meeting with Israeli leaders – taking a helicopter tour of the country guided by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni – and visiting Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Museum and Memorial, and Sderot, close to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The area is in a rare lull since Israel and Hamas reached a temporary agreement for calm. And it opened its arms wide for Obama. The boulevard into the working-class town was lined with US and Israeli flags for the first time that locals could remember, despite the city being a regular stop for visiting foreign dignitaries. At the New Age hair salon, whose worn sign spoke to years of economic decline, hairdresser Yaffa Malka said Obama seemed trustworthy. He looks honest. He knows what pain and distress is, she said. He knows what it is to be part of a people who aren't liked.A lot of people are excited by his candidacy, she added, because he comes from below, not above.
In remarks given at the police station, with mounds of empty rocket casings stacked behind him, Obama offered his support to the town, which has been beleaguered by rockets fired from Gaza. I am here to say as an American and as a friend of Israel, he said, that we stand with the people of Sderot and all of the people of Israel.He also promised to push actively for peace, saying that he would not wait a few years into my term or my second term, if I'm elected, to press for a deal. We don't need a peace deal just to have a piece of paper, he said. We need something that's meaningful.Wednesday night, Obama was scheduled have dinner with embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and is expected to take a nighttime trip to visit the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism. Obama's statements of unshakable support for Israel's security has surprised some Palestinians, who thought his championing of the underdog and his criticism of White House policies in the region – especially in Iraq – would translate into a more outspoken backing for their cause. I'm demoralized about the position of Obama, because so far he's only expressed support for Israel and not Palestinians, says Jamil Fawzi, who lives here in Ramallah and has US citizenship. The only difference in him having made this adjustment is that it will make Arabs in America vote for him. I couldn't bear to elect him because if he attacks Muslims, I will feel responsible.A cafe owner here, where Mr. Fawzi is taking an afternoon break from the beating sun, says that Palestinians would be better off not pinning so much hope on US intervention. Palestinians should not place such an important role on the US. We should focus on the relationship with Israel, says Mohanned Koran.
Some here pointed to Obama's inexperience in the Middle East. He jumped into the Jerusalem issue immediately, without being cautious or careful, and that's not the way to please anybody, says Abdel Majid Sweilem, who teaches at Al-Quds University, headquartered in East Jerusalem. We don't demand the US ditch its support for Israel, but that it doesn't sacrifice its whole position in the Middle East for the sake of Israel. One man here, a hydrologist, has launched an Obama Fan Club. Omar Jibril, the founder of the group, read Obama's books and got inspired. Obama has written extensively about freedom and the underprivileged, and we fit into that category, Mr. Jibril said. After eight years of Bush and the ensuing oppression in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama will represent change, he asserted. He's here to pay his respect to our leaders, unlike John McCain, who only went to Israel.Michael Oren, a historian of the US-Israel relationship and fellow at the Shalem Center, says that polls of Israelis show McCain is more popular than Obama, in that he's seen as someone who is good for Israel.
The American election is covered minimally here, and, as result, Israelis are spectacularly uninformed of what's going on this election, and unforgivably, because this election will have acute impact on the future of the Middle East, says Mr. Oren, author of Power, Faith and Fantasy, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present.There is a substantive difference in their platforms and what to expect, and McCain is more line with Israeli thinking, Oren says. Most Americans aren't even aware of the differences. But there really is a choice here. You're really looking at two distinct visions of America's future in Israel.
Joshua Mitnick contributed from Sderot, Israel. Wire material was used.
Today on the presidential campaign trail By The Associated Press Thu Jul 24, 5:35 PM ET
IN THE HEADLINES
Obama tells enormous Berlin crowd there are more walls to be torn down in fighting extremism ... With Obama in Berlin, McCain visits German restaurant in Ohio ... Hagel calls on candidates to focus on Iraq's future over past war strategy ... Rice not worried by Obama's foreign policy forays overseas ... Poll: Obama builds support among Hispanic voters ... Police seek to soften protesters' disruptions at GOP convention.Obama addresses huge, adoring crowd in Berlin
BERLIN (AP) — Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democrat Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.Obama said he was speaking as a citizen, not as a president, but the evening was awash in politics as the first-term U.S. senator sought to burnish his international credentials for the fall campaign at home. His remarks before a crowd estimated at more than 200,000 inevitably invited comparison to historic speeches in the same city by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan.The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand, Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews cannot stand, he said.Obama's speech was the centerpiece of a fast-paced tour through Europe designed to reassure skeptical voters in the U.S. about his ability to lead the country and take a frayed cross-Atlantic alliance in a new direction after eight years of the Bush administration.The Illinois senator also met earlier in the day with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a discussion that ranged across the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change, energy issues and more.
McCain visits German restaurant — in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican John McCain had his own German experience Thursday — at a restaurant in Ohio. He asserted that he was happy to devote his time this week to touring the nation's heartland rather than Europe and the Middle East.I'd love to give a speech in Germany. But I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for president, McCain told reporters after a meal of bratwurst with local business leaders at Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant in Columbus' German Village neighborhood.As his Democratic rival Barack Obama delivered a speech in Berlin, McCain said he was focusing his attention this week on economic issues, including soaring food and fuel costs. He has been busy campaigning and raising funds in key battleground states like Ohio.In what was clearly not a coincidence, McCain spoke with reporters shortly before Obama began his speech at Berlin's Victory Column.McCain is trying hard to get attention during Obama's week abroad. He had planned to visit an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, but rough seas leftover from Hurricane Dolly caused him to scrub that trip. He was to appear with famed cyclist Lance Armstrong later Thursday at a town-hall meeting here that is focused on cancer. And on Friday, he'll meet with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, in Aspen, Colo.
Hagel chides candidates on Iraq
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, fresh from an Iraq trip with Democrat Barack Obama, said the presidential candidates should focus on the war's future and stop arguing over the success of last year's troop surge. Hagel mentioned both candidates, but his comments seemed directed at Republican John McCain. McCain, while Obama traveled the Middle East, attacked Obama for opposing the military escalation last year that increased security in Iraq.
Quit talking about, Did the surge work or not work, or, Did you vote for this or support this, Hagel said Thursday on a conference call with reporters. Get out of that. We're done with that. How are we going to project forward? the Nebraska senator said. Hagel, too, opposed the troop increase strategy, though he acknowledged Thursday it brought about positive changes. Though Hagel is a Republican, his name has been floated as a potential vice presidential running mate for Obama. Like McCain, he is a Vietnam war veteran, but Hagel is a fierce critic of the war in Iraq. He has said he would consider running with Obama on the Democratic ticket but that he doesn't expect to be asked. He is not running for reelection.
Rice unconcerned by freelance campaign diplomacy
PERTH, Australia (AP) — If Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is worried that Democrat Barack Obama is complicating the Bush administration's foreign policy with freelance campaign diplomacy, she isn't showing it. In her first public comments about Obama's overseas jaunt during which he has contrasted his international approach to that of President Bush in meetings with foreign officials, Rice said the trip was part of the election cycle and would not affect the administration. Everybody knows that we are in a presidential campaign, so this a part of America's democratic process, Rice told reporters aboard her plane as she flew from an Asian security conference in Singapore to Australia. Sen. Obama is a senator, let's remember. He sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and he is a candidate for president. He is all of those things, she said.
Poll: Latinos favor Obama by big margin
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama has opened a big lead among Hispanic voters, winning support from the vast majority of those who had voted for rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, according to a poll released Thursday. The national survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center, showed that 66 percent of Hispanic registered voters supported Obama, compared to 23 percent for Republican John McCain. The other 11 percent were undecided. More than three-quarters of Latinos who had voted for Clinton now say they are for Obama. Clinton carried the Hispanic vote, an important Democratic constituency, by about a 2-1 margin in the primaries. While Hispanics make up only about 9 percent of eligible voters, they could play an important role in four potential battleground states: Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.
Police reach out to those targeting GOP convention
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis and St. Paul police hope to quell any disruptions at this summer's Republican National Convention by exchanging cell phone numbers and offering other olive branches to demonstrators. About 10 police officers — all schooled in hostage negotiation techniques — met with Justice Department officials and a handful of community peace workers Wednesday at a police academy in north Minneapolis to review the strategies. The officers, dubbed dialogue officers or free speech liaison officers, have been asked to open communication lines with activist leaders at the convention, which will be held Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The hope, in part, is that the officers will be able to stay on top of any escalating violence or other problems.
DAILY TRACK
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are running about even nationally — 45 percent for Obama to 43 percent for McCain — among registered voters in the presidential race, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update.
THE DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama spoke at the Victory Column in Berlin.
THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain holds a town-hall meeting on cancer with Lance Armstrong in Columbus, Ohio.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye towards the future, with resolve in our heart, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again. — Democrat Barack Obama, in a speech at Berlin's Victory Column.
STAT OF THE DAY:
Liberals are three times likelier than conservatives to be more excited about the presidential campaign than they were last fall, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll conducted in June. The poll has been measuring the political sentiments of the same 2,000 adults since November. Compiled by Ann Sanner.
Sun Jul 27, 3:24 PM ET
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Hamas and Fatah carried out tit-for-tat arrests of each other's followers on Sunday after deadly Gaza bomb attacks fuelled tension between the Palestinian factions. In the West Bank, security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas detained 20 Hamas activists in the city of Jenin. They netted 15 more in similar raids in Tulkarm.A security official in Jenin said the Hamas detainees would be interrogated about arms caches and militant activities.The arrests followed a crackdown in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where Fatah officials said their Islamist rivals had rounded up nearly 200 Fatah men after one of three bomb blasts killed five Hamas militants and a girl on Friday.Hamas policemen set up roadblocks across the Gaza Strip to check for guns, explosives and suspects, local residents said.One senior security officer loyal to Abbas fled across the border into Israel to escape arrest by Hamas forces, sources with the Islamist group said.Police seeking Fatah activists clashed with gunmen of the Army of Islam, an al Qaeda-inspired group, who feared they were being targeted. Two Army of Islam gunmen were arrested.Hamas blamed Friday's bombings on Fatah, which denied involvement.The factional flare-up sparked fears of more violence and was one of the gravest since Hamas routed its Fatah foes and seized control of Gaza a year ago, when hundreds died.We are afraid that the devil is pitting brothers against each other and they will shed one another's blood, said Fatima Ahmed-Salama, a 40-year-old mother of six in Gaza.Abu Adel, 65, said the internecine fighting harmed only Palestinians, not Israel. I ask God to calm them down and make them stop before we have more dead, he added.
ABBAS URGES DIALOGUE
Abbas renewed calls for dialogue with Hamas, which won a majority in a 2006 parliamentary poll, and said an independent Palestinian committee should investigate Friday's blast.Speaking in Cairo after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Abbas said the attack was regrettable and unacceptable, but rejected Hamas accusations that Fatah was behind it.He said Egypt would invite representatives of Palestinian factions within days to dialogue sessions in Cairo. Past attempts to mend fences between Hamas and Fatah have collapsed.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri rejected Abbas's call to form an investigative committee, and said it would bypass the legitimate government, and the Hamas security forces who are doing their job.
Abu Zuhri also said investigations into Friday's deaths showed senior Fatah officials were involved.The bombing and killings in Gaza proved that Fatah was not interested in dialogue with Hamas, and all they aspired to was to cause anarchy and chaos, the Hamas spokesman said. Hamas rejects demands by Abbas, who joined U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel last year, that it cede control of Gaza. An Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza took effect last month. It calls on Hamas to halt rocket fire in return for Israel easing its embargo of the poverty-stricken territory. The truce does not extend to the West Bank. Israeli troops killed a Hamas militant, Shihab al-Natsheh, in the West Bank city of Hebron. Hamas's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigade, vowed a swift and painful revenge. An Israeli army spokesman said Natsheh, 25, was killed during an exchange of fire with troops who came to arrest him. The army said he had made the bomb belt used in a suicide attack in the Israeli town of Dimona in February that killed an Israeli woman and the two Palestinian attackers. (Additional reporting by Haitham Tamimi in Hebron, Mu'een Shadid in Tulkarm and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Andrew Roche)
Palestinians call on Israel to rethink water deal By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 27, 1:43 PM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank - West Bank Palestinians are suffering a serious water shortage this year as a severe drought exacerbates supply problems, the head of the Palestinian Water Authority said Sunday. Shadad Ateli said since mid-May, many Palestinians have been going without water for hours, and sometimes days at a time as a regional drought enters its fifth year. He called on Israel, which controls some 90 percent of water sources in the West Bank to rethink its water policies.Water shouldn't be a part of the conflict. It should be divided according to human needs equally, Ateli said.Uri Shani, spokesman for Israel's Water Authority, says Palestinians are receiving more water than their agreed share under an interim peace deal. The drought has affected Israel as well, with fresh water supplies below their acceptable minimum, but there have been no cases of community water supplies being cut off.A recent report by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem described water distribution as unfair and called on Israel to rectify the built-in, constant shortage of water in the West Bank.In the city of Nablus, residents report only receiving running water once a week. In the nearby village of Salem, there hasn't been running water for months and a nearby well is going dry. Residents there say they pay for expensive water brought in by tanker truck.Most Palestinians have already used up water they conserve from rainfall in large rooftop barrels, B'Tselem reported.Under interim agreement signed with Palestinians in 1995, Palestinians receive an allocated supply from Israel.Palestinian negotiators had expected to work out a better water deal in a final status agreement that was meant to be concluded in 2000. Instead, fighting broke out between Israel and Palestinians, and eight years later, the water allocation system has remained as it was.West Bank residents use around 15 gallons of water a day, two-thirds of what the World Health Organization recommends for urban needs. In northern villages that number drops to 7 gallons a day.
Daily water consumption in Israeli cities is 60 gallons per capita, B'Tselem reported.Shani said the Palestinian Authority was not cracking down on herders who steal water supplies — a problem Palestinians acknowledge — and could recycle waste water for agriculture, as Israel does.The only solution to this problem is creating more water, Shani said.
Islamic group claims India blasts that killed 45 By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer JULY 28,08
AHMADABAD, India - An obscure Islamic militant group warning of the terror of Death claimed responsibility for bombings that killed at least 45 people and authorities stepped up security Sunday after India's second series of blasts in two days. The city's police commissioner, O.P. Mathur, said that 30 people had been detained for questioning, but there was scant information about the Indian Mujahideen, the little known group that took credit for the bombings in western India.In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death! said an e-mail from the group sent to several Indian television stations minutes before the blasts began.The e-mail's subject line said Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat, an apparent reference to 2002 riots in the western state which left 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead. The historic city of Ahmadabad was the scene of much of the 2002 violence.Saturday's e-mail, sent from a Yahoo account and written in English, was made available to AP by CNN-IBN, one of the TV stations that received the warning.State government spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas said 45 people were killed and 161 wounded when at least 16 bombs went off Saturday evening in several crowded neighborhoods.The attack came a day after seven smaller blasts killed two people in the southern technology hub of Bangalore.
Investigators in Surat, a city about 160 miles south of Ahmadabad, found a car carrying detonators and a liquid that police suspect may be ammonium nitrate, a chemical often used in explosive devices, city police Chief R.M.S. Brar told reporters.The e-mail was sent by a group calling itself Indian Mujahideen that was unknown before May, when it said it was behind a series of bombings in Jaipur, also in western India, that killed 61 people.In its e-mail, the group did not mention the bombings in Bangalore and it was not clear if the attacks were connected. But both Ahmadabad and Bangalore are in states ruled by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as is Jaipur, raising suspicions that whoever was behind the attacks may have wanted to make a political statement.
There were reports the e-mail may have been sent from a suburb of Mumbai, India's financial capital. But the city's police chief, A.N. Roy, said, We are inquiring into that. We haven't traced it yet.The Saturday bombs went off in two separate spates. The first, near a busy market, left some of the dead sprawled beside stands piled high with fruit, next to twisted bicycles. The second group of blasts went off near a hospital.The side of a bus was blown off and its windows shattered, while another vehicle was engulfed in flames. Most of the blasts took place in the narrow lanes of the older part of Ahmadabad, which is tightly packed with homes and small businesses. Bomb-sniffing dogs scoured the areas.Distraught relatives of the victims crowded the city's hospitals. One of the wounded was a 6-year-old boy whose father was killed in the blasts. He lay in a hospital bed with his arms covered in bandages and wounds on his face.Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state where Ahmadabad is located, said the bombings appeared to have been masterminded by a group or groups who are using a similar modus operandi all over the country.India has been hit repeatedly by bombings in recent years. Nearly all have been blamed on Islamic militants who allegedly want to provoke violence between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority, although officials rarely offer hard evidence implicating a specific group.The perpetrators also rarely claim responsibility — a fact that raised doubts about the Indian Mujahedeen when it took credit in May for attacking Jaipur.
But fears that an attack could spark religious riots are real in India, which has seen sporadic violence between Hindus and Muslims since independence from Britain in 1947. Those fears were amplified by the recent history of the 2002 religious riots. The violence was triggered by a fire that killed 60 passengers on a train packed with Hindu pilgrims. Hindu extremists blamed the deaths on Muslims and rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods, although the cause of the blaze remains unclear. Ahmadabad is also known for the elegant architecture of its mosques and mausoleums, a rich blend of Muslim and Hindu styles. It was founded in the 15th century and served as a sultanate, fortified in 1487 with a wall six miles in circumference. Associated Press Writer R.K. Misra contributed to this report.
Britain's first sharia-compliant insurance firm launched JULY 28,08
LONDON (AFP) - Britain's first sharia-compliant insurance company was launched Monday, offering motoring policies in line with the Islamic legal code. Salaam Halal insurance uses Takaful principles, whereby the risk is spread between all policy holders. In contrast, conventional insurance policies shift the risk from the policy holder to the insurance firm.People taking out a policy with Salaam Halal pay contributions into a pool, with that money then put into sharia-compliant investments -- avoiding companies that are involved in alcohol or pay interest.The central pool of funds is used to pay any claims that arise, and at the end of the year, if the pool is over-funded, the excess will be distributed back to policyholders through a discount on their next premium.The policies are aimed at Britain's 1.6 million Muslims, who constitute 2.7 percent of the total population, according to the 2001 census.The launch of Salaam insurance -- the first independent, fully sharia-compliant Takaful operator available in this country -- is a significant step for the growth of Islamic finance in the UK, said Abdulaziz Hamad Aljomaih, the chairman of Salaam insurance.The group, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, an independent watchdog, hopes to launch home insurance policies later this year.Their call centres in Britain can take calls in English, Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati or Urdu.In 2004, Britain authorised a 100 percent Islamic bank, the Islamic Bank of Britain. And the traditional bank Lloyds TSB last year launched Islamic finance products targeted at businesses, and offered sharia-compliant bank accounts.
Israeli defence minister to visit US Sun Jul 27, 7:28 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is to travel to the United States on Monday for talks with senior officials expected to focus on Iran. Public radio said the talks are expected to focus on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, which Israel views as a major strategic threat, and on preserving the qualitative advantage of the Jewish state's armed forces.A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the agenda of the talks, but said Barak planned to meet Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, senior military officials and members of Congress.Barak is also expected to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, he said.In an interview with public radio Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to Barak, said the defence minister would discuss the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme.This is a very important visit. Israel cannot tolerate living under an Iranian nuclear threat, Gilad said. For the moment our priority is the diplomatic track, but Israel has to be prepared to use all options.Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former defence minister involved in US-Israeli strategic relations, is also expected in Washington on Wednesday, and he too will meet Cheney and Rice, his spokesman told AFP.The main subject under discussion will be the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme to the entire region, the spokesman said.Mofaz, who is expected to be a candidate to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a party primary in September, sparked a political firestorm in June when he said Israel would attack Iran if it did not halt its nuclear drive.Israel's army chief of staff said on a visit to Washington last week that he favoured a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Tehran's nuclear programme but that all options must be prepared.The United States and Israel suspect Iran's nuclear drive is aimed at developing an atomic bomb, a claim vehemently denied by Tehran which says its programme is designed for civilian use only.Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme and repeated predictions by senior Iranian leaders of the Jewish state's demise.Public radio has quoted Olmert as saying that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the end of 2009, fuelling speculation that Israel may attempt to set its efforts back with a military strike.
Unexplained explosions kill 5, wound 20 in Gaza By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 25, 6:10 PM ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A powerful explosion ripped through a car on a busy Gaza City beach Friday night, killing a Hamas field commander and three other people, security officials said. It was the third unexplained blast of the day in this coastal territory after a relatively calm period since Israel and the Islamic militants of Hamas agreed on a cease-fire last month. A total of five people died from the explosions, and 23 suffered injuries.No one in Gaza blamed Israel for the violence, indicating it was likely Palestinian infighting.The late night blast killed Amar Musubah, a Hamas military field commander, and another Hamas militant, Eyad Al-Hia, medical officials said. A child and a fourth unknown individual also died.Earlier, unknown assailants set off two bombs in Gaza City, killing one man.
The first explosion took place just after midnight outside the Al Jazera cafe. The cafe had been hit two other times this year in similar attacks presumably perpetrated by hard-line Muslims who target record shops and other sites they see as signs of Western influence.The powerful blast wounded three people and killed the man who set off the bomb, Hamas officials said.Another bomb exploded outside the house of a Hamas lawmaker, Marwan Abu Rass, not long afterward, causing light damage but no casualties, the officials said. An activist in the rival Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was arrested as a suspect.Hamas officials said police were investigating all the blasts.Gaza is the scene of regular bloodshed between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, though the territory has been quiet over the past month because of the truce between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers.Gaza is also a common site of internal Palestinian violence between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas fighters defeated Fatah forces during five days of combat in Gaza a year ago, and tensions remain high.Violence has also been blamed on Islamic fundamentalists who oppose what they see as signs of Western cultural encroachment.
In recent years, shadowy groups have firebombed internet cafes, music stores and Christian institutions. The bombings are typically carried out late at night and most have caused no casualties. But a Christian activist was murdered in one attack last October.
U.S. still hopes for Israeli-Palestinian deal By Sue Pleming Fri Jul 25, 6:56 AM ET
PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday there was still time for Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace deal by the end of 2008. Rice said trilateral peace talks in Washington next week between the United States, Israel and the Palestinian Authority should be closed to offer the best hope of progress.Rice said the latest round of talks which began in Annapolis in the United States in November 2007 had laid a firm foundation on which these two parties can finally end their conflict.There is still time for them, in accordance with the Annapolis, to reach agreement by the end of the year and we will keep working towards that goal, Rice told a news conference in Perth in western Australia on Friday.The United States revived Palestinian statehood negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November, with the hope of completing a deal by the time President George W. Bush leaves office.But disputes over Jewish settlement expansion on occupied West Bank land, a corruption scandal involving Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's own political troubles, and security issues have all undercut U.S. efforts.Rice plans to host peace talks between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie and his Israeli partner, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in Washington on July 30.Rice said the Washington talks should remain confidential.The most effective negotiations they probably ever had were Oslo and no one ever knew they were negotiating, said Rice.We won't be providing details of what goes on in the trilateral. The Israelis and Palestinians have their first serious peace process in seven years and they are discussing very sensitive and difficult issues, she said.The work now is to keep pressing ahead, but pressing ahead in a way that preserves the workability of this process and that really means preserving the confidentiality of this process.(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Still time for Mideast peace deal under Bush: Rice Fri Jul 25, 5:09 AM ET
PERTH, Australia (AFP) - There is still time for Israel and the Palestinians to reach a peace agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday. There's still time for them to, in accordance with Annapolis, reach agreement by the end of the year and we'll keep working towards that goal, Rice told a news conference in the West Australian capital Perth.At talks in Annapolis outside Washington last November, Israel and the Palestinians revived negotiations aiming at concluding a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of 2008.The Israelis and the Palestinians have their first serious peace process in seven years and they are discussing very sensitive and difficult issues, Rice said.She said details of a trilateral meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington next week would not be made public on a day-by-day basis.But the most important thing right now is to take note of how very seriously they are negotiating, to note that there was not even last year a peace process at this time, Rice said.Since this president came into office, the notion of two states living side by side in peace and security has just become kind of common wisdom. We all say it.
Well, in fact, in 2001, that was not the position either of the Likud Gvoernment of Ariel Sharon or of much of the international community.Bush had laid a firm foundation on which these two parties can finally end their conflict, she said.Rice was in Perth for a brief visit to the hometown of Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith before leaving for New Zealand.
Israelis, Palestinians: Mixed feelings about Obama By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 25, 1:24 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Both Israelis and Palestinians came away from Barack Obama's visit to the Holy Land with the feeling he would do more for Mideast peace than President Bush has. But neither side seemed fully convinced that Obama would have their interests at heart.
Israelis fear that an Obama administration would be too soft on Iran and too hard on them, and his visit didn't seem to fully dispel those concerns. And Palestinians spoke of a clear bias toward Israel.Instead of running away from the Middle Eastern issues, he intends to place them on the top of his diplomatic list of priorities, Israeli commentator Nahum Barnea wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily.The Democratic presidential candidate toured Yad Vashem's Holocaust memorial, where he donned a skullcap, and he stopped in an Israeli town that has been barraged by Palestinian rocket fire. Obama also visited the Western Wall — Judaism's holiest site — where he touched it and prayed. His one stop in the West Bank was the headquarters of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.What if Obama had put a Palestinian headdress on his head, as he put on a Jewish skullcap yesterday? What if he took off his shoes and stepped into the Al-Aqsa mosque, as he did at the Western Wall? That would be balanced behavior, wrote editor Hafeth Barghouti in Thursday's edition of the West Bank newspaper Al-Hayyat al-Jedida.Still, Obama's stop in the West Bank stood in sharp contrast to a decision by Republican challenger John McCain to visit only Israel and not the Palestinian territories during a trip to the region in March.Israelis and Palestinians were in rare agreement on one point: Obama told each what they wanted to hear, but his real audience was Jewish voters back home in America.
He is here in order to impress the voters back home, said Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher. Israelis find him interesting, he says the right things carefully, but it's not the kind of visit that one can assess in any substantive or qualitative way.Obama's candidacy has raised concern among some in Israel and Jewish communities elsewhere because of his declared willingness to speak to Iran. His family's Muslim roots have added to the unease, even though Obama is a Christian.During his trip, Obama assured Israelis that if elected, he would not pressure them to compromise their security. He also backed Israel's right to defend itself against attacks. The special relationship between the U.S. and Israel would be preserved, he said.He told the Jerusalem Post daily that I will do everything in my power to stop Iran getting the bomb — a welcome statement in a country that considers Iran to be its fiercest enemy. Speaking to the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot, he said a military option must be on the table to make sure Iran takes diplomatic efforts to prevent it from building nuclear weapons seriously.Before dawn Thursday, Obama inserted a small written prayer into a crevice of the Western Wall — a common practice among visitors there — and bowed his head in worship.Orthodox men at the wall for morning prayers ran down the steps to get a look at the candidate. Many reached out to shake his hand, although one Israeli hard-liner called out in a booming voice, Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale! Hard-liners don't want Israel to cede to the Palestinians any part of east Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war. But Palestinians want the eastern sector of the disputed city to serve as capital of a future state.
Obama had caused a flap over the issue days before his visit here when he said Jerusalem should not be divided — a statement that infuriated the Palestinians. Obama later said the city's fate should be negotiated.Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, a U.S.-based Jewish organization, said he met briefly with Obama on Wednesday evening, and the candidate repeated his commitments to Israel. Foxman said he had heard Israelis express concerns earlier.To what extent he's laid them to rest, time will tell, he said, adding that Israelis were impressed with the depth of his knowledge, his understanding and his response.In his brief visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, Obama expressed strong support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, backed negotiations between Israel and moderate Palestinians and rejected talks with the violently anti-Israel Islamic Hamas group that overran Gaza last year. It was a campaign visit, but the positive thing for Palestinians was the pledge that Barack Obama will work from the first day in the White House, if he gets elected, to find a solution to the Palestinian issue, said Abbas political adviser Nimr Hamad. Because it was a campaign visit, it was focused much more on Israel, to attract the Jewish vote.Mansour Habayed, 28, who works for a Palestinian cell phone company, noted that Obama spent much more time in Israel than in the West Bank. I am not optimistic that Obama will be a different president of the U.S., in terms of finding a solution to our problem,he said.
Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Israel revives plan to build new West Bank settlement Thu Jul 24, 6:35 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Defense Ministry has revived a plan it had shelved under U.S. pressure to build a new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, government officials said on Thursday.
A ministry committee approved the construction of 20 housing units in Maskiot, an abandoned military base in the Jordan Valley for some of the families removed from settlements in the Gaza Strip during Israel's pullout in 2005, the officials said.But the project cannot go ahead without approval from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.Such a move would probably draw further opposition from the United States, which is trying to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.We condemn this Israeli decision in the strongest possible terms, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. This is undermining us, and killing and destroying the peace process.Asked about the Maskiot plan, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said the prime minister had yet to receive any new request to build homes there.Israel will continue to honor our commitments. There will be no new settlements, there will be no expansion of existing settlements and there will be no expropriation of land for settlement construction, Regev said.
Olmert has continued to allow building within West Bank settlements that Israel considers to be part of Jerusalem and which it says it will keep in any peace agreement.The Palestinians say settlements, which the World Court has deemed illegal, could deny them a viable and contiguous state.In 2006, the United States pressured Israel to halt plans to build settler homes in Maskiot, saying it would violate the terms of a U.S.-backed peace road map.The road map calls for a halt to Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and for Palestinians to rein in militants.Israel Radio said a revival of the Maskiot plan was part of a deal between the Defense Ministry and settler leaders under which settlers would agree to evacuate West Bank outposts they established without Israeli government approval.Twenty units in the Jordan Valley is significant, as there are only 1,000 (for Israelis) in the entire Jordan Valley, Dubi Tal, head of the area's local Israeli council, told Israel Radio.
Israel's Peace Now movement, which opposes Jewish settlement in the West Bank, said capitulation to the settlers would kill chances for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and eventually drag us to a bi-national state.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Ori Lewis, Additional reporting by Adam Entous and Mohammed Assadi, Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Obama visits Jerusalem's Western Wall Thu Jul 24, 4:44 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made a surprise pre-dawn visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall on Thursday, at the end of a trip aimed at showing his strong support for Israel. Obama, wearing a Jewish skullcap, placed a prayer he had written in the wall and bowed his head while a rabbi read a psalm calling for peace in the holy city.One worshipper chanted Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale and Jerusalem is our land as the Illinois senator stood at the wall, a relic of the ancient Jewish temple destroyed during Roman rule nearly 2,000 years ago.Obama assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters on Wednesday he was a friend who would not press for concessions in peace talks with Palestinians that would compromise its security.Hailing Israel as a miracle, he vowed staunch support and held only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank.Last month Obama dismayed Palestinians when he said Jerusalem must be Israel's undivided capital. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967, including the Old City where the Western Wall is situated, but Palestinians want it to be the capital of a future state.Obama later said he had used poor phrasing.He is due to fly on Thursday to Germany, where he will give the only public speech of his week-long foreign tour, an outdoor address on transatlantic ties that is likely to draw tens of thousands.Highly popular in Germany, where he is often likened to former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Obama will also meet for the first time Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposed his initial plan to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.Instead, Obama will give his evening address at the Victory Column in Berlin's central Tiergarten park, down the road but still within sight of the Gate, a landmark that stood behind the Berlin Wall for decades as a potent symbol of the Cold War.(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Obama tries to balance solidarity and neutrality By Ilene R. Prusher Thu Jul 24, 4:00 AM ET
Ramallah, West Bank - US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama visited Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, seeking to send signals of support to both sides of the conflict. But Senator Obama's latest stop in his multinational tour was a whirlwind primer in trying to simultaneously express solidarity and neutrality in the political minefield that is the Middle East. I'm here on this trip to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the United States and my abiding commitment to Israel's security and my hope that I can serve as an effective partner, whether as a US senator or as president, Obama said during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Such comments sound positive to Israelis, but are frustrating Palestinians and other Arabs, who were hoping that Obama's pledge for change would include a more evenhanded approach. Obama made a short visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but made no comments to the press. Obama has had difficulty balancing his statements, says George Giacaman, who teaches at Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah. He pointed to Obama's comments to AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee], in which he said Jerusalem must remain undivided. He has since said that its status must be negotiated. I think his visit here is a courtesy visit, Mr. Giacaman says, noting that Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who gets higher ratings among Israelis than does Obama, made no trips to Palestinian Authority offices on a visit in March, but went to the rocket-pocked Israeli town of Sderot. The criticism between McCain and Obama over this is just a way for them to gain credit with one constituency or another. It's hard to judge what policy will look like....Obama is meeting with Israeli leaders – taking a helicopter tour of the country guided by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni – and visiting Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Museum and Memorial, and Sderot, close to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The area is in a rare lull since Israel and Hamas reached a temporary agreement for calm. And it opened its arms wide for Obama. The boulevard into the working-class town was lined with US and Israeli flags for the first time that locals could remember, despite the city being a regular stop for visiting foreign dignitaries. At the New Age hair salon, whose worn sign spoke to years of economic decline, hairdresser Yaffa Malka said Obama seemed trustworthy. He looks honest. He knows what pain and distress is, she said. He knows what it is to be part of a people who aren't liked.A lot of people are excited by his candidacy, she added, because he comes from below, not above.
In remarks given at the police station, with mounds of empty rocket casings stacked behind him, Obama offered his support to the town, which has been beleaguered by rockets fired from Gaza. I am here to say as an American and as a friend of Israel, he said, that we stand with the people of Sderot and all of the people of Israel.He also promised to push actively for peace, saying that he would not wait a few years into my term or my second term, if I'm elected, to press for a deal. We don't need a peace deal just to have a piece of paper, he said. We need something that's meaningful.Wednesday night, Obama was scheduled have dinner with embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and is expected to take a nighttime trip to visit the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism. Obama's statements of unshakable support for Israel's security has surprised some Palestinians, who thought his championing of the underdog and his criticism of White House policies in the region – especially in Iraq – would translate into a more outspoken backing for their cause. I'm demoralized about the position of Obama, because so far he's only expressed support for Israel and not Palestinians, says Jamil Fawzi, who lives here in Ramallah and has US citizenship. The only difference in him having made this adjustment is that it will make Arabs in America vote for him. I couldn't bear to elect him because if he attacks Muslims, I will feel responsible.A cafe owner here, where Mr. Fawzi is taking an afternoon break from the beating sun, says that Palestinians would be better off not pinning so much hope on US intervention. Palestinians should not place such an important role on the US. We should focus on the relationship with Israel, says Mohanned Koran.
Some here pointed to Obama's inexperience in the Middle East. He jumped into the Jerusalem issue immediately, without being cautious or careful, and that's not the way to please anybody, says Abdel Majid Sweilem, who teaches at Al-Quds University, headquartered in East Jerusalem. We don't demand the US ditch its support for Israel, but that it doesn't sacrifice its whole position in the Middle East for the sake of Israel. One man here, a hydrologist, has launched an Obama Fan Club. Omar Jibril, the founder of the group, read Obama's books and got inspired. Obama has written extensively about freedom and the underprivileged, and we fit into that category, Mr. Jibril said. After eight years of Bush and the ensuing oppression in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama will represent change, he asserted. He's here to pay his respect to our leaders, unlike John McCain, who only went to Israel.Michael Oren, a historian of the US-Israel relationship and fellow at the Shalem Center, says that polls of Israelis show McCain is more popular than Obama, in that he's seen as someone who is good for Israel.
The American election is covered minimally here, and, as result, Israelis are spectacularly uninformed of what's going on this election, and unforgivably, because this election will have acute impact on the future of the Middle East, says Mr. Oren, author of Power, Faith and Fantasy, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present.There is a substantive difference in their platforms and what to expect, and McCain is more line with Israeli thinking, Oren says. Most Americans aren't even aware of the differences. But there really is a choice here. You're really looking at two distinct visions of America's future in Israel.
Joshua Mitnick contributed from Sderot, Israel. Wire material was used.
Today on the presidential campaign trail By The Associated Press Thu Jul 24, 5:35 PM ET
IN THE HEADLINES
Obama tells enormous Berlin crowd there are more walls to be torn down in fighting extremism ... With Obama in Berlin, McCain visits German restaurant in Ohio ... Hagel calls on candidates to focus on Iraq's future over past war strategy ... Rice not worried by Obama's foreign policy forays overseas ... Poll: Obama builds support among Hispanic voters ... Police seek to soften protesters' disruptions at GOP convention.Obama addresses huge, adoring crowd in Berlin
BERLIN (AP) — Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democrat Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.Obama said he was speaking as a citizen, not as a president, but the evening was awash in politics as the first-term U.S. senator sought to burnish his international credentials for the fall campaign at home. His remarks before a crowd estimated at more than 200,000 inevitably invited comparison to historic speeches in the same city by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan.The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand, Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews cannot stand, he said.Obama's speech was the centerpiece of a fast-paced tour through Europe designed to reassure skeptical voters in the U.S. about his ability to lead the country and take a frayed cross-Atlantic alliance in a new direction after eight years of the Bush administration.The Illinois senator also met earlier in the day with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a discussion that ranged across the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change, energy issues and more.
McCain visits German restaurant — in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican John McCain had his own German experience Thursday — at a restaurant in Ohio. He asserted that he was happy to devote his time this week to touring the nation's heartland rather than Europe and the Middle East.I'd love to give a speech in Germany. But I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for president, McCain told reporters after a meal of bratwurst with local business leaders at Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant in Columbus' German Village neighborhood.As his Democratic rival Barack Obama delivered a speech in Berlin, McCain said he was focusing his attention this week on economic issues, including soaring food and fuel costs. He has been busy campaigning and raising funds in key battleground states like Ohio.In what was clearly not a coincidence, McCain spoke with reporters shortly before Obama began his speech at Berlin's Victory Column.McCain is trying hard to get attention during Obama's week abroad. He had planned to visit an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, but rough seas leftover from Hurricane Dolly caused him to scrub that trip. He was to appear with famed cyclist Lance Armstrong later Thursday at a town-hall meeting here that is focused on cancer. And on Friday, he'll meet with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, in Aspen, Colo.
Hagel chides candidates on Iraq
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, fresh from an Iraq trip with Democrat Barack Obama, said the presidential candidates should focus on the war's future and stop arguing over the success of last year's troop surge. Hagel mentioned both candidates, but his comments seemed directed at Republican John McCain. McCain, while Obama traveled the Middle East, attacked Obama for opposing the military escalation last year that increased security in Iraq.
Quit talking about, Did the surge work or not work, or, Did you vote for this or support this, Hagel said Thursday on a conference call with reporters. Get out of that. We're done with that. How are we going to project forward? the Nebraska senator said. Hagel, too, opposed the troop increase strategy, though he acknowledged Thursday it brought about positive changes. Though Hagel is a Republican, his name has been floated as a potential vice presidential running mate for Obama. Like McCain, he is a Vietnam war veteran, but Hagel is a fierce critic of the war in Iraq. He has said he would consider running with Obama on the Democratic ticket but that he doesn't expect to be asked. He is not running for reelection.
Rice unconcerned by freelance campaign diplomacy
PERTH, Australia (AP) — If Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is worried that Democrat Barack Obama is complicating the Bush administration's foreign policy with freelance campaign diplomacy, she isn't showing it. In her first public comments about Obama's overseas jaunt during which he has contrasted his international approach to that of President Bush in meetings with foreign officials, Rice said the trip was part of the election cycle and would not affect the administration. Everybody knows that we are in a presidential campaign, so this a part of America's democratic process, Rice told reporters aboard her plane as she flew from an Asian security conference in Singapore to Australia. Sen. Obama is a senator, let's remember. He sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and he is a candidate for president. He is all of those things, she said.
Poll: Latinos favor Obama by big margin
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama has opened a big lead among Hispanic voters, winning support from the vast majority of those who had voted for rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, according to a poll released Thursday. The national survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center, showed that 66 percent of Hispanic registered voters supported Obama, compared to 23 percent for Republican John McCain. The other 11 percent were undecided. More than three-quarters of Latinos who had voted for Clinton now say they are for Obama. Clinton carried the Hispanic vote, an important Democratic constituency, by about a 2-1 margin in the primaries. While Hispanics make up only about 9 percent of eligible voters, they could play an important role in four potential battleground states: Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.
Police reach out to those targeting GOP convention
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis and St. Paul police hope to quell any disruptions at this summer's Republican National Convention by exchanging cell phone numbers and offering other olive branches to demonstrators. About 10 police officers — all schooled in hostage negotiation techniques — met with Justice Department officials and a handful of community peace workers Wednesday at a police academy in north Minneapolis to review the strategies. The officers, dubbed dialogue officers or free speech liaison officers, have been asked to open communication lines with activist leaders at the convention, which will be held Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The hope, in part, is that the officers will be able to stay on top of any escalating violence or other problems.
DAILY TRACK
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are running about even nationally — 45 percent for Obama to 43 percent for McCain — among registered voters in the presidential race, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update.
THE DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama spoke at the Victory Column in Berlin.
THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain holds a town-hall meeting on cancer with Lance Armstrong in Columbus, Ohio.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye towards the future, with resolve in our heart, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again. — Democrat Barack Obama, in a speech at Berlin's Victory Column.
STAT OF THE DAY:
Liberals are three times likelier than conservatives to be more excited about the presidential campaign than they were last fall, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll conducted in June. The poll has been measuring the political sentiments of the same 2,000 adults since November. Compiled by Ann Sanner.
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