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FYI
Here is a list of the last 2 Months
of Be
Alert! Email Issues:
- November 8,2007 Special: Be Alert! Senator
Probes Televangelists' Finances
- Be Alert! 30 Oct 2007 Behold, a black horse
- October 27, 2007 Special: Be Alert! Comet 17P-
Holmes - Signs and perplexity
- October 26, 2007 Special: Be Alert! Support Israel -
Sign the Israeli No-Confidence Motion
- October 22, 2007 Special: Be Alert! "Whirlwind
Transformation" Telling words for TBN & Church
- Be Alert! 20 Oct 2007 Israel, Syria, Iran and the US -
Wars and Rumors of Wars
- Be Alert! 17 Oct 2007 Russia - Recent Reports
- Be Alert! 13 Oct 2007 Behold, the storm of the
LORD
- October 10, 2007 Special: Be Alert! Empire State
Building to go green for Muslim holiday
- Be Alert! 9 Oct 2007 Burning incense to worthless
gods
- Be Alert! 8 Oct 2007 Media Bias Awareness
Special No. 1
- October 7, 2007 Special: Be Alert! Artificial Life and
Mixing Kinds
- Be Alert! 27 Sep 2007 NAU: Land of the free on the
verge of extinction? Part 1
- September 21, 2007 Special: Be Alert! A Precursor
to Wormwood in Peru?
- September 20, 2007 Special: Be Alert! The
Sickness That Is Wahhabi Islam
- Be Alert! 13 Sep 2007 Sheep in the midst of
wolves
- September 10, 2007 Special: Be Alert! Myth Of
Palestine & URGENT Temple Mount Update
BE ALERT!
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MORIEL
- Is a teaching ministry to believers that stresses
the
need to rediscover the scriptures as Hebraic literature
(as opposed to Hellenistic literature)
- Is an evangelistic ministry to people of other faiths,
beginning with the Jews and nominal (non-
evangelical) Christians, such as Roman Catholics
and liberal Protestants.
- Will stand against serious doctrinal error where it
threatens the credibility of the gospel or undermines
the authority of scripture.
See Moriel web site for full disclosure.
For our Statement of Faith see the Moriel
Links list
below.
Moriel Newsletter
Moriel publishes a FREE
newsletter quarterly
to USA and Canada. This is a hard
copy edition that
includes one of Jacob's writings,
complete tape &
books list, prayer requests and
featured writers you
will not want to miss. To subscribe
or for a sample,
please e-mail Postmaster@moriel.org
providing your
name and address. Your name will
never be used to
solicit a donation and will never be
given to another
ministry. Use this address when
ordering tapes also.
More Moriel Info
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Jacob Prasch Itinerary: UK
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Hephzibah Mission C of E First School Sandygate Road - Marlow, Bucks
Friday 16th 8.00pm & Saturday Nov 17th 10.00am - 4.00pm
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Chartridge Mission Church - Chartridge, NR Chesham, Bucks
Sunday Nov 18th 6.00 PM
Moriel Conference
Friday Nov 23rd to Sunday 25th
Clapham Junction, London, 301 Lavender Hill
Tuesday Nov 27th 7.15pm
Church of the Redeemer - Llangyfealach Road, Swansea
Saturday Dec 1st 7.00 PM & Sunday 2nd 11 AM
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Be Alert! URGENT PRAYER REQUEST The Annapolis Summit
Published by Moriel Ministries
November 13, 2007
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Shalom in Christ Jesus,
URGENT PRAYER
REQUEST
THE ANNAPOLIS CONFERENCE
As He promised Abraham & The Patriarchs, God will
indeed either bless or curse those who either bless or
curse Abraham's descendents - his physical
descendents Israel & the Jews, and his spiritual
descendents, regenerate believers.
At present, the British and American governments
wink the eye and turn a blind eye to the proven
intolerance and persecution of Christians by the Saudi
Arabian Wahhabists and by virtually every Islamic
country in the world, just as they ignore Saudi funding
of fundamentalist extremism which inherently
engenders support for Moslem terror.
The administration of George H. W. Bush Sr. and his
Secretary of State James Baker (the litigation defense
lawyer for Saudi Arabia against the families of
September 11th victims and council for the Saudi
Moslem led investment concern Carlyle, in which the
Bush family are investors), handed Lebanon to Iranian
linked Syria after the Israeli withdrawal. Lebanon was
then used to attack Israel again only last year.
His son, George W. Bush jr. and his Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice (also a crony of international oil
interests) created an Iranian armed and backed
Islamic terrorist enclave in Gaza, pressing Israel to
withdraw unilaterally for the sake of "peace". The very
next day Hamas used Gaza to resume rocket attacks
on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. They have also created an
Iranian backed terrorist enclave in Southern Iraq with
their policies.
Now, these "oil whore" politicians of Washington and
Whitehall with Tony Blair championing the 'road trap to
war', are pressing Israel to make more concessions
to Islamic terror. Predicated on the lie that Abbas and
his Fatah faction (the organization of Arafat) are men
of peace, when in fact Fatah is also linked to Iran and
its Al Aqsa Brigade, which is no better or different from
Hamas. Bush has also engaged in parlance with The
Moslem Brotherhood who has burned hundreds of
churches in Egypt.
While we do not entertain conspiracy theories, it is no
secret that Bush Sr. and Son were both 'Skull and
Bones" initiates and Bush senior coined the
phrase "New World Order' while his son is the first US
president to call for a second Palestinian Arab
Moslem state in addition to the one already existing
demographically and geographically in Jordan.
In open defiance of God's Word, President Bush
recently announced his universalism - that all
religions pray to the same god. Bush is a liar. In the
aftermath of the September 11th attacks Bush placed
a Koran, a book teaching that 'God has no Son' [Sura
112:1-4] in The White House to honor Islam, issued a
Ramadan Eid US postage stamp, and holds
Ramadan Banquets in the White House.
Now this son of the devil wants to further divide
Israel's covenant land in further rejection of the
warnings of God's Word, in order to appease Islam
(Proverbs 22:28).
A series of natural disasters, an imbroglio in Iraq, a
resurrected Taliban in Afghanistan and a spiraling
economic crisis plagues America. We are certain
there is a direct correlation to the pro Islamic, anti
American, anti Christian, and anti Israeli policies of
this wicked administration. To keep Saudi oil priced in
US dollars the American government placates the
radicalism funding Saudi Wahhabist barbarians who
persecute Christians. Now the judgment of God is
falling on the American dollar as the USA sees its
currency slip as the basis of world currency reserves,
on top of the mortgage and banking crises, record
trade deficits, and an unparalleled national debt under
Bush. That even retired Republican Federal reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan blames on Mr. Bush and
his party in Congress.
Our aims are neither political nor electoral, but to see
the judgment of God not come upon America and
Britain because of corrupt leaders. We urgently ask
our readers to pray against The Annapolis Conference
and to pray against The Bush administration, that
God's wrath would fall on them instead of on America
because of them.
While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then
destruction will come upon them suddenly---"
(1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Saying, `Peace, peace,' But there is no peace.
(Jeremiah 8:11).
Please pray that God will raise His Almighty hand
against this president who says that all religions pray
to the same God and who is complicit with the Saudi
regime that persecutes Christians. Please pray that
God will stop George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice
from further pressuring Israel to placate Islam - the
evil religion of September 11th.
Please pray that God will judge our evil leaders rather
than judge America and Britain because of them. The
land is The Lord's and it is not for Israel to give or for
the Moslems to take.
Finally, we beseech our readers to e-mail Mr. Bush
and demand that he scrap the Annapolis Conference.
(president@whitehouse.gov).
Na�ve and undiscerning Christians in the USA have
been conned by televangelists into believing that
voting Republican is more Christian than voting
Democratic. In fact, Jesus was apolitical in any
partisan sense and there is no biblical basis for the
misuse of Christianity for electoral aims. Reagan
backed by Jerry Falwell promised action on abortion
but did nothing excerpt appoint a pro abortion judge to
the Supreme Court who wrote the decision outlawing
The Ten Commandments from public buildings.
Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren whose court
outlawed school prayer. Billy Graham aligned himself
with Nixon, a thief and a liar, and both of them proven
vicious anti Semites by released audiotapes. Now
Islam venerating Bush says we all have the same
god.
The Republican Party is no better than any other is
and now foolish Christians have been manipulated
and lied to by the likes of major Evangelical figures
like Bob Jones endorsing Mormon, Mitt Romney
(whose religion says Christ is the brother of Satan) to
be president. Schwarzenegger, Giuliani and the other
leading Republican presidential candidates all
support the homosexual/lesbian and pro-abortion
agenda.
These things have nothing to do with Jesus and the
Gospel or biblical Christianity despite the antics of
ecumenical kingpin Chuck Colson who himself was
imprisoned for political corruption before becoming a
deceiver for The Vatican and the inter faith
movement.
It has been lies, hypocrisy, and corruption - and too
many Christians have fallen for it.
We must pray for our leaders. However, when needed
we must also pray that God stop them.
(Jacob Prasch)
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you
have no need of anything to be written to you. For you
yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will
come just like a thief in the night. While they are
saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come
upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman
with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren,
are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you
like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of
day.
We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not
sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
Jeremiah 23:10 -11
For the land is full of adulterers;
For the land mourns because of the curse.
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
Their course also is evil
And their might is not right.
"For both prophet and priest are polluted;
Even in My house I have found their wickedness,"
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:19-20
"Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in
wrath,
Even a whirling tempest;
It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.
"The anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has performed and carried out the purposes
of His heart;
In the last days you will clearly understand it.
Obadiah 1:15
"For the day of the LORD draws near on all the
nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you.
Your dealings will return on your own head.
Daniel 7:7-8
"After this I kept looking in the night visions, and
behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and
extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It
devoured and crushed and trampled down the
remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the
beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
"While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another
horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of
the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it;
and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of
a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.
Daniel 7:13 -14
"I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
"And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every
language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
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1) Rabbis warn Bush: Annapolis will bring destruction to US
YEDIOTH AHRONOTH (YnetNews) - By Neta Sela -
November 6, 2007
Group of right-wing rabbis writes open letter to US
president demanding he cancel Annapolis summit or
risk provoking 'wrath of the almighty.' Rabbis assert
Katrina disaster a result of America's support of 2005
disengagement, say California fires a warning.
A fringe group of prominent ultranationalist rabbis
issued a harshly-worded letter to United States
President George W. Bush earlier this week, warning
him that the upcoming Annapolis peace conference
would bring destruction upon America.
The rabbis evoke their previous prediction in 2005,
when they published an open letter to Bush in the
New York Times, demanding the US rescind its
support of the disengagement plan.
"We wrote to President Bush, a man who believes in
the Bible, to warn him against the terrible danger to
which he is exposing his country by hosting such a
conference," said Rabbi Meir Druckman, one of
signatories to the letter.
"The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.
God punishes anyone who coerces Israel to give up
its land," he said.
"There is no doubt the New Orleans flood from the
Katrina hurricane was God's punishment for evicting
the settlements," said Druckman, "with hundreds of
thousands left homeless, hundreds killed or wounded
and billions of dollars sent down the drain - can we
really ignore God's hand collecting an eye for an eye?"
The disengagement from Gaza and the northern West
Bank was completed August 23rd, 2005 - which was
also the date Hurricane Katrina formed over the
Bahamas.
"Despite those consequences, yet again we find
ourselves facing an initiative to expel Jews from Judea
and Samaria and cede their cities to terror
organizations. And once again the patrons of the event
are President Bush and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice.
"This time the Almighty is warning the US in advance:
if the plague of water was not enough now he shall
send flames. While hundreds of thousands of
families have already fled the terrible fires in
California, and we ask you, will you really forge ahead
with this malevolent plan?" added Druckman.
The letter was authored by SOS Israel, a right-wing
movement which earlier this year distributed citations
to IDF soldiers who disobeyed orders and refused to
take part in the disengagement.
The rabbis urged Bush's administration to back down
from the current direction of the peace process, saying
that not an inch of Israeli land should be ceded. "Be
merciful to yourselves and the beloved America and
its citizens. Lay down the hand you have raised
against the Creator in war. Help the people of Israel
fight without compromise against the terrorists who
rise against it, and then, with a pure heart, you will truly
be able to pray: May God bless America," the rabbis
said.
Among the rabbis who signed the letter are several
leading religious figures, including Rabbis Dov Wolfa,
Yekutiel Rap, Gedalia Axelrod as well as the chief
rabbi of Kiryat Arba and Hebron, Dov Lior and the son
of former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Yaakov Yosef.
AFP contributed to this article
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2) Zechariah's warning to Bush and Condi
WORLDNETDAILY - By Hal Lindsey - October 18, 2007
The Palestinians and Israelis are scheduled to meet
at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., this
November. This major "peace summit" is the
brainchild of the Bush administration and is under the
supervision of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice.
Though most of the world - especially the Arab world -
seems dubious about the summit's prospects for
success, the United States appears bent on forcing
some sort of "peace" upon that troubled region. To do
so, Secretary Rice is pressuring Israel to drop all of its
redline demands. Redlines are the points that cannot
be conceded.
Both sides have redlines. Both sides have points they
will not give up, boundaries they will not cross. But the
State Department is pressuring Israel to drop all of its
redline conditions. For the first time, the division of
Jerusalem is on the table. Since 1967, Israel had
steadfastly claimed a united Jerusalem as "its eternal
capital, never to be divided again."
I will never forget when Gen. Moshe Dayan first stood
before the Western Wall after the amazing six-day
victory in June of 1967. He dramatically declared, "We
have returned to all that is holy in our land. We have
returned never to be parted from it again."
Evidently, to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "eternal"
and "never" means about 40 years. According to the
Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the Palestinians are
pressuring Secretary Rice to guarantee that Israel will
relinquish sovereignty over the Temple
Mount.
What's more, they're making this guarantee a pre-
condition before they'll even show up at the
conference! According to a senior Palestinian official
quoted by Haaretz, "No Arab country would agree for a
final-status arrangement in which the Temple Mount
was not in Muslim hands, particularly not Saudi
Arabia."
So, while Israel is not permitted any redline issues,
the Palestinian redlines are not only permitted, but
Secretary Rice is seeking guarantees of Israeli
acceptance of them. And their No. 1 redline demand is
that Israel must surrender the very heart and soul of
Judaism as the price of admission to even start
discussing peace.
Just suppose for a moment that Israel and the
Muslims were in reverse circumstances. Can you
imagine the reaction to Israel demanding that the
Muslims guarantee the surrender of Mecca as a
precondition to "discussing" peace? The world would
consider such a demand unthinkable.
Yet, according to a report in WorldNetDaily, Secretary
Rice singled out areas of Jerusalem that will become
part of a future Palestinian state. She reportedly told
Palestinian negotiators that she would publicly blame
Israel for the failure of next month's summit if the
Jewish state didn't agree to evacuate east Jerusalem
neighborhoods.
Rice traveled to the Middle East this week to help the
Israelis and Palestinians formulate a joint statement
ahead of November's conference. The Palestinians
want the statement to outline specifically a Palestinian
state including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and
essentially all of east Jerusalem, which includes not
only the Muslim holy places, but those of the Jews and
Christians as well. They are ostensibly to be put under
Jordanian supervision.
But I remember what that was like before June 1967.
There were walls and barbed wire separating East
Jerusalem from Israel. Christian pilgrims had to carry
their own luggage across an intimidating no man's
land of about 40 meters while unfriendly Jordanian
soldiers looked on.
I am stunned the Bush administration is pressuring
Israel to agree to all of the Palestinian demands in
advance, with the threat that they'll be blamed for the
summit's failure if they don't.
In view of this, my question is, "What's the point of the
conference?" "What's left to negotiate?" President
Bush and Secretary Rice have already done the
Palestinians' negotiating for them. And all of this
despite the fact that the Palestinians have not lived up
to one prerequisite condition outlined in Bush's
own "Road Map for Peace."
You know, I fear for both President Bush and Secretary
Rice. I also fear for my beloved country. They must be
ignorant of a prophecy God made 2,500 years ago
through the Hebrew prophet Zechariah. It applies to
this precise time and situation in history. God
said, "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of
drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples. --- " The
people surrounding Jerusalem are all the current
Muslim nations.
As predicted, they have become intoxicated over
possessing Jerusalem. Like drunken people, their
emotions, inflamed with religious zeal, are causing
them to do unwise, reckless and violent things.
The truth is hardly any Muslims traveled to visit
Jerusalem before the Jews returned to it. Now you
would think there is no other holy place on earth as
important to them.
These are the exact conditions Zechariah predicted
would be part of the last stages of this age. He
continues, "And it shall happen in that day that I WILL
make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for ALL
PEOPLES. --- " - meaning the entire world. Now here's
the punch line: "ALL who would seek to heave it away
will surely be cut in pieces." The original Hebrew
makes the meaning of this even clearer. It reveals that
everyone who tries to remove the heavy burden of the
Jerusalem crisis will be utterly destroyed for getting
involved with it. Isaac and Ishmael's fight over
possession of Jerusalem has drawn the whole world
into it - just as the prophets predicted. It is the
culmination of Ishmael's 4,000-year-old hatred of his
half-brother Isaac, the forefather of the Israelites.
I pray that somehow this message will get through to
President Bush and Secretary Rice. This prophecy
applies to this very moment in which we live. And in
light of what they are forcing on Israel, it applies to
them personally.
While Bush and Rice strive to create legacies for
themselves - just as most presidents have tried to do
with the Middle East conflict for the last 40 years - they
not only endanger themselves, but also endanger this
nation with the divine curse promised above. Mr.
President, there is nothing on this earth worth what
you are doing. In the power of God's Spirit, I warn them
both, "Stop, before it's too late!"
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3) Mahmoud Abbas differs from Yasser Arafat only in tactics, says Abbas senior adviser
DEBKAFILE - November 8, 2007
Ahead of the US-promoted Middle East peace
conference this month, Rafiq al Hussaini revealed that
the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' views
Thursday Nov. 8, do not differ from those of the late
Yasser Arafat except in tactics, not strategy. Both
entered into peace talks in order to gain as much as
they could and give away nothing. Abbas' senior
adviser added: Had we managed to keep Jerusalem,
the Jewish state would not have risen in Tel
Aviv.
DEBKAfile Exclusive revealed earlier that Abbas
rejects Israel as Jewish state and demands undivided
Palestinian control of Temple Mount, among a host of
other concessions.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice decided
Monday, Nov. 5, to set a date for the Middle East peace
conference in Annapolis, Maryland she has been
promoting. It will take place on Nov. 26 even though
her talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah with Israeli and
Palestinian leaders uncovered assent on only one
small point: both sides agree that the event need not
be preceded by accord on all the core issues of the
dispute.
In setting the date, Rice made the best of Palestinian
intransigence on six major points. The noes she
encountered in Ramallah are disclosed here by
DEBKAfile:
- The Annapolis declaration will include Palestinian
recognition of Israel - but not as a Jewish state.
- The boundaries of the future Palestinian state will
follow the pre-1967 War lines with minor adjustments
through territorial swaps. A few hundreds of square
meters may be offered on the West Bank in return for
areas in central Israel, not the Negev.
- Palestinian sovereignty over Temple Mount, the
holiest shrine of the Jewish people, must be
undivided and include the Jewish place of worship at
the Western Wall.
- The right of return for 1948 refugees is absolute
and non-negotiable.
- The future Palestinian state will enjoy full
sovereignty, including its air and electromagnetic
space and underground resources, such as
water.
- Negotiations after the Annapolis conference must
be concluded by Aug. 2008. The Palestinians chose
that date, our sources report, because it coincides
with the Republican Party's primary for electing its
presidential candidate and bid President Bush
farewell.
Notwithstanding the Palestinians' inflexibility on all the
core issues of the dispute, Israeli prime minister
Ehud Olmert is determined to attend the conference
declaring that Israel has at last found a partner for
peace talks and without the meeting, the Middle East
will plunge into catastrophe.
Also
Rice winds up her Middle East peace shuttle
Wednesday empty-handed
DEBKAFILE - October 17, 2007
- - - There was general agreement on all sides,
according to DEBKAfile's political sources, that
Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad are incapable of
solidifying their grip on power or combating
Palestinian terror, as required by the Middle East road
map.
The US Secretary also discovered that,
notwithstanding his denials, Abbas is conducting
secret indirect contacts with Hamas. Whatever the
outcome of the Annapolis conference, if it goes ahead,
he is determined to lead his Fatah party into
negotiations with Hamas for a united national
government and reconstruct the Gaza-West Bank link
which was severed in June when Hamas drove the
Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority out of the Gaza
Strip. - - - -
Read Full Report
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4) DEBKAfile Exclusive: The Golan Heights at issue between Israel and Syria is tagged onto the Annapolis peace conference agenda - over Israel's head
DEBKAFILE - November 9, 2007
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense
minister Ehud Barak made welcoming sounds about
Syria's possible presence at the conference, as
though they had come up with the plan after careful
consideration. In fact, DEBKAfile's Middle East and
intelligence sources report, US secretary of state
Condoleezza Rice presented them with a fait
accompli.
The invitation she handed to Syrian foreign minister
Walid Mualem on Nov. 3 came from President George
W. Bush, after he accepted Damascus' condition that
future negotiations on the Golan be mentioned in the
conference's final paper, as well as the Palestinian
issue.
Rice and Mualem initially agreed that the Golan talks
between Israel and Syria would be delayed for a while
so as not to interfere with the Palestinian track. It will
also be necessary to prepare Israeli opinion for the
step. But Tuesday, after winning one point, Damascus
raised the ante.
Syrian deputy prime minister Abdullah Dardari
announced that if the restoration of the Golan to Syrian
hands is not laid out at the peace conference, Syria
will not attend. His statement aimed at pinning Rice
down to making Israel go along with the deal, or risk
being accused of derailing the conference.
The Syrians are demanding furthermore that their
delegate, possibly vice president Farouk a-Shara, or
Moualem, be given the floor for a speech calling for
the handover of the Golan which Israel has controlled
since Syria was defeated in the 1967 War. And if
president Bashar Assad decides to attend,
Damascus wants him to be formally received by his
opposite number in rank, namely Vice President Dick
Cheney.
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6) Rabbis urge: 'Save Jerusalem!'
Leaders slam Olmert for 'willingness to divide
Judaism's capital'
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - October 16, 2007
TEL AVIV - A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli
rabbis yesterday called on Jews worldwide to speak
out against what rabbinic leaders called the "crime of
dividing Jerusalem as proposed by the current Israeli
government."
The move follows a flurry of media reports that Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert is contemplating handing over
sections of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization.
Yesterday Olmert hinted he would be willing to divide
Jerusalem, asking during a speech whether it
was "really necessary" to retain certain Arab
neighborhoods in Judaism's capital.
At a Tel Aviv press conference yesterday, leaders of
the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of
more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit
rabbis, including some of Israel's most prominent
Jewish leaders, urged Jews worldwide to speak
out.
"We must scream and protest not only to go through
the motions, but maybe our protest will bring another
one in its chain and awaken the public," said RCP
leader Rabbi David Drukman, the rabbinic leader of
the Kiryat Motzkin Israeli community.
"It pains us to see that there is no public outcry
against this; everyone is complacent," Drukman said
at the press conference.
Rabbi Meir Horowitz, leader of the Hassidic Bostoner
community and a U.S. citizen, addressed U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directly:
"Madam Secretary, we request that you convey to
President Bush and to the leaders of the civilized
world that although Jerusalem is also holy to the three
great faiths of the world, for the Jewish people it is our
only holy city; therefore, no one can expect the Jewish
people to forgo the central theme and focus of their
religion."
Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Shreiber, who was the
rabbinic leader of Kfar Darom, one of the largest Gaza
Strip Jewish communities evacuated by Israel in
2005, pointed out that while most Jewish expulsions
throughout history were perpetuated by non-Jews, he
was "stunned" the Jewish state would "expel their
brothers from their homes." - - - -
Also
Israelis: Don't even think about dividing
Jerusalem
Poll also found 77% lack confidence in strength of
Olmert's government
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - October 19,
2007
JERUSALEM - The majority of Israelis oppose dividing
Jerusalem in any agreement with Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization,
according to a recently released poll.
The survey, conducted by Tel Aviv University in
conjunction with the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace
Research, found 59 percent of the Israeli population is
against handing to the Palestinians various Arab
neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
The poll additionally found 77 percent of Israelis lack
confidence in the strength of Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert's government and its ability to negotiate an
agreement with the PA. Among Israelis who voted for
Olmert's Kadima party, only 27 percent are confident
in the prime minister's ability to negotiate soundly,
while only 20 percent of supporters of the leftist Labor
party - his senior coalition partner - have faith in him.
The move follows a flurry of media reports that Olmert
is contemplating handing over sections of Jerusalem
to Abbas.
Earlier this week, the prime minister hinted he would
be willing to divide Jerusalem, asking during a
speech whether it was "really necessary" to retain
certain Arab neighborhoods in Judaism's capital,
specifically mentioning Shoafat, a Jerusalem
neighborhood. - - - -
Read Full Report
IDF Chief: Jerusalem is Why We're Here
ARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By Hillel
Fendel - November 9, 2007
At a ceremony honoring the 40th anniversary of the
liberation and reunification of Jerusalem this week,
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said that
Jerusalem is the "raison d'etre" of our national
existence in Israel. Speaking on Tuesday night at
Binyanei HaUmah Convention Center in Jerusalem,
he said the IDF will do everything it can to ensure
Jerusalem remains Israel's eternal capital.
"Jerusalem symbolizes the reason and purpose for
our lives here," Ashkenazi told the IDF Civilian
Pensioners Organization. "It is the 'why'
and 'wherefore' explaining why we are fighting. We
will continue to do whatever we can to ensure that
Jerusalem will forever remain the capital of Israel.
And as the Prophet Isaiah said 2,700 years ago: 'On
your ramparts, O Jerusalem, I have placed guards all
day and all night.'"
In attendance were President Shimon Peres, Defense
Minister Ehud Barak, Jerusalem Mayor Uri
Lupoliansky, former Defense Ministers Moshe Arens
and Yitzchak Mordechai, former Chief of Staff Moshe
Yaalon, and other dignitaries. - - - -
Read Full Report
Poll: PM Olmert is Israel's Most Corrupt Politician
ARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By Ezra
Halevi - November 9, 2007
The results of an extensive poll on government
corruption released Wednesday finds that Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert, for the second year in a row, is
considered the most corrupt politician in Israel. Fifty-
six percent of the public defined his behavior
as "corrupt to very corrupt." Olmert, who also heads
the Kadima party, received 42 percent of the vote in
2006.
The poll was conducted by the prestigious Maagar
Mochot survey institute for the Fifth Annual Sderot
Conference for Social and Economic Policy which took
place on Wednesday at the western Negev town's
Sapir College. - - - -
Read Full Report
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7) God's hand can be felt and His voice can be heard!
THE GOLDEN REPORT - By Jerry Golden - October
26, 2007
It never fails and Bush just doesn't get it, or is it that he
is blinded to the truth of Gen. 12:3. With absolutely no
possibility of peace at this time or ever between the so-
called Palestinians and Israel, Bush sends Rice to
push for the Annapolis summit, knowing full well it
spells the destruction of Israel. I remember right after
the second Iraqi war began I said that Bush has made
a deal with the Saudis and other Arab nations to put
Israel on the table and promised to deliver Israel if
they would sit still for this war. (The Bush Road Map)
Of course I was and still am called a lot of not so nice
names, namely a Bush Basher. Many have come to
their senses and now can see Bush for what and who
he is.
Once again we see God's hand in all of the fires of
California and I can remember not long ago it was the
floods all over that state, or all over the US for that
matter. And for the parts not experiencing floods they
are having drought. And for those who say God
doesn't use the weather to make His point I offer you
once again this Scripture and there are many others.
Is it wicked weather or God's wrath?
Just something to think about, they were using the
term on Fox News "wicked weather" but for some
reason have quit. There doesn't seem to be any
normal weather any more, today the US is either
burning or flooding, having tornados in places never
heard of before, hurricanes, floods and fires and I
have the feeling we haven't seen nothing yet. Three
States burning, two towns in Texas completely wiped
out. New Orleans, and many other towns along the
gulf wiped out, isn't it interesting that this happened
after Bush forced the Disengagement of Gaza making
9000 Jews homeless in their own country. Gen. 12:3.
JOB 37:
9: Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold
out of the north. (God directs the winds)
10: By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth
of the waters is straitened. (God brings the floods)
11: Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he
scattereth his bright cloud: (God controls the
storms)
12: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that
they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon
the face of the world in the earth. (God does cause
hurricanes, floods and wild fires and He directs them
as well)
13: He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or
for his land, or for mercy. (God is speaking to the
United States of America and started pouring out His
Judgment after the Gaza disengagement, Gen. 12:3
like it or not it's the truth)
Now we see California burning right after Bush
sends
Rice for the final solution of destroying Israel in favor
of the Saudis the Bush family oil partners and friends.
The US Dollar is about to go under and Russia
threatening once again with nuclear war with the US.
Iran is threatening Israel and the whole world with a
nuclear holocaust.
The US has Mosques in nearly every state paid for by
the Saudis and in every one of these Mosques they
teach nothing by Wahhabi Islam, so maybe Bush
does get it, it is the American Citizens who don't get it.
It is my prayer daily that the US citizens will wake up
and turn to God before it's too late, and that the Israeli
Government will finally get the courage to kick this
corrupt Prime Minister and his followers left behind by
Ariel Sharon out of office and put true Zionist in their
place.
I read in the Jerusalem Post this morning that Bush
is giving Abbas another $375 million to the
Palestinians, and Abbas once again promises to put
500 "Palestinian Police on the street of Nablus. No
one ever ask Abbas where those 500 police have
been sitting around all this time, but you can believe
Abbas is just speaking another lie. And once again
Bush is speaking about giving Abbas more guns to
kill Jews with. So hold on American the real hell
hasn't come yet but it most certainly will.
Daily our civilians are being shelled by Hamas and
other Islamic terrorists from inside Gaza, yet I have
never heard the UN or anyone else condemn this act
of war or called what it is a war crime to target civilians
on a daily basis. Instead the US and others keep
giving the "Palestinians" more and more weapons
and money to kill us with, and out of the other side of
their mouths they say they are friends with Israel, with
such friends we don't need any enemies.
I doubt if the Annapolis summit will even take place,
there still hasn't been a date set and the only one who
wants it to happen is Bush and Rice, the Palestinians
and the Israelis know it is useless. Abbas has
already said that if he doesn't get all that he is asking
for including the return of all refugees (the total
destruction of Israel) he will start the third Intifata and it
will be worse than the first two. Can you think what
might happen if Mexico talked like that to the US over
Texas and New Mexico and started shelling border
cities along the Mexican border? - - -
"Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They
bring the judgment of heaven upon a country. As
nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next
world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of
causes and effects, Providence punishes nation sins,
by national calamites."
- George Mason, Virginia delegate to the
Constitutional Convention, 1787
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8) Report: Annapolis summit to be followed by meeting in Moscow
HAARETZ - By Yoav Stern - November 10, 2007
A Mideast peace summit will be held in January 2008
in Moscow as a follow-up to the Annapolis conference
slated to take place in the U.S. later this month, a
Saudi newspaper reported Saturday.
The Alwatan Arabic-language daily also quoted
Palestinian sources as saying that Palestinian
Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has attempted to
convince the U.S. to incorporate Syria into the
Annapolis talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is said to
have discussed the issue with Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, in response to Abbas' efforts. Abbas has sent
a high-ranking Fatah official to Syria to brief the
Damascus government on the development, the
paper reported. Last Wednesday, Syria's ambassador
to the U.S. said the Annapolis summit was a "waste."
In the past, Syria has stated that it will participate in
the
Annapolis talks only if it will deal with the possible
return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel from
Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War.
Meanwhile, Abbas called Rice Saturday to update her
on preparations for Annapolis and complained that
Israel backed away from previous understandings.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
that during her latest Mideast trip earlier this week,
Rice secured support for setting up a three-way
committee - with top Israeli, Palestinian and U.S.
officials - that would monitor the implementation of
short-term peace obligations by both sides.
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9) Annapolis insanity
WORLDNETDAILY - By Joseph Farah - November 13,
2007
The U.S. is preparing for a very ominous summit in
Annapolis later this month to move the "peace
process" forward.
When all is said and done, the word "Annapolis" is
going to take on a new meaning from this historic
error.
What do I mean?
When we say "Oslo" today, you probably think of this
so-called "Middle East peace process" - one that
leads inevitably and inexorably to never-ending
appeasement of the Islamists by Israel.
That's essentially what the peace process is all about.
It's about doing the same things over and over again
and somehow expecting different results.
A good word for this process is "insanity."
Unfortunately, I believe when this Annapolis summit is
completed, we will look back at Oslo and what has
transpired since as "the good old days."
Here is what is being decided there:
- The borders between Israel and a future
Palestinian state.
- The status of Jerusalem, including those holy
places on and adjacent to the Temple Mount.
- The so-called "right of return" for so-called
Palestinian "refugees" living outside Israel and the
Palestinian areas.
Actually, it's not quite accurate to say these things are
being decided there. The truth is they have already
been decided. The meeting in Annapolis is a formality
where they will be unveiled to the world.
Israeli leadership, if that term is not an oxymoron, has
determined to let the Muslims have the Temple Mount,
the holiest place in Judaism. It has determined to
partition Jerusalem. And it has determined to cut
further into the current land of Israel in handing over
Judea and Samaria permanently to the Muslims.
The script is written. At Annapolis, Israeli leadership is
actually prepared to hand over the Temple Mount to
the Muslims - to forsake any claims upon it.
You need to understand the mindset of the Israeli
political elite. Christians tend to glamorize these folks.
In fact, they are very similar to our own politicians here
in America - those who are selling out our own
birthright, our own unique heritage as a godly people
and nation.
The worst fear of the Israeli political elite has always
been - since 1967 when the Jews captured the
Temple Mount - the rebuilding of the Temple. Most of
them see it as nothing more than silly superstition that
has the potential to engulf the world in war.
That's why Moshe Dayan quickly put the Temple Mount
under the authority of the Muslims immediately after it
was captured, and that's why Ehud Olmert and the
rest of them will attempt to give it away permanently in
a treaty.
The Israeli political leadership went so far in its desire
to rid themselves of this troublesome Temple Mount
they probably broke their own
laws in allowing the Muslims to excavate in and
around it. They would do almost anything to
undermine the nascent hopes of observant Jews that
their Temple might actually be rebuilt.
What a strange time for Israel to lie down before its
enemies. Not only is the Jewish state worried rightfully
about two potential nuclear threats - one from Iran
and the other from a chaotic Pakistan - but there are a
multitude of conventional threats as well.
Do you really want to know how crazy U.S. policy is in
the face of these and other threats to Israel's survival?
As WND reports today, a senior Palestinian cleric who
is a prominent apologist for suicide bombings met
last week with U.S. senators and members of the
House of Representatives and consulted last month
with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Sheikh
Taysir Tamimi, chief Palestinian justice, also claimed
in a recently released book for which he was
interviewed the Torah was "falsified," Jewish and
Christian history were "invented," the Jewish Temples
never existed, the Al Aqsa Mosque was built by
angels, and Abraham, Moses and Jesus were really
prophets for Islam.
Presumably nothing can stop this juggernaut
for "peace." As a result, mark my words, in the
future, "Annapolis" will have a new dark meaning for
all of us.
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10) Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat: We won't accept Jewish Israel
THE JERUSALEM POST [Mirkaei Tikshoret/CanWest] -
By JPost.com Staff - November 12, 2007
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday
rejected Israel's demand that the Palestinians
acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state.
"There is no country in the world where religious and
national identities are intertwined," Erekat told Radio
Palestine.
Additionally, Erekat said, when agreements are
signed, the Palestinians would demand that Israel
make a commitment in writing to releasing all
Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office said in
response that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insists that
the Palestinians recognize Israel's Jewish identity, as
a condition for Israeli recognition of a Palestinian
state.
The official added that Israel would not commit to
releasing Palestinian prisoners outside the
framework of doing so as a gesture of goodwill
towards the Palestinians. - - -
The prime minister also said that he planned to
release approximately 400 prisoners, out of a total of
more than 12,000 held in Israel.
The additional prisoner release, a gesture of goodwill
to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas,
was already discussed several weeks ago, when 120
prisoners were freed.
Olmert also said Israel would continue to negotiate
with Abbas even if terrorists continue to fire rockets at
southern Israel from Gaza, committee member and
Likud MK Yuval Steinitz said.
In response to the prime minister's announcement,
opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said that the
government was "giving everything" and in exchange
was "getting terrorists."
After a meeting with Shas spiritual leader Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef, Netanyahu said: "The Olmert
government is repeating the mistakes made by the
Barak government at Camp David. Then, they gave
everything but all they got in return were terrorists and
suicide bombers. Now, the government of Olmert,
Barak and Livni is behaving in the same way."
"This is not a path to peace, it is a path to terror,"
added the Likud chairman.
Netanyahu met the Shas spiritual leader with Likud
faction chairman Gideon Sa'ar in Yosef's Jerusalem
residence and the two Likud men spoke of the
dangers of the Annapolis conference.
Yosef said he would consider the Likud chairman's
view seriously.
Meanwhile, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor
Lieberman said that the idea of releasing prisoners
is "totally unacceptable."
"Every prisoner release since Oslo, from 1993 until
today, failed completely. It did not serve its purpose,
neither before Oslo nor after Oslo." - - -
In other news Monday, dozens of prominent
Palestinian residents of Jerusalem published an
appeal to the Abbas, asking him not to make
concessions to Israel over the holy city in upcoming
negotiations.
The ad, signed by 108 prominent Jerusalemites,
including top Christian and Muslim leaders, did
not make specific demands. However, the signatories
asked Abbas not to negotiate a deal that
would "violate our national rights."
Meanwhile, Abbas's political advisor Ahmed Abdel
Rahman said that "difficulties are piling up in Israeli-
Palestinian negotiations because Israel is taking
uncompromising positions and is not fulfilling its
obligations to the road map." - - -
Also according to the poll, 52.9% believe the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict will be solved if Jerusalem
becomes a Muslim city while 26% believe east
Jerusalem should be the capital of Palestine and
west Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
Ten percent said they thought the city should be the
joint capital of both nations and 7.4% said the capital
should be under international control.
Also
Annapolis is dangerous, Netanyahu tells Rabbi
Yosef
YEDIOTH AHRONOTH (YnetNews) - By Attila Somfalvi -
November 12, 2007
The Olmert government is giving away everything and
getting terrorists in return, opposition leader and Likud
Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday in a
meeting with Shas' spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia
Yosef. - - -
The opposition leader told Rabbi Yosef that the
Annapolis conference was dangerous for Israel,
adding that things were conducted in the same way
before the 2000 Camp David summit. - - - -
Read Full Report
Barak: Israel should launch its own peace
initiative
YEDIOTH AHRONOTH (YnetNews) - By Roni Sofer -
November 12, 2007
Defense Minister Ehud Barak supports a
comprehensive peace initiative that would include
promoting a peace agreement with Syria, Ynet has
learned Monday evening. - - -
Meanwhile, the preparations for the Annapolis peace
conference continued in full speed. On Monday night,
three members of the Israeli negotiating team left for
Washington in order to coordinate expectations with
the Americans ahead of the summit.
Read Full Report
Labor Minister: Disengagement a Very Big
Mistake
ARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By Ezra
Halevi - November 9, 2007
Minister of Infrastructure and former Defense Minister
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) is the latest senior
politician to admit that the 2005 Disengagement was
a mistake.
Speaking in an interview with Radio L'lo Hafsaka, a
regional radio station, Ben-Eliezer dropped the
bombshell: "I admit and I confess that I was among
those who strongly supported [former PM] Ariel
Sharon [and the Disengagement]. Today I say, with my
head held high, 'We erred, we made a very big
mistake.'" - - -
Ben Eliezer also called for a wide scale counter-terror
offensive in Gaza, complaining that Israel's fear of
harming civilians was harming its own populace
instead. "Israel continues to say we bind ourselves to
these ethical obligations that no other country in the
world is bound by. We are facing a conflict here
between two disciplines. One nation is prepared to
commit suicide and sees it as a religious imperative
and an honor, the other wants to spare every ounce of
blood." - - - -
Read Full Report
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11) Fatah-Controlled TV Promises Elimination of Israel
ARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By IsraelNN
staff - October 29, 2007
A new music video appearing regularly on Fatah-
controlled Palestinian Authority television over the past
week promises the elimination of Israel and the
restoration of the "Arab identity" of cities throughout the
Jewish State. The propaganda clip stands in stark
contrast to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's recent
declarations in support of reconciliation with Israel,
issued ahead of the upcoming multinational Middle
East peace conference organized by the United
States.
As explained by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook of
Palestinian Media Watch, "While the Palestinian
Authority announces in English its demand for a two-
state solution, to its own people in Arabic it continues
to define all of Israel as 'Palestine,' and to promise
Israel's destruction. A new video clip, broadcast
numerous times daily since it first appeared on Fatah-
controlled TV last week, passionately
promises 'Mother' that every Israeli city will
be 'liberated' because its 'identity is Arab'
and 'Palestinian.'"
"We will liberate the Land..." the PA singer
chants, "[which] is Arab in history and identity,
Palestine is Arab in history and identity."
The "Palestine" that is to be "liberated," according to
the song, includes cities such as Jerusalem, Acre,
Haifa, Bethlehem, Jaffa, Be'er Sheva, Tiberias, Hevron
and Ramle, as well as the Galilee. Most of those cities
listed are located within pre-1967 Israel.
"This is significant not only because it was broadcast
on Fatah TV," note Marcus and Crook, "but because
the constant repetition of this clip promising Israel's
destruction comes at the very time that the world is
preparing for a peace conference."
The PMW analysts termed the juxtaposition of English-
language messages of peace and Arabic-language
internal propaganda that is virulently anti-
Israel "duplicity," and said that Yasser Arafat, as
chairman of the PA, was a "notorious" deceiver in this
regard. "Israel paid dearly for its trust in Arafat's
English pronouncements," according to Marcus and
Crook, "with more than 1,000 killed and tens of
thousands wounded in the Palestinian Authority-led
terror war. - - - -
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12) Rice again calls Hamas 'resistance' movement
4th time in recent months Condi avoids terrorist label
in unscripted remarks
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - November 12,
2007
JERUSALEM - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice has again referred to Hamas as a "resistance"
movement during a meeting with reporters from the
Dallas Morning News, WND has learned.
Rice's remarks, transcribed in full on the State Department
website, mark at least the fourth time in recent
months America's top diplomat has used that
terminology for Hamas during unscripted remarks
with reporters.
Meeting with his paper's editorial board Friday, a
Dallas reporter asked Rice whether supporting
democracy in the Middle East was really in U.S.
interests, citing Palestinian elections last year which
Hamas dominated.
Rice replied: " --- And what you've at least got now in
Palestine and what you've at least got in Iraq now is
contestation between healthy political forces and
more radical forces.
"Hamas loved it when it could run the streets, faces
covered, toting a few guns, and no responsibility for
what happened to the Palestinian people. They were
the great resistance force, and their only purpose in
life was to threaten Israel."
Hamas is responsible for scores of suicide
bombings, shooting attacks and rocket firings. It's
classified by the State Department as a terror
organization. The group's official charter calls for the
murder of Jews and quotes widely from the anti-
Semitic creed, the "Protocols of the Elders of
Zion."
Rice is currently mediating between Israeli and the
Palestinian Authority ahead of a U.S.-sponsored
summit later this month at which Israel is widely
expected to outline a Palestinian state in most of the
West Bank. Hamas officials repeatedly have stated
they would take over the West Bank if Israel evacuates
the strategic territory.
Rice has at other times referred to Hamas as
a "resistance movement."
WND reported that during a
June interview with the New York Daily News editorial
board, Rice was also asked about the recent history of
democratic elections in the Middle East resulting in
the rise to power of terror groups, such as
Hamas.
Rice told the paper it was "very interesting to see
Hamas trying to come to terms with no longer being
really a resistance movement, but having to deal with
politics."
She then referred to Hamas as a resistance
movement a second time during the same interview.
"A moderate Palestinian friend of mine said, 'You
know, they (Hamas) used to be the great resistance,
running the streets with their faces covered and going
after Israel. And now, they look like a bunch of
politicians who also can't make the sewer system
work.'"
She went on to reference Hamas' terror cells, but
instead called them the group's "military wing."
Hamas' so-called military wing regularly carries out
terror attacks, including suicide bombings, deadly
shootings and the regular firing of rockets into Jewish
population centers.
A State Department spokesman could not explain why
Rice called Hamas a "resistance movement." The
spokesman confirmed the department had not
changed its policy of classifying Hamas as a terror
organization.
Rice's Daily News interview followed an impromptu
news conference she held in Berlin five months
earlier in which WND reported Rice also called
Hamas a "resistance movement."
Speaking to reporters in Berlin Jan. 18 about the
situation of Palestinians prior to 2000,
commented, "You had Hamas, of course, sitting out
as a resistance movement, not at all, by the way,
involved in the politics at all."
At the time, a State Department spokesman claimed
Rice "forgot" to use the word terrorist when describing
Hamas.
Rice's January remarks at the time prompted some
U.S. Jewish groups to demand an apology to victims
of Hamas terror.
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13) "Largest" Military Exercise in Hizbullah history conducted 3 days in southern Lebanon
Security and Defense: Another round?*
[Original title of article]
THE JERUSALEM POST [Mirkaei Tikshoret/CanWest] -
By Yaakov Katz - November 8, 2007
It is being dubbed the "largest" military exercise in
Hizbullah history. Thousands of guerrillas from
infantry, anti-tank and anti-aircraft units are reported to
have participated in the three days of maneuvers in
southern Lebanon, right under the noses of UNIFIL
and the Lebanese Armed Forces. During the exercise,
Hizbullah also activated the unit responsible for firing
its short- and long-range missiles, which the terror
group boasted have a proven ability "to strike any point
in the territory of Palestine."
This all happened last weekend, only days after UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon published another
report on the continued implementation of Security
Council Resolution 1701, in which he revealed IDF
claims that Hizbullah had replenished its long-range,
Iranian-made missile arsenal, and had even tripled
the number of Chinese-made C-802 shore-to-sea
missiles in its stock.
The sequence of events is striking: Just days after
Israel warns the world of the growing threat in
Lebanon, Hizbullah holds its largest military exercise
ever with the purpose - the group's number two,
Sheikh Naim Kassem, declared on Lebanese TV - of
showing that "Hizbullah must be ready and prepared,
so it won't be taken by surprise."
The Israeli response was quick to come. On Tuesday,
Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz, head of Military Intelligence's
Research Division, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs
and Defense Committee that the exercise was carried
out "firstly, to show [Hizbullah] is not intimidated by IDF
exercises, and secondly, to display its power as an
internal message to Lebanon."
News of Hizbullah's rehabilitation is not original. Since
the Second Lebanon War, Military Intelligence and
Northern Command officers have warned that
Hizbullah is rebuilding itself, sometimes receiving
daily shipments of advanced weaponry - including
Katyusha rockets and anti-tank missiles - from Syria.
The group has rebuilt its underground fortifications
north of the Litani River - outside of UN detection, but
in range of Israel - and has even established its own
wireless phone network throughout southern
Lebanon.
The assessment in the Israeli defense establishment
has always been that any Iranian military platform or
missile small enough to fit into a shipping container
should be assumed to be in Hizbullah hands.
REPORTS OF the exercise come at a sensitive time
for Israel, which is working to ensure that European
countries continue contributing troops to UNIFIL.
Despite the peacekeeping force's failure to stop
Hizbullah's rearmament or even the exercise, Israel
still prefers there be a strong force - made up mostly
of European soldiers - in Lebanon.
The concern over UNIFIL's fate is genuine, with its
commander, Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano, reportedly
recently warning that the tension in southern Lebanon
and the deepening political crisis in the country might
prompt European countries to withdraw from UNIFIL.
But for some Israeli military experts, the recent
exercise is an indication that it is time to begin
reconsidering options vis-�-vis Hizbullah, including
the possibility of launching preemptive military action
to stop it from continuing to gain strength.
"Israel needs to respond to the Hizbullah exercise," a
former general who commanded troops during last
summer's war said this week. "We cannot allow
ourselves to live in a state of denial, because if we do,
the results will be catastrophic."
One such option, floated immediately after the war, is
to bomb the weapon convoys that cross into Lebanon
from Syria. For a number of reasons, including fear of
another war, the political echelon decided after the
month-long war not to adopt that course of action.
Instead, the IDF uses high-quality surveillance
equipment and intelligence-gathering aircraft to follow
the shipments as they cross into Lebanon until they
reach their destination.
"The exercise is not the issue," Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal
Ben-Reuven said. "The real issue is that [Hizbullah
leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah is telling us that he
is still here, that he is significantly stronger and that no
one can stop him."
Deputy commander of the Northern Command during
the Second Lebanon War, Ben-Reuven said that
Israel needs to make it clear to the Lebanese
government that it will pay a heavy price if it continues
allowing Hizbullah to build up militarily.
"I do not recommend going to war today," he said. "But
I do recommend sending clear messages to the
Lebanese government that it is responsible for what
happens, and that if diplomacy does not work, then it
will pay the price."
But the bigger problem, Ben-Reuven said, is that by
holding the exercise just days after the IDF held its
own massive exercise in the North, Hizbullah is trying
to restore the "balance of deterrence" that it had
fostered over six years, from the unilateral withdrawal
in 2000 until the Second Lebanon War.
After the withdrawal, which Hizbullah credits to its
terror activity, Israel rarely responded militarily to its
continued provocations. One example was the
kidnapping of the three soldiers from Mount Dov in
October 2000. IDF officers urged prime minister Ehud
Barak to respond with force. He preferred restraint.
SO WHAT will Israel do? While the sense in the IDF is
that the government will not want to initiate another
war, the question of whether it is considering such a
war is being asked.
Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, who left his job as deputy
chief of staff two months ago, said recently that a
preemptive strike against Hizbullah was possible if
other measures did not succeed in curbing it. "If
nothing changes in the situation in Lebanon,
somebody will have to change the situation,"
Kaplinsky said at an event hosted by the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy. "I include preemptive
strikes."
At the moment, however, Israel has its hands full with
other pressing issues. In a few weeks Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert is supposed to travel to Annapolis for a
peace summit with Palestinian Authority Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas. Upon his return, he will no longer
have an excuse for pushing off what the IDF calls "the
inevitable large-scale operation" in Gaza. Israel will
not want to fight on two fronts simultaneously.
It is safe to assume that no one in Israel really wants
to get sucked back into the Lebanese quagmire. But
the alternative of sitting on the border and waiting for
the inevitable might not be that much better.
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14) Hamas leader: We'll take over West Bank
Warns of impending seizure if Israel evacuates
strategic territory
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - November 11,
2007
JERUSALEM - The Hamas terror group will take over
the West Bank if Israel evacuates the strategic territory
to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas'
Fatah party, exclaimed Mahmoud al-Zahar,
considered to be head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"Israel thinks Fatah in the West Bank is there to serve
it, but we will take over the West Bank the way we took
over Gaza," stated al-Zahar at a major Hamas rally
Friday in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Zahar, who served as foreign minister in the
deposed Hamas-led Palestinian government,
became the most senior Hamas leader to state in
recent weeks the Hamas terror group plans to seize
the West Bank just as it took complete control of the
Gaza Strip this past June, taking over all U.S.-backed
Fatah security installations.
Al-Zahar also warned the Palestinian negotiating
team against any core concessions to Israel during a
summit slated to take place in Annapolis later this
month.
"Whoever relinquishes a grain of Palestinian land
severs an organ from himself. Palestinian land is
one - from Rafah in the south to Rosh Hanikra in the
north, from the Jordan river in the east to the
Mediterranean sea in the west," he said.
Al-Zahar's statements follow a WND report last week
quoting senior Israeli and Palestinian security officials
stating Hamas is setting the stage for a takeover of
the West Bank, which borders Jerusalem and is
within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's
international airport.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, slated to
arrive here again next week for her second visit this
month, has been serving as mediator for the
upcoming U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit later
this month. At the summit, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
is widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in
most of the West Bank, ultimately handing the
strategic territory to security forces associated with
Abbas' Fatah militias.
But Israeli security officials are warning Abbas' forces
are not strong enough to contend with controlling the
West Bank without the aid of the Israel Defense
Forces.
Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's Shin Bet Security
Services, estimated during a Knesset meeting last
week that if control of the West Bank were handed
over to Abbas, Israel would suffer a "significant threat
to its security."
Palestinian security officials, speaking on condition of
anonymity, admitted to WND they cannot control the
West Bank without Israeli intervention. - - - -
Also
Hamas setting stage for West Bank seizure
Leader vows U.S.-backed Fatah 'will fall in a matter of
weeks at most'
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - November 1,
2007
Hamas is setting the stage for a takeover of the West
Bank similar to the coup in which the terror group
seized control of the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli
and Palestinian security officials.
Hamas leaders confirmed to WND they are planning a
West Bank takeover.
"Fatah will fall in a matter of weeks at most, and the
Islamic resistance (Hamas) will reign in the West
Bank just as we do in Gaza," said Abu Abdullah,
considered one of the most important operational
members of Hamas' so-called resistance
department.
The West Bank borders Jerusalem and is within
rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's international
airport.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, slated to
arrive here next week for her second visit this month,
has been serving as mediator for an upcoming U.S.-
sponsored Israeli-Palestinian summit later this
month. At the meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is
widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in most
of the West Bank, ultimately handing the strategic
territory to security forces associated with Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah
militias.
But Israeli security officials are warning Abbas' forces
are not strong enough to contend with controlling the
West Bank without the aid of the Israel Defense
Forces.
Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's Shin Bet Security
Services, estimated during a Knesset meeting earlier
his week that if control of the West Bank were handed
over to Abbas, Israel would suffer a "significant threat
to its security."
Palestinian security officials, speaking on condition of
anonymity, admitted to WND they cannot control the
West Bank without Israeli intervention. - - - -
Read Full Report
Abbas Fears Hamas Coup d'Etat in Judea and
Samaria
ARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By Hana Levi
Julian - October 29, 2007
Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader
Mahmoud Abbas says that rival Hamas terrorists are
planning to overthrow his government in Ramallah
and take over Fatah-controlled Judea and
Samaria.
Abbas made the statements Sunday night in an
interview with the Jerusalem Post and
accused "international parties [of] supporting Hamas
in its effort." Abbas aides said the PA Chairman was
referring to Iran, Syria and Qatar.
"We have information that Hamas is planning to copy
the (June 2007) Gaza coup in the West Bank," Abbas
said, adding that he believes the plan will fail. He
stated his willingness to resume negotiations with
Hamas when the terror faction relaxes its chokehold
in Gaza. - - - -
Read Full Report
Busted Los Angeles drug ring had ties to
Hezbollah
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS [Mortimer Zuckerman] - By
James Gordon Meek - November 10, 2007
WASHINGTON - A seemingly small-time drug ring
busted this week in Los Angeles was actually targeted
for funding the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, the
Daily News has learned.
Prosecutors left out the terror tie when they
announced Tuesday that federal agents and local
cops had arrested a dozen people for allegedly
peddling cocaine and counterfeit clothing in Bell, Calif.
But several sources familiar with the investigation
said the predominantly Arab-American gang was
believed to have smuggled its crime cash to the
Iranian-backed terror group.
"This was a classic case of terrorism financing, and it
was pretty sophisticated how they did it," a source
close to Operation Bell Bottoms told The News. - - -
Because information linking the gang to Hezbollah
came from classified intelligence, the alleged
ringleader and "his siblings and associates" face
criminal charges instead of a terror rap.
Read Full Report
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15) Interfaith Leadership Council Acknowledges 'Occupation'
ARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By Hana Levi
Julian and Hillel Fendel - November 9, 2007
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has received
a special blessing from religious leaders of the
Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths who appear to
agree that Arabs in Judea and Samaria are
living "under occupation."
The communique, which was read to the media at a
news conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C.,
was sent to Rice following her visit last week to a
Bethlehem church and the Greek Patriarchate in
Jerusalem. Rice also met at the time with other
religious leaders.
The statement was authored by the Council of
Religious Institutions of the Holy Land, Muslim
sheikhs, leaders of the major Christian sects and the
Chief Rabbis of Israel. Meeting in Washington for a
State Department-sponsored summit this week, they
discussed possible participation in the planned
Annapolis, Maryland conference on the Middle East -
though this was not mentioned in the communique.
The Council began meeting two years ago with the aid
of the Norwegian government.
Joining the Chief Rabbis of Israel on the statement
was the director-general of the Chief Rabbinate, the
Chief Rabbi of Haifa and a Jewish cleric from the
American Jewish Congress.
Sheikh Hamen Tamimi, a radical Islamist who heads
the Sharia (Islamic religious legal) court for the
Palestinian Authority, represented the Islamic
contingent. Tamimi is known for his past harangues
to worshippers at the Al Aqsa mosque in
Jerusalem.
The Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchs as well as
the head of the Jerusalem Anglican church
represented the Christian sector.
The statement said, "We, believers from three
religions, have been placed in this land, Jews,
Christians, and Muslims. It is our reponsibility to find
the right way to live together in peace rather than to
fight and kill one another. Palestinians yearn for the
end to occupation and what they see as their
inalienable rights. Israelis long for the day when they
can live in personal and national security. Together
we must find ways of reaching these goals."
The mention of the word "occupation" or "conquest" is
a red flag for Israel's nationalist camp, which well
remembers when Ariel Sharon first used the term and
his consequent support for a Palestinian state. Rabbi
She'ear-Yashuv Cohen of Haifa explained to Arutz-7
that the rabbis do not agree that Israel is merely a
foreign occupier, "but this is what the Muslims feel. In
order to reach a common statement, we cannot
determine for them what they feel. We, of course, do
not agree."
The group side-stepped the conflict over the status of
Israel's capital, Judaism's holiest city. The clerics
agreed that Jerusalem must remain accessible to
people of all denominations - something that proved
impossible when the Old City, with its myriad Jewish
holy sites, was held by Jordan after the 1948 War of
Independence.
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16) Rice calls for peace after prayer in Bethlehem
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - October 17, 2007
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prayed at the
Biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ on Wednesday,
promoting religion in the quest for Middle East peace
during intense diplomacy.
"Being here at the birthplace of my lord and saviour
Jesus Christ has been a very special and moving
experience," said the top US diplomat, a devout
Christian whose father and grandfather were
Presbyterian ministers.
Blanket security was clamped across the West Bank
town of Bethlehem, whose tourism lifeline has been
hard hit by the violence which erupted following the
breakdown of the last US-sponsored peace talks.
Armed Palestinian security officers lined the streets
as her armoured convoy swept past shuttered shops
and practically empty streets as few locals turned out
to see the first visit by a US secretary of state in nearly
a decade.
Wearing a light green trouser suit, Rice spent about
half an hour inside the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem, visiting its Greek Orthodox, Armenian and
Catholic chapels and the exact spot where Christians
believe Christ was born.
She prayed and later emerged, saying her visit had
been a personal reminder of the power of religion to
heal and reconcile those who live in the Holy Land --
where Rice has said it is time for a Palestinian state
alongside Israel.
"These great monotheist religions that have inhabited
this land together have an opportunity to overcome
differences, to put aside grievances, to make the
power of religion a power of healing and a power of
reconciliation.
"What these great holy sites remind us of is that the
three great religions indeed share a common vision of
peace and a common vision of our humanity. That is
what I will ultimately take away from this visit," she
said. - - -
Rice is on a five-day visit to the region, her seventh
this year, in an effort to broker agreement between
Israel and the Palestinians on the outlines of a peace
deal to be negotiated after the meeting in Annapolis,
Maryland.
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17) Israel the roadblock to peace in Middle East
The peace process has been just that - a process
with no real outcomes.
Ed Note: This article serves as a perfect example of
the lies spread by the haters of Israel in the media
and the propaganda that so many are fed - somehow
it's all Israel's fault? Pray for the peace of Jerusalem
and for the truth to prevail.
BE/\LERT!
Genesis 12:3
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be
blessed."
THE AGE [Fairfax-Syme Group] - By Ghada Karmi -
October 11, 2007
EVERYONE wants to see "peace" between Israel and
the Arabs. It has now dawned on most people that the
terrorist attacks on America and Europe, the al-Qaeda
rhetoric about the suffering of fellow Muslims, and the
instability in the Middle East are connected with the
unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict. - - -
The peace process began in 1993 with the Oslo
Agreement drawn up between then Israeli prime
minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat. The agreement was supposed to eventually
resolve the conflict through stages, ending implicitly in
the creation of a Palestinian state. Instead, it initiated
years of broken agreements and interminable
negotiations, all called "the peace process", and
ended in 2000 with the second intifada and the current
crisis. - - -
A US-inspired international peace conference,
planned for next month, is the latest attempt to revive
the "peace process". It will bring Israelis, Palestinians
and several Arab states together in Washington to
endorse a "statement of principles" between Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas. - - -
All these manoeuvrings are ostensibly about solving
the conflict. But in reality, they substitute process for
substance. Finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli
conflict is not the problem. The parameters have been
clear for decades: Israel's withdrawal from the 1967-
occupied territories, the creation of a Palestinian state
with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of
return of refugees. These are also the components of
the 2002 Saudi plan and offer Israel full normalisation
of relations with the Arab states in exchange.
The plan is in line with international law and has the
support of the Western powers. Yet it has no chance
of succeeding, nor has any other peace proposal not
to Israel's liking.
And that is the nub of the problem. Israel, which
ceaselessly professes its desire for peace, has never
initiated a peace proposal of its own and has
prevaricated when offered one. By postponing a
settlement indefinitely, it has sought to gain time to
colonise more Palestinian land, making that
colonisation irreversible. This ploy has succeeded
marvellously. - - - -
Ghada Karmi is a Palestinian academic at the
University of Exeter, Britain, and the author of Married
to another man: Israel's dilemma in Palestine.
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18) Jewish group to blame for dividing Jerusalem?
Allowed tens of thousands of Arabs to build on
land purchased for Jews
Ed. Note: Now an example where a certain group of
Jews are responsible for their own harm, but that is
nothing new.
BE/\LERT!
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - October 17, 2007
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and senior
members of his Kadima party have hinted the past
few days the Israeli government may agree to divide
Jerusalem, noting that some eastern neighborhoods
have an Arab majority, with some even housing
refugee camps.
But WND had learned key Jerusalem neighborhoods
mentions as slated for possible evacuation are
owned by a U.S. Jewish group that over the years has
allowed tens of thousands of Arabs to illegally squat
on its land, resulting in the current Arab majority.
The Jewish National Fund, or JNF, purchased the
land now up for possible Israeli withdrawal using
Jewish donor funds for the specific purpose of Jewish
settlement.
On Monday, Olmert hinted he would withdraw from
parts of Jerusalem by asking whether it
was "necessary" to retain certain Arab communities,
specifically mentioning Shoafat, a Jerusalem
neighborhood.
"Was it necessary to also add the Shuafat refugee
camp, Sawakra, Walaje and other villages and define
them as part of Jerusalem? On that, I must confess, I
am not convinced," stated Olmert, speaking at a
special Knesset session to mark the sixth anniversary
of the assassination of former government minister
Rehavam Ze'evi, who drew up the 1967 map.
Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's
ruling Kadima party, last week reportedly mapped out
a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the
Palestinians, stating Israel may give up Jerusalem's
Shoafat and Qalandiya neighborhoods, among other
communities.
Ramon was quoted by the popular YnetNews.com
Israeli website as writing in a letter to Jerusalem City
Councilman Nir Barkat that under his plan, "The
Jewish neighborhoods (of Jerusalem) will be
recognized as Israeli and under Israeli sovereignty.
Accordingly, the Arab neighborhoods will be
recognized as Palestinian."
But some of the areas mentioned as slated for
possible evacuation - hundreds of acres in Shoafat
and Qalandiya - are owned by the JNF, a nonprofit that
purchases property using donor funds.
The JNF lands have been utilized for the illegal
construction of dozens of Arab apartment buildings, a
refugee camp and a U.N. school. The properties
recently were blocked off from Jewish sections of
Jerusalem and isolated to Arab neighborhoods by
Israel's security fence. - - - -
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19) What next for Israel? Apologize to enemies
West plans to pressure Jerusalem to express
remorse about being
WORLDNETDAILY - October 3, 2007
WASHINGTON - Pressured for nearly two decades to
swap land for peace that never came, Israel will next
be asked to apologize to its Arab and Muslim enemies
for coming into existence in the first place.
That's what experts in conflict resolution have
determined is the most expedient path for the Jewish
state to take in turning around enemies who don't
accept Israel's legitimacy as a Mideast state, reports
Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, - - -
"According to my sources, a new form of pressure will
be placed on Israel - pressure to apologize for what
Arabs call 'al-Nabka,' the catastrophe of the 1948 war
that ended with the displacement of hundreds of
thousands of them as refugees," - - -
Farah writes that the basis of the argument for an
Israeli apology is found in the Aug. 24 issue of
Science magazine. In an article written by two
researchers from John Jay College's Center on
Terrorism and a professor of "human understanding"
at the University of Michigan, a new plan for conflict
resolution in the Middle East is unveiled.
The researchers, who adamantly describe their work
as "science," say they went to the Middle East in
February to conduct interviews in Syria, the Palestinian
Authority and Israel and gauge emotional responses
over suggestions for resolution of the conflict.
"We found that the use of material incentives to
promote the peaceful resolution of political and
cultural conflicts may backfire when adversaries treat
contested issues as sacred values," they write in
Science. "Symbolic concessions of no apparent
material benefit may be key in helping to solve
seemingly intractable conflicts."
As evidence, they quote Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas
leader, as saying: "In principle, we have no problem
with a Palestinian state encompassing all of our
lands within the 1967 borders. But let Israel apologize
for our tragedy in 1948, and then we can talk about
negotiating over our right of return to historic
Palestine."
"In rational-choice models of decision-making,
something as intangible as an apology could not
stand in the way of peace," writes the research team,
comprised of Scott Atran, presidential scholar of
sociology and senior research fellow at the Center for
Terrorism at John Jay College; Richard Davis,
research fellow at the Center for Terrorism; and
Robert Axelrod, professor for the study of human
understanding at the University of Michigan. - - - -
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20) Palestinian Mayors Lobby for Christian Support
Ed. Note: Another example of supposed
Christians that hate Israel and want friendship with a
religion that wants to convert them at the point of a
sword or kill them. Islam is becoming a tool of
judgment on false religion just as Babylon was.
BE/\LERT!
FORWARD - By Nathan Guttman - November 7, 2007
Washington - Facing the growing influence of
Christian Zionists in the United States, the dwindling
Christian minority in the Palestinian territories is
making a renewed push to capture American hearts
and minds.
A delegation of Palestinian Christian mayors came to
Washington last week on a lobbying mission, during
which they argued the Palestinian cause. It was the
first such mission ever.
The mayors attended a Washington conference of the
Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, which
has attempted to build bridges between Christians in
the United States and in the Palestinian
territories.
A week earlier, the Palestinian-Christian cause was
taken up at the annual conference of the Sabeel
Center, another group of pro-Palestinian
Christians.
The commotion comes in advance of the American-
led Middle East peace conference, which is set to take
place later this month in Annapolis, Md. Christian
evangelical leaders have been pushing the Bush
administration to take a hard line against the
Palestinians. The new Palestinian Christian
campaign is designed to capture support from non-
evangelical Christians.
"We are forging relations with Christian groups in the
United States that support us," said Yousef Nasser,
mayor of the Palestinian Christian town of Birzeit, at a
Capitol Hill briefing. "The fringe Christians scare me,"
he added, referring to evangelical pro-Israel
Christians.
The issue of Palestinian Christians has long been
discussed among regional specialists but has been
slow to capture the attention of the American public.
That began to change in 2006 with an article by
columnist Robert Novak and a letter to the White
House by Rep. Henry Hyde. Novak and Hyde both
argued that the Israeli separation barrier is
threatening the existence of the West Bank Christian
community. Similar views were echoed last week by
Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, who said
in an interview in Israel that the fence is "driving
Christians out of the Holy Land."
Palestinian Christians have been struggling against
the powerful Christian Zionist coalition led by
evangelical churches and their pro-Israel lobbying
arm, Christians United for Israel. While CUFI easily
attracts thousands of supporters to mega-events
around the country, the Palestinian Christians are still
struggling to get out their message. At last week's
briefing on the Hill, organizers asked for a show of
hands to count how many congressional offices sent
staffers to the event. Not one hand went up.
CUFI's main goal has been to support Israel, but
recently it, too, has taken note of the Palestinian
Christian population. Following the murder last month
of Rami Ayyad, a Christian bookstore owner in Gaza,
CUFI's executive director, David Brog, wrote, "As CUFI
stands with Israel, we cannot and will not be silent
about the persecution of Christians by the same
militants who have been at the forefront of the effort to
destroy Israel."
This has not won over the Palestinian Christians. At
the briefing last week, Nasser took a strong line on the
Christian Zionists in America.
"If any policy will be influenced by these people, you're
in trouble." Nasser warned listeners at a Capitol Hill
briefing. "Wake up. These people are crazy."
Among the groups leading the call for Christian
organizations to support the Palestinian cause is the
Sabeel Center, a network of international
organizations that draws support from key activists in
liberal Christian denominations. During Sabeel's
conference at Boston's Old South Church, the keynote
speaker was Desmond Tutu, the South African
Anglican Bishop.
The issue being discussed by Sabeel and other
activists is the P.A.'s remaining Christians, who once
made up almost 20% of the Palestinian population but
have now shrunk to less than 2% due to steady
emigration out of the area. The reasons for the
Christian exodus from the West Bank and Gaza are in
dispute. Palestinian activists claim that hardship
caused by the Israeli occupation has made life
unbearable and has led the generally more affluent
and educated Christians to seek a better future
elsewhere.
Bethlehem's mayor, Victor Hanna Jubrail Batarseh,
said that the recent rise to power of Hamas, the
Islamic movement, has not been a danger to the
Christian minority, though he did say that "at the end,
we want to see a secular Palestinian state."
Many Israeli advocates argue that Muslim Palestinians
violently harass the Christian minority, causing the
Christian exodus. Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer who is
a member of the hawkish Jerusalem Center for Public
Affairs think tank, equates Palestinian Christians with
battered women who decline to recognize the
problem.
"It's classical denial," he said in a phone interview
from Jerusalem. "It is so obvious who is telling the
truth and who is being squeezed."
The message that the mayors carried was one of
Palestinian unity, denying any tension between
Christians and Muslims despite recent flare-ups of
violence in the West Bank and Gaza.
"We as Christians and Muslims live under the same
culture," Nasser said. "The only way to differentiate us
is to follow us on Friday or Sunday and see where we
go to pray."
Within the Bush administration, there are signs that
alternative Christian voices are beginning to be heard.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met two weeks
ago with a group of evangelical leaders who support a
two-state solution and oppose the views taken by
such Christian Zionists as the Rev. John
Hagee.
A few days later, though, Hagee put out a call to
CUFI's supporters, asking them to contact the White
House to urge America's administration not to
pressure Israel into making territorial
concessions.
"President Bush has been a great friend of Israel,"
Hagee wrote. "But he and his team are creating a
situation that is likely to place Israel in great danger."
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22) US: Iran Attack Plans Ready if Needed
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Robert Burns - November
8, 2007
WASHINGTON - U.S. defense officials have signaled
that up-to-date attack plans are available if needed in
the escalating crisis over Iran's nuclear aims,
although no strike appears imminent.
The Army and Marine Corps are under enormous
strain from years of heavy ground fighting in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Still, the United States has ample air and
naval power to strike Iran if President Bush decided to
target nuclear sites or to retaliate for alleged Iranian
meddling in neighboring Iraq.
Among the possible targets, in addition to nuclear
installations like the centrifuge plant at Natanz: Iran's
ballistic missile sites, Republican Guard bases, and
naval warfare assets that Tehran could use in a
retaliatory closure of the Straits of Hormuz, a vital artery
for the flow of Gulf oil.
The Navy has an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf
area with about 60 fighters and other aircraft that likely
would feature prominently in a bombing campaign.
And a contingent of about 2,200 Marines are on a
standard deployment to the Gulf region aboard ships
led by the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault
ship. Air Force fighters and bombers are available
elsewhere in the Gulf area, including a variety of
warplanes in Iraq and at a regional air operations
center in Qatar.
But there has been no new buildup of U.S. firepower in
the region. In fact there has been some shrinkage in
recent months. After adding a second aircraft carrier in
the Gulf early this year-a move that Secretary of
Defense Robert Gates said was designed to
underscore U.S. long-term stakes in the region-the
Navy has quietly returned to a one-carrier presence.
Talk of a possible U.S. attack on Iran has surfaced
frequently this year, prompted in some cases by hard-
line statements by White House officials. Vice
President Dick Cheney, for example, stated on Oct. 21
that the United States would "not allow Iran to have a
nuclear weapon," and that Iran would face "serious
consequences" if it continued in that direction. Gates,
on the other hand, has emphasized
diplomacy.
Bush suggested on Oct. 17 that Iran's continued
pursuit of nuclear arms could lead to "World War III."
Yet on Wednesday, in discussing Iran at a joint press
conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
Bush made no reference to the military option. - - -
At the moment, there are few indications of U.S.
military leaders either advising offensive action
against Iran or taking new steps to prepare for that
possibility. Gates has repeatedly emphasized that
while military action cannot be ruled out, the focus is
on diplomacy and tougher economic sanctions. - - - -
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23) Mysterious 'snow' disrupts Israeli TV
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] - October 12,
2007
Israel is awash with speculation over the mysterious
disappearance of satellite television signals, with
everyone from the Russians to the United Nations
accused of jamming the population's nightly
entertainment.
The television network is said to be "near collapse"
after a month of electronic snowstorms and
interference, rumoured to be variously caused by the
radar of UN patrols, Russian spy ships or even
Israel's military. The interference began on Sept 6, the
day Israeli warplanes slipped past Syria's Russian-
made air defence systems, and attacked a military
target deep inside the country.
The Israeli government has maintained an almost
total silence over the strike, which some foreign media
reported as an attack on a possible nuclear
installation.
Since then, desperate viewers of Desperate
Housewives, frustrated followers of The Bold and the
Beautiful, and other TV lovers have been bombarding
the switchboard of the Israeli satellite broadcaster
Yes, and have launched a 122 million shekel (�15
million) class action suit against the company for
failing to deliver the goods.
In a nation surrounded by hostile neighbours and
often fearful of attack, a number of theories have
already been floated.
A senior Israeli defence official said that Israel
believed that the source was a Dutch vessel serving
with Unifil, a UN peacekeeping force deployed after
the Hizbollah war in Lebanon last year.
A security official meanwhile told the Yediot Ahronot
newspaper that Moscow was suspected of beaming
signals to try to probe Israel's military electronic
capability and as an expression of its anger at Israel
for making Syria's Russian radar appear
impotent.
The Russian defence ministry refused to
comment.
The interruptions have led to cancelled subscriptions
and forced Yes to seek to pacify its 500,000
subscribers with free films.
While the Netherlands had not accepted responsibility
for the interference, Mark Regev, an Israeli foreign
ministry spokesman, said technical experts were in
contact with Unifil.
But in another Yediot Ahronot story, the paper's
diplomatic correspondent quoted an unnamed
government official as saying that the answer to the
riddle could lie in Israel itself, with the emissions
coming from military radar.
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24) Israel on alert for Syria airstrike
THE TIMES of LONDON [News Corporation/Murdoch] -
By Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv - November 11, 2007
THE defensive missile shield around Israel's Dimona
nuclear reactor was placed on red alert 30 times last
week amid fears of an airstrike by Syria.
A battery of American-made Patriot antiaircraft
missiles has been moved to Dimona in the Negev
desert following intelligence that a strike may be
launched in retaliation for Israel's bombing of a
suspected nuclear site in Syria two months
ago.
In a highly unusual move, the officers in charge of the
missiles were permitted to talk to Israeli state
television about their preparations. "We're ready to
launch the missiles in seconds, once we're on full
alert," said First Lieutenant Adi, a young female officer
who is the deputy commander of the battery.
Tension with Damascus has heightened since
September 6 when Israeli fighters destroyed the
suspected nuclear installation in northern
Syria.
"The fact that the Syrians didn't launch an immediate
strike against Israel doesn't mean that they won't
retaliate in due course," said an Israeli defence
source. "Dimona is on the top of their list."
Tension is mounting in Israel. "Every civilian aircraft en
route from Cairo to Amman, or from Jeddah to Cairo
and vice versa, which deviates even slightly from its
route, sets off an alarm and risks a missile being
fired," said the female commander of the Patriot
battery.
The unit is authorised to shoot down any aircraft which
approaches, civilian or combat. - - - -
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Contact Information
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| Editor |
| Scott Brisk |
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