Sunday, December 30, 2007

SARKOZY ASK ISRAEL FOR GESTURES

Israel, Palestinians seek elusive peace By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer Sun Dec 30, 8:04 AM ET

JERUSALEM - In the afterglow of a high-profile peace conference, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will try in the coming year to resolve issues that have defied solutions for decades. For peace to work, Israel will have to give up most of the West Bank, Palestinians must agree to resettle refugees inside their own state and the two sides must share the holy city of Jerusalem. None of that will come easily — and prospects for peace are hurt by the growing power of extremists and the weakness of leaders on both sides.Weighing heavily on the Middle East is fear about the influence of Iran and the ascendancy of Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. After Hamas violently routed the more moderate Fatah movement in Gaza in June, the big question now is whether the West Bank will go the same way.Israel fretted through a year of angst about Iran's nuclear program only to be told in a new U.S. intelligence report that Iran stopped it four years ago. Israel isn't buying the claim, and is scrambling to convince its allies that Iran remains a major threat to the West.

Hamas' takeover of Gaza paradoxically opened the door to peace talks between Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership now in charge of the West Bank. Israeli and Palestinian leaders both say they hope to sign a peace deal by the end of 2008.On Nov. 27, the two sides got together in Annapolis, Md., in the presence of some 45 nations — including leading Arab states — to relaunch peace talks that had been stalled during the past seven years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.All the main players have good reason to go for a deal: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to undo the damage done by his inconclusive 2006 war in Lebanon, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas needs a boost in his showdown with Hamas, President Bush would like to offset his difficulties in Iraq, and moderate Arab states need to counter Iranian-supported extremism.Working against this new hope is weakness at the top: a Palestinian president who only controls half his territory and struggles to impose order in the part he does control, and an Israeli leader who has done little to confront domestic hawks intent on expanding West Bank settlements and torpedoing any progress toward peace.While the contours of a peace deal have largely been worked out in past talks — a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, shared control of Jerusalem and a recognition the need to settle the Palestinian refugees — every issue calls for excruciating compromises.Negotiators will have to figure out how to share Jerusalem, a task that must address key Israeli security concerns and religious sensitivities on both sides; and find a just solution for the Palestinian refugees displaced in Israel's 1948 war of independence without destroying the Jewish character of Israel.Both Israelis and Palestinians have a growing sense that time is running out.

There will soon be more Muslims than Jews in the lands comprising historic Palestine, and Israel will have to make a deal if it hopes to remain both Jewish and democratic. And without peace, moderate Palestinians will likely lose their life-or-death struggle against the extremists.If things don't work out it means that the voices that are not in favor of ... a peaceful resolution of the conflict will feel vindicated and they will be strengthened and empowered, said independent West Bank lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi.
Israeli Cabinet Minister Ami Ayalon went further, saying that if peace talks fail we shall see Hamas controlling the West Bank and the right wing will control Israel.Israel might sign some sort of a peace treaty in the coming year. But it's highly unlikely the deal would be implemented unless Israel is assured that the lands it evacuates won't be used as launching grounds for attacks — as happened after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.In hopes of bolstering Abbas' forces in the West Bank, the international community is expected to pledge almost $2 billion a year in aid for the next three years to help rebuild the Palestinian economy and security forces.There are no clear plans for Hamas-ruled Gaza, which is internationally boycotted and can expect to remain almost completely isolated and slide deeper into poverty as long as the Islamic militants remain in power.If the U.S. change of assessment on Iran was one year-end surprise, Syria is another. The country has long been under U.S. pressure over its role in Lebanon and Iraq, and in September Israeli warplanes struck a site in Syria that some believe was a nascent secret nuclear site, an accusation denied by Damascus. But Syria improved ties with the U.S. by attending the Annapolis conference, a thaw that U.S. officials hope will dilute Iran's influence in the region. Damascus, in turn, is hoping the next year will see a resumption of stalled negotiations with Israel over the disputed Golan Heights. Steven Gutkin is The Associated Press' bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Israeli PM to decide on all settlement tenders by Ron Bousso DEC 30,07

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel announced stricter controls on Sunday over settlement building in the occupied West Bank, but warned it would not make changes on the ground until Palestinians cracked down on security. The statements came shortly before a visit to the region by US President George W. Bush, whose administration has criticised its close ally Israel over settlements after peace talks were revived at a US conference late last month.The Palestinians accused Israel of placing obstacles in the revived peace talks and failing to implement its obligations under a four-year-old internationally drafted peace blueprint dubbed the roadmap that both sides have pledged to uphold.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will from now on decide all settlement tenders, officials said, following two instances when settlement expansions were announced after the US conference, reportedly without knowledge of his office.

Last week Prime Minister Olmert had a meeting with Housing Minister Zeev Boim at which it was decided that the prime minister from now on will give the final authorisation for any new construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.The tenders that have already been published will not be annulled, but all the other tenders which are in the process of being published will require Olmert's authorisation, he said.Opening a cabinet meeting two days after two Israeli settlers were killed by Palestinian fire in a West Bank shootout, Olmert warned Israel would not take any steps on the ground if the Palestinians do not act to improve security.

As long as the Palestinian Authority does not take the necesssary measures with the necessary force to act against terror organisations, Israel will not carry out on the ground any changes that could expose it to dangers and could create security dangers to Israel, he said.In the deadliest attack on settlers in at least a year, two Palestinians opened fire on three Israelis hiking west of Hebron on Friday. Two of the Israelis -- armed off-duty soldiers -- fired back, killing one of the Palestinians.The armed wing of Islamist Hamas on Sunday claimed joint responsibility with the smaller Islamic Jihad group for the attack, which occurred in a part of West Bank where Israel is solely responsible for security.A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, told AFP that Israel should not place obstacles like... these imaginary security excuses in the way of negotiations.The Palestinian Authority is implementing the first part of the roadmap, and it is up to Israel to implement the obligations demanded of it, he said.When they relaunched their peace talks after a nearly seven-year hiatus, the two sides pledged to uphold the 2003 peace blueprint, which calls on Israel to halt settlement activity and on the Palestinians to improve security.In Cairo on Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Israel to make gestures to show its commitment to peace.I've said several times... that it's time for Israel to make gestures which would show that peace is possible, including ending settlements" in the occupied West Bank, he said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.Ahead of Bush's visit, Israel has sought to calm tensions with the Palestinians over settlements, with army radio reporting on Friday that it had given new assurances to Washington.Israel pledged to halt activity in the Maale Adumim settlement, one of the largest in the occupied West Bank, and not to invite any new tenders for settlements in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, it said.

The announcement came a day after Olmert and Abbas agreed not to take any steps that could compromise the peace talks revived at the conference in the US city of Annapolis. The international community does not recognise Israel's claims over east Jerusalem and considers all settlements on occupied land illegal. According to Israeli media reports, Olmert's office was not aware in advance of the new tender invitations. Government spokesman Mark Regev told AFP that there can't be any surprises as in the past, given that these issues have diplomatic implications.

France's Sarkozy asks Israel for gestures, boycotts Syria by Philippe Alfroy DEC 30,07

CAIRO (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy sought to reassure Arab states concerned about his strong ties with Israel by asking Israel to make peace gestures, while taking a tough stance with Syria. Sarkozy was in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on his first official visit to the Middle East since taking office in May.He said France will have no more contact with Syria until Damascus shows a willingness to let Lebanon end its long-running political crisis and find a new president. France will have no more contact with Syria... until we have proof of Syrian willingness to let Lebanon appoint a president by consensus, Sarkozy told journalists after talks in Cairo with Mubarak.Former colonial power France wants a president for Lebanon, he said. It's time to provide proof (of goodwill), it's time for Syria to show it.Keen to stress a continuation of his predecessor Jacques Chirac's Arab-friendly policies, Sarkozy urged Israel to make gestures to show its commitment to peace with the Palestinians.I've said several times... that it's time for Israel to make gestures which would show that peace is possible, including ending settlements in the occupied West Bank, Sarkozy said.Our position (on Israel) is unchanging, being a friend doesn't mean being complacent.

Sarkozy has ruffled Arab feathers by showing friendship for Israel and rejecting anti-Americanism, with sections of the Egyptian press deriding him as President George W. Bush's new poodle, replacing Britain's ex-premier Tony Blair.While the US remains Israel's key ally, France is seen by many as the Western power most able to end Lebanon's political impasse.It's time for Syria to prove with facts what it has not stopped saying in speeches, Sarkozy said. We are now waiting for acts on Syria's part and not speeches.Only last month Sarkozy called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, reopening top-level contacts after a three-year break in a bid to end Lebanon's political crisis, Syrian media reported at the time.Also in November, while French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner shuttled between rival leaders in Beirut, two Sarkozy aides met Assad in Damascus.Mubarak called Lebanon's political deadlock dangerous and appealed to Syria to use its influence in Lebanon to work towards reconciliation so that the parliament elects a president.Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon in 2005 after a nearly 30-year presence in the face of strong international and domestic pressure but continues to be accused of meddling in its neighbour's affairs.Lebanon has been without a president since November 23 when Syrian-backed incumbent Emile Lahoud ended his term with rival parties unable to agree on a successor.A parliamentary vote to elect a president has been postponed 11 times amid sharp divisions between the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and the opposition, backed by Syria and Iran.A Lebanese pro-government MP hailed the new tougher line from Paris.

These comments express the disillusionment of the Arab world and the international community about the chances of agreeing anything positive with the Syrian regime, said Wael Bou Faour. Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush also ruled out direct talks with the Syrian leader, saying: My patience ran out on President Assad a long time ago.On Sunday, Sarkozy also said France would free up funds for a planned international tribunal intended to try those behind a series of assassinations in Lebanon that began with the murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri in 2005. UN investigators probing Hariri's murder have identified several people who they say may have been involved, but no one has been charged. Many in Lebanon blame Syria for the attacks, charges denied by Damascus. In Cairo, Sarkozy also pushed his proposed Mediterranean Union grouping countries of the Mediterranean rim that is set to be launched at a Paris summit in July. The two presidents also discussed bilateral relations with Sarkozy assuring Mubarak that France was ready to offer assistance for Egypt's recently relaunched nuclear energy programme. They met after Sarkozy ended a holiday in the Nile city of Luxor and the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with his new girlfriend ex-model Carla Bruni and a swarm of pararazzi.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

SERMON - PEACE IN MIDEAST

Bethlehem sermon calls for peace in the Middle East by Joseph Krauss Mon Dec 24, 9:11 PM ET

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) - The Catholic leader in the Holy Land again called for peace in the Middle East on Tuesday as he addressed thousands of Christians gathered at the traditional site of Jesus's birth. This land of God cannot be for some a land of life and for others a land of death, exclusion, occupation, or political imprisonment, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah said in a sermon for the Christmas midnight mass.All those whom God, the lord of history, has gathered here must be able to find in this land life, dignity and security, he said, addressing thousands of Christians from all over the world in a sermon delivered in his native Arabic.Sabbah, who last week said that peace in the Middle East depended on Israel, reiterated that message in a less direct way on Tuesday.It is not up to the weakest to submit themselves and continue to live a life of deprivation; it is up to the strongest, to those who have everything in hand, to detach themselves and to give to the weakest what is due to them.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas attended the mass fresh from last month's international conference in the US city of Annapolis, where he formally relaunched the peace process with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Thousands of people gathered in front of the Church of the Nativity hours ahead of the traditional mass given on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born in a stable after Mary and Joseph were turned away at an inn.Steam billowed from carts selling boiled corn and stands sold tea and coffee to the holiday makers gathered in the crisp temperatures under garlands of colourful lights strung across the square.Palestinians hope the number of tourists and the income they bring will make it the best Christmas since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000 and the building of Israel's massive barrier through the West Bank.Celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem is a dream come true. We have waited for this for years, said Alice Lyons, a Briton touring the Holy Land over the holidays.But the festive atmosphere has not hidden the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.Last night when we came in, there was a banner wishing us a happy Christmas and it was hanging under barbed wire, her friend, Kathleen Joyce, said.An eight-metre (25 foot) concrete wall erected by Israel in the wake of the uprising encircles much of Bethlehem, but the city was still set to welcome 30,000 to 40,000 visitors this year, twice the number that came last year.

Last year, there were a lot of problems, security problems. God willing, this year will be better, Adnan Sobh, a souvenir shop owner, told AFP.The renewed sense of calm convinced Jacques Keutgen, a Belgian-born director at the local Holy Family Hospital, to bring his entire extended family of 17 to celebrate Christmas in the West Bank city just south of Jerusalem.The security situation is much better than it has been in years, said Keutgen, who has been based in Bethlehem for four and a half years.

But it was important to show his guests that life remained grim for many Palestinians, he added.They have to see the wall to know how the Palestinian people are affected by this political situation, Keutgen said. Israel says its 650-kilometre (410-mile) security barrier is needed to stop potential attackers. The Palestinians say the apartheid wall is part of a land grab aimed at undermining the viability of their promised state. The barrier has confiscated farm land, uprooted olive trees, isolated Bethlehem from Jerusalem and helped to quicken emigration and keep unemployment at more than 50 percent. But at Tuesday's midnight mass Sabbah urged Christians -- whose numbers across the Middle East have dwindled considerably in recent decades -- to remain in the region where their faith was born and work for peace there.

Being Christian means sharing the concerns of all, building peace with everyone else, and accepting the sacrifices this implies... the difficulties of daily life, of occupation, of the wall of separation, he said. All of this is our common fate, and all of us together, by our sacrifices, we must build peace for everyone.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

ISRAEL REJECTS HAMAS TRUCE

Israel rejects truce with Hamas By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer DEC 23,07

JERUSALEM - Israel's prime minister pledged Sunday to continue attacking Gaza militants, ruling out truce negotiations with Hamas amid widespread skepticism about the Islamic group's ability to halt rocket attacks. An Israeli cabinet minister, meanwhile, angered moderate Palestinians with another plan for new Jewish housing in a disputed part of Jerusalem, complicating renewed peace talks.There have been almost daily reports of truce feelers from the embattled Islamic Hamas regime in Gaza, and Israeli defense officials have said they are examining the proposals.

But at the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected negotiations with Hamas because it has rebuffed international demands that it recognize Israel, renounce violence and endorse past peace accords.There is no other way to describe what is happening in the Gaza Strip except as a true war between the Israeli army and terrorist elements, Olmert told his cabinet, ruling out truce talks.The truce feelers started surfacing last week after two days of Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including two top commanders of the militant Islamic Jihad group. The first came through a call from Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh to an Israeli TV reporter and later, by way of Egypt, which has mediated several other past truces.Hamas has offered to persuade fellow militants in Gaza to stop their daily rocket fire if Israel halts its air and ground operations in the coastal strip.

But Israel doubts whether Hamas has either the will or the ability to force the other militants to stop firing rockets.Islamic Jihad is behind most of the rocket salvos, and on Sunday, the group again rejected a truce with Israel. By nightfall, four rockets fired from Gaza exploded in Israel, one damaging a factory near the southern city of Ashkelon, the military said.We have declared (this war) and we will continue, Olmert said at the start of the cabinet meeting, which was open to the media. This is true regarding Hamas, Islamic Jihad and all other elements.Despite their overt rejections of a formal cease-fire, Israeli officials have been saying a formal truce is unnecessary. They say if Gaza militants stop the rocket fire, Israel would have no reason to attack.Israeli officials said Defense Minister Ehud Barak will travel this week to Egypt for talks with President Hosni Mubarak. It was unclear whether a cease-fire would be on the agenda.Also Sunday, Israel allocated $207 million over five years to develop a system, with the U.S., to shoot down missiles such as the ones fired from Gaza or during last year's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.After Hamas overran Gaza in June, expelling forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel and Egypt closed their borders with Gaza, further worsening the critical economic situation there.In parallel, the West began promoting the rival Abbas government in the West Bank, renewing aid cut off after Hamas won a 2006 election.At Mideast conference hosted by President Bush last month in Annapolis, Md., Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks for the first time in seven years.

But disputes over Israeli construction in Jerusalem have harmed the atmosphere. Just before the talks restarted, Israel announced a plan to build 307 apartments in Har Homa in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed.The international community never recognized Israeli sovereignty over east Jerusalem, and Palestinians claim the area as the capital of the state they want to create. On Sunday Rafi Eitan, minister for Jerusalem affairs, confirmed that the Construction Ministry's proposed budget for 2008 includes 500 new apartments for Har Homa, as well as 240 new apartments in Maaleh Adumim, a major West Bank settlement just outside Jerusalem. Eitan told Army Radio that Israel never promised to halt construction within the municipal borders of Jerusalem. Eitan called both areas integral parts of Jerusalem. Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said he was not aware of the plan to expand Har Homa and said there was no new decision for additional construction in Maaleh Adumim. Abbas charged that the construction projects undermined new peace efforts. The negotiations are facing obstacles, Abbas told members of his Fatah Party. We can't understand these settlement activities at a time we're talking about final status negotiations.

Israel okays short-range missile defence shield DEC 23,07

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli government earmarked more than 200 million dollars (140 million euros) on Sunday for the development of an advanced defence system aimed at countering rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon. The security cabinet allocated 811 million shekels (207 million dollars, 144 million euros) towards the development and manufacture of the system over the coming five years, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the system -- dubbed The Iron Dome -- would be operational within 30 months.I hope that the first systems will be deployed near Sderot then, Barak told reporters in parliament, referring to the hard-hit town in southern Israel which comes under nearly daily rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.The defence ministry first ordered the system's development by the Israeli arms firm Rafael in February.The Iron Dome is part of a multi-layered defence system aimed at protecting Israel from both short-range missiles and rockets fired by militants in Gaza or Lebanon, and longer-range missiles in the arsenals of regional foes Iran and Syria.The Israeli army has had little success in ending the nearly daily rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which has killed 12 people in southern Israel since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000.On Sunday, a rocket fired from northern Gaza hit a factory in the town of Ashkelon, home to 120,000 people, causing damage to the factory but no casualties, the army said.

Gaza's Christians keep low Xmas profile By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer DEC 23,07

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Gaza's tiny Christian community is keeping a low profile this Christmas, traumatized by the killing of a prominent activist in the wake of Hamas' takeover of the coastal territory. Few Christmas trees are on display, churches are holding austere services and hundreds of Christians hope to travel to the moderate-controlled West Bank to celebrate the holiday in Bethlehem. Many say they don't plan on returning to Gaza.We have a very sad Christmas, said Essam Farah, acting pastor of Gaza's Baptist Church, which has canceled its annual children's party because of the grim atmosphere.About 3,000 Christians live in Gaza, an overwhelmingly conservative Muslim territory of 1.5 million people. It has been virtually cut off from the world and its residents driven deeper into poverty since the June takeover by Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.Christians and Muslims have generally had cordial relations over the years in Gaza, but that relationship has been shaky since Hamas seized control and tensions were exacerbated with the recent death of 32-year-old Rami Ayyad.

Ayyad, a member of the Baptist Church, managed Gaza's only Christian bookstore. In early October, he was found shot in the head, his body thrown on a Gaza street 10 hours after he was kidnapped from the store.He regularly received death threats from people angry about his perceived missionary work — a rarity among Gaza's Christians — and the store was firebombed six months before the kidnapping.No group claimed responsibility for the killing, and no one has openly accused Hamas of persecution. But Christians fear that the Hamas takeover, along with the lack of progress in finding Ayyad's killers, has emboldened Islamic extremists.Hamas has tried to calm jittery Christians with reassuring handshakes and official visits promising justice.Hamas will not spare any effort to find the culprits of this crime and bring them to justice, said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. He insisted the killing was not religiously motivated.At the Baptist Church on Sunday, just 10 people attended the regular weekly prayer service, down from an average of 70. There was no Christmas tree in sight.Farah said the church's full-time pastor, along with his family and 12 employees of Ayyad's store, have relocated to the West Bank, where President Mahmoud Abbas heads a pro-Western government. Farah said he prayed for forgiveness and love among Muslims and Christians.Community leaders say an unprecedented number of Christian families are already migrating from Gaza — rattled by the religious tensions and tough economic sanctions Israel imposed on the area after the Hamas takeover.While no official statistics were available, the signs of the flight are evident. Rev. Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Roman Catholic church, said he alone knows of seven families that sold their properties and left the area, and 15 more are preparing to do the same.Musallem blamed Israeli sanctions and excessive violence in Gaza for the flight.

In previous years we didn't see this rate of migration, Musallem said. Now, exit is not on individual basis. Whole families are leaving, selling their cars, homes and all their properties.The signs of despair are evident at Ayyad's home. Posters declaring him a martyr of Jesus hang on the walls. There is no Christmas tree this year.Ayyad's older brother, 35-year old Ibrahim, said his 6-year old son, Khedr, was nagged in school about his uncle's murder. Muslim schoolmates call him infidel.Ayyad's wife, Pauline, 29, left for Bethlehem a month ago with her two children. She said their 3-year-old son, George, has been shattered by his father's death. I tell him Papa Noel (Santa Claus) is coming to see you, and he tells me he wants Papa Rami, she said tearfully during a telephone interview. Pauline, who is seven months pregnant, said she plans to come back to Gaza for the birth. But many Christians privately said they would use their travel permits to leave Gaza for good, even if that means remaining in the West Bank as illegal residents. Israeli security officials said they were permitting 400Gaza Christians to travel through Israel to Bethlehem for Christmas. A family of four, refusing to be identified for fear their permits would be revoked, have sold their house and car and packed their bags. The wife has transferred her job to the West Bank and enrolled her son and daughter in school there. We fear what is to come, said the husband. Fouad, a distant relative of Ayyad, said he also is packing up. He said his father, a guard at a local church, was stopped recently by unknown bearded men who put a gun to his head before he was rescued by passers-by.

We don't know why it happened, the 20-year-old police officer said. We can't be sure how they (Muslims) think anymore.Those who are staying are trying to limit the risks. Nazek Surri, a Roman Catholic, walked out from Sunday's service with a Muslim-style scarf covering her head. We have to respect the atmosphere we are living in. We have to go with the trend, she said.

Friday, December 21, 2007

MY COMMENT TO OLMERT AND GOV

I WROTE TO OLMERT TODAY TO WARN HIM OF WHATS COMING FOR DIVIDING JERUSALEM.

DEAR MR OLMERT DEC 21,07

I can not believe that the Arabs could broadcast from the Temple Mount on Dec 19 but The Israelis could not PRAY to the GOD OF ISRAEL and the World.

I know prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes because this Government in Israel is being decieved by the EU like the Bible says would happen in the last days, The ultimate Jewish deciever from the EU will soon be coming to power to Guarentee Israels security for peace for a period of 7 years. So Mr Olmert I pray you and Peres will repent and turn to THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND GET OUT OF POWER and quit appeasing the Arabs as the Bible says that When JERUSALEM is divided GOD gets so mad that he (GOD) causes the Russian - Muslim armies to march against Israel. And if it were not for GOD himself destroying 5/6ths of this army Israel would not survive. In Total after the 3 waves of WW3 one half of earths population will be dead thanks to You Olmert and peres and all who will appease the Arabs and Divide Jerusalem when GOD gave Jerusalem to use (ISRAEL) not any other brother, cousin or nation or enemy.


THE PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE RESPONSE TO MY LETTER.

We acknowledge receipt of your e-mail to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Due to the large volume of e-mail received, we cannot respond personally to each message.

For further information regarding the current situation in Israel , click/go to:www.mfa.gov.il or:www.idf.il

Sincerely,

Prime Minister’s Office – E-Correspondence

Israel Gov't, Police Stand by as Hamas Broadcasts from Temple Mt by Hillel Fendel DEC 20,07

(IsraelNN.com) More Olmert-Fatah-Hamas collusion: Hamas has been given exclusive radio broadcast rights from the Temple Mount this week - while Jews mourning the First Temple siege are banned from the site.This week is the Moslem holiday Ein ul-Adhaa, marking the Islamic equivalent of Akeidat Yitzchak (the binding of Isaac by Abraham); the Koran, written in the late 7th century C.E., substituted Ishmael for Isaac. Yesterday, as well, was the Jewish fast day of Asarah B'Tevet, commemorating the beginning of the siege by Nebuchadnezzar on Jerusalem over 2,500 years ago that resulted in the destruction of the First Temple, untold thousands of deaths, and a 70-year-long Jewish exile from the Holy Land.

The siege of Nebuchadnezzar is recurring again in our time, said Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute, this time through the Israeli government, which is banning Jews and Christians but is allowing Hamas, who will defile G-d in our holiest place. There is no greater demonstration of the total spiritual bankruptcy of the Israeli government.He told Arutz-7 that if, alternatively, it is not the Israeli government that is responsible, then who are we kidding when we say that Fatah will fight Hamas? We see clearly that they work together, and Fatah has just as much of an interest in broadcasting Hamas incitement to murder Zionists as Hamas does.It is unbelievable that [US Secretary of State Condoleeza ] Rice and [Foreign Minister Tzipi] Livni continue to repeat that a strong PA and Palestinian state to fight terror is in the interest of Israel, when we see obviously that Fatah has no desire at all to fight Hamas terrorism.An ISDN line regularly broadcasts, over PA radio, the Islamic prayer services from the Temple Mount. This week, however, it granted the license to do so to Hamas - complete with Hamas Radio commercials, station identifications, and incitement against Jews. Whoever wants to hear the Temple Mount services this week has to go to HamasRadio, says Rabbi Richman.

Rabbi Richman was astounded at the symbolism involved: Closing the Temple Mount to Jews all week long, including on our fast day, because of the Moslem holiday, emphasizes that the government not only favors Moslem sensibilities over Jewish ones, but also the Koranic version of our history over that of the Tanach, our Bible.

WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein reported that Hamas celebrated the victory of its broadcasts: Our broadcast is a victory for the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is suffering from Judaization efforts imposed by the Zionist government, said Rami Kaoud, a manager at Hamas' Al Aqsa Radio. Broadcasting daily radio is a way to bring Al Aqsa to the Gaza Strip and challenge the siege imposed on us by the Zionist entity.A joint statement by the New Jewish Congress, the Temple Mount movements and The Sanhedrin states, Not only is Hamas trying, with the Palestinian Authority, to destroy the State of Israel and all its [Jewish] inhabitants, but now the Government of Israel has decided to give over the Temple Mount, the apple of the Jewish Nation's eye, for the use of enemy incitement.

ISRAEL MIGHT PONDER HAMAS TRUCE

No room at the inn: Christmas bonanza in Bethlehem by Jennie Matthew Thu Dec 20, 10:25 PM ET

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) - Hotels booked, parties planned and lights glittering, Bethlehem is preparing for tens of thousands of pilgrims to overcome Israeli occupation and give the town the best Christmas in years. We are hopeful this city will remain peaceful. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful Christmas, says Mayor Victor Batarseh, determined to look on the bright side sitting next to a plastic fir tree near Manger Square.Tourism has grown 60 percent, and he expects 30,000-40,000 tourists -- double the number last year -- to visit the town where the Bible says Jesus was born in a stable after Mary and Joseph found no room at the inn.Hotel occupancy has risen from 10-15 percent to 45 percent in the run-up to the season. Batarseh thinks the 2,000 beds in town will be fully booked this Christmas, reversing a long slump stemming from Israeli-Palestinian violence.Katherine Korsak, a 36-year-old Roman Catholic from Poland admits she was initially scared about coming to Bethlehem, crossing through the towering cement wall separating Israel from the West Bank and passing military security.

But this is such an important place for us. We came with joy. Christmas is so close and for us it's a spiritual experience here, she says, showing the postcards and wooden carvings she bought, feeling sorry for the vendors.On November 27, Israel and the Palestinians formally resumed peace talks more than seven years after they collapsed into a deadly cycle of violence that has killed 6,000 people, sent economies into free fall and hiked emigration.But falling levels of violence, revived peace talks and what Batarseh credits as encouragement from churches in promoting support for one of the holiest sites in Christendom is encouraging the tourists back en masse.I'm very optimistic. We already see the results, says 27-year-old sales and marketing manager Haya Saad, sipping tea in the Bethlehem Intercontinental, the only five star hotel in town and its 250 rooms fully booked.The Intercontinental has doubled room rates this Christmas, capitalising on booming demand particularly from pilgrims from the Far East and Eastern Europe.A fiesta of Christmas carols, Oriental music, parties in the bar with DJs and alcohol every night from Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve, and dinners.Two months ago, Israeli soldiers entered the hotel looking for a stone thrower, Saad says. But it's getting much better than before. The presidential suite is being renovated after damage from an Israeli raid in 2001.But peel away the tinsel and walk in the backstreets avoided by the pilgrims bused in and out to the Church of Nativity and the misery is stark.Israel's separation barrier has confiscated farm land, uprooted olive trees, isolated the town from Jerusalem and helped to quicken emigration and keep unemployment at more than 50 percent. Israeli raids are still frequent.

One Bethlehem olive wood workshop is modelling Nativity scenes complete with a replica separation barrier blocking the wise men from getting to the stable. A British charity has virtually sold out its stocks to worried Christians.I hadn't understood to what extent land was taken and freedom of movement curtailed. They are literally imprisoned. It's a horrible thing to see a community aboslutely destroyed, said charity director Gareth Hewitt. Estimates about the proportion of Christians left here vary from 15 to 25 percent. Batarseh says they were 92 percent before Israel was created in 1948.Samir Qumsieh, general manager of Nativity TV Station, which broadcasts religious services, said the nightmare in my head is emigration. It's deadly. Fifteen years from now, you will not find a Christian.World churches should finance building projects to provide jobs and give young men a reason to stay. Instead he bemoans a shameful default by Christians in the world and growing secularism in Europe and the United States. Exhausted Polish pilgrim Ania Banach changed buses at the checkpoint, was herded around by a guide in a frenzy and hounded by Palestinian vendors, angry that her frenetic timetable was eating into their profits. It's too fast, too crazy and too many people asking me stupid questions, she said after a Palestinian accused her of supporting Israel. You live in Israel, you eat in Israel. For me it's like where am I? I don't support anyone. I came just to see the holy place. I cannot enjoy it how I would like to. I would like to spend one day.Israel says 2.3 million tourists are expected this year, close to the bumper year 2000 -- when Pope John Paul II visited and Israel and the Palestinians came close to an agreement at Camp David -- and will next year smash records. The country expects around 60,000 Christian tourists this Christmas, up more 50 percent on last year, said tourism ministry director general Shaul Tzemach. At nightfall, buses queue up outside the trap door in the separation barrier to return to Israel, waved through by armed soldiers ordered to ease the restrictions this Christmas as a sign of confidence in a better year to come.

Israel looking at Hamas truce idea By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 20, 8:05 PM ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel is examining a Hamas truce proposal delivered by Egypt, defense officials said Thursday after at least six Palestinians were killed in a day of Israeli air and ground strikes aimed at stopping rocket salvos from Gaza. The Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the Hamas proposal was limited to stopping the rocket fire in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza. They said Hamas gave assurances it could impose the truce on the militant groups that are firing the rockets — Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees. There was no immediate comment from the Egyptian government. Despite the tentative contacts, there were more Palestinian rocket barrages Thursday. One rocket fired by militants in Gaza exploded next to an Israeli school, terrifying children. Late Thursday, Hamas said it fired three rockets at Israel, its first such claim in weeks, putting the truce talk in doubt.Hamas first floated the idea of a truce earlier this week when its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, called an Israeli TV reporter. Israel rejected the advance, saying there was no need for a truce because if the rocket fire stopped, Israel would have no reason to attack.

Israel refuses to deal directly with Hamas because the militant Islamic movement rejects the existence of a Jewish state in the Islamic Middle East and routinely calls for its destruction. Previous truces have been negotiated through Egyptian mediation, but none has held for long.Vice Premier Haim Ramon said the overture was proof that Israel's strategy of blockading Gaza and battling militants there is working.All of these ... comments, and the messages coming in all kinds of strange ways, all of these things are a kind of smoke screen that just shows that Israel's recent policy toward Palestinian terror is bearing fruit, Ramon told Army Radio.In amateur video of the Thursday rocket attack on the battered Israeli town of Sderot, taken from inside the school, the sound of the explosion is clearly heard. Children scream and cry as a teacher tries to round them up and guide them to a safe location.No one was hurt, but Israeli officials said about a dozen children suffered panic attacks, and one was taken to a hospital for shock.Pictures such as those from Sderot, a favorite target of rocket squads just half a mile from the Gaza-Israel border fence, have increased pressure on Israel's government to take action to stop the rocket attacks.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said repeatedly that a large-scale invasion of Gaza is nearing, but experts and officials acknowledge that such invasions have not stopped the rockets in the past.Instead, the military is using pinpoint strikes to try to deter the militants, such as those on Thursday. Troops entered central Gaza and withdrew after nightfall, the military said.Israel said its forces killed seven Palestinian gunmen in four clashes Thursday. Palestinians confirmed six dead and 20 wounded.Israeli ground forces in central Gaza killed two approaching gunmen, the army said, and later shot dead two more militants. Palestinians said five militants were killed. Two of the bodies were recovered after nightfall.Hospital officials said another person was also killed in the clash.A Reuters soundman was shot in the leg while covering the clashes. It was not clear whether he was wounded by Israeli or Palestinian fire, the news agency said. A photographer for Hamas television was also slightly injured.Israeli infantry and armored troops were in the area conducting a routine operation against militants who fire rockets and mortar rounds, try to infiltrate into Israel, and plant bombs along the border fence, the military said.

Palestinian gunmen launched mortar rounds at troops and fired at Israeli aircraft with machine guns as Israeli snipers took up positions on the roofs of homes in the area, witnesses said. In the afternoon, the military said militants fired an anti-tank weapon, seriously wounding a soldier. The Israelis fired back, killing a Palestinian. Later, Israeli ground and air forces clashed with militants, and two were killed, the military said.
Palestinians said in that incident, a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft hit a house. Two people were apparently killed, they said, but ambulances could not approach the area.

Rice welcomes good step from Israel on settlements Thu Dec 20, 5:58 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Israel took a good step when it dropped plans for a new Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday, adding it would have undercut new peace talks. I think it's a good step, Rice said in an exclusive interview with AFP after Israel's housing ministry abandoned the plans for the Atarot area in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.I don't know the calculations that went into it, but obviously it's helpful that you don't have that decision to contend with, she said, noting such moves undermine confidence.Rice did not say whether or not she had talked to Israeli government officials after Housing Minister Zeev Boim mentioned the plans on Wednesday, but suggested that they took heed of previous criticism over similar moves.I think that the Israelis understood that what had happened with Har Homa had had an effect of undermining the confidence in the very fragile and brand new peace process, Rice said.Two weeks ago, Israel invited bids for more than 300 new housing units in another settlement of occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, known as Har Homa to Israelis and as Jebel Abu Ghneim to Palestinians.

The expansion came a week after Israelis and Palestinians revived peace talks at a conference in the US city of Annapolis. It sparked criticism from the Palestinians, the European Union and the United States.Rice said after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Brussels on December 7: I made it clear that we are in a time when the goal is to build maximum confidence with the parties. This is not going to build that confidence.During the international conference in Annapolis, Maryland on November 27, Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to revive their frozen peace process and set the goal of a peace deal and a new Palestinian state by the end of 2008.Israel does not consider construction in east Jerusalem -- which it captured in the 1967 Six-Day war -- as settlement growth because it annexed the Arab part of the Holy City shortly after the conflict.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

HAMAS CALLS FOR TRUCE (RIGHT)

Israel test fires improved Patriot missile Wed Dec 19, 11:40 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel successfully test fired an improved Patriot missile as part of efforts to upgrade the country's radar system following last year's war against Hezbollah, the army said on Wednesday.The test-firing was conducted on Tuesday in southern Israel as part of series of improvements conducted in the missile's operational system towards a new radar system that allows a wider cover and detection ranges.The experiment launched the missile at a target imitating an airplane flying on an operational mission.In August, it was reported that the Israeli air force was to buy advanced Patriot PAC-3 missiles, made in the United States and capable of intercepting aircraft and long-range ballistic missiles, to upgrade the air defence system.The Patriot PAC-3 was reportedly capable of intercepting missiles possessed by Syria, Israel's arch enemy to the north.The missile, weighing 320 kilos (700 pounds), increases the firepower of the Patriot battery, as 16 of them fit on a launcher, compared with four PAC-2s.Israel first deployed the Patriot system in 1991, when then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein fired Scuds on the country during the first Gulf War.

Mideast peace in 2008 unlikely due to U.S. vote: Assad Wed Dec 19, 8:29 AM ET

VIENNA (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said achieving Middle East peace in 2008 looked unrealistic because the United States would be preoccupied with the presidential election. Damascus attended a Middle East conference last month and the Annapolis meeting re-launched formal peace talks aimed at reaching agreement on Palestinian statehood by the end of 2008.It is perhaps too late to talk about peace in the last year of this U.S. administration. It will be preoccupied with elections, Assad said in an interview with Austrian daily Die Presse published on Wednesday.Annapolis was a one-day event. It will all depend on follow-up efforts. We have to be optimistic, although cautious. The United States presidential election is on November 4.Syria said the Annapolis meeting, attended by other Arab countries, revived its bid to recover the occupied Golan Heights from Israel although there were no direct talks between the two adversaries.

Assad said Syria and Israel went 80 percent of the way towards peace in talks on a handback of the Golan in 2000, before the talks collapsed.Now a referee is needed. The United States above all, naturally with support from the EU and U.N.. But without the U.S., nothing will work, he was quoted as saying.He said U.S. policy in the region, which Arabs have long regarded as misguided due to a perceived pro-Israel tilt, was changing in form although not yet in substance.Israel captured the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.(Reporting by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Mideast Catholic leader says peace depends on Israel Wed Dec 19, 7:10 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Catholic leader in the Holy Land said on Wednesday in a Christmas message that peace depended on Israel and rejected the idea of a religious state on land revered by Christians, Jews and Muslims. To attain peace, it is necessary to believe that Israelis and Palestinians are equal in all things, that they have the same rights and the same duties, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah said in Jerusalem.The strong party, the one with everything in hand, the one who is imposing occupation on the other, has the obligation to see what is just for everyone and to carry it out courageously.Answering questions after reading out his Christmas message, Sabbah said Israelis and Palestinians were in a new phase after relaunching the peace process in the US city of Annapolis last month following a seven-year freeze.There is something new in this Annapolis. That the American administration is decided (to push for peace), though the decision will be taken by those who are here, Palestinians and Israelis, he said.And the one who will make the decision will be Israel. If Israel decides for peace, we will have peace, Sabbah said.The patriarch, who oversees Catholics in Cyprus, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, said the Holy Land was universal to Christians, Jews and Muslims, and that any state must recognise those claims.This land cannot be excluded for anyone... The land belongs to three religions, without excluding one religion or the other, he said.

That's why establishing a religious state, with a Jewish or Muslim religious character, would exclude the other religion and would treat unjustly the believers of other religions,he said.Israel wants the Palestinians to recognise the state's Jewish nature.
Palestinians refuse this, seeing it as de facto rejection of the right of return for refugees who fled when the state of Israel was created in 1948.Israelis fear that a massive return of Palestinian refugees would put the Jewish population -- currently 80 percent --in a minority.There is discrimination linked to the nature of the state. Israel says simply I am a Jewish state and that creates discrimination with regard to non Jews, said Sabbah, who was born in Nazareth, today in northern Israel.

Hamas calls for truce with Israel By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer DEC 19,07

GAZA CITY, Gaza City - On Islam's most important holiday, the leader of Gaza's Hamas government appealed Wednesday for a cease-fire with Israel and said his people — battered by Israeli military strikes and international sanctions — are greeting this year's feast with tears in our eyes.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman said there could be no deals with Hamas until it renounces violence and recognizes Israel, though one Cabinet minister said Israel might consider outside mediation with the Islamic militants.Israel and Hamas have never had direct contacts because of the group's violently anti-Israel ideology. But they have agreed to short truces negotiated by third parties.The appeal from Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the Hamas government in Gaza, came in a phone call to an Israeli TV reporter, said Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu. It followed a two-day air assault by Israeli forces that killed 12 Gaza militants, two from Hamas and 10 from Islamic Jihad.

Israel should stop its attacks and siege, Nunu said. Then a truce would be possible, and not unlikely.Hamas officials said they were working with other militant groups to try to stop the rocket fire into Israel and also sent overtures to Israel through unidentified third parties.Olmert's office would not confirm that such messages had arrived. His spokesman, Mark Regev, said there would be no negotiations until Hamas recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts existing peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. The Islamic militant group has never agreed to those conditions.On Tuesday, Olmert said the war against militants would not end and its leaders were in Israeli cross-hairs. We will get all those who are responsible for firing rockets, he said.Israel's president, Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres, released an unusually harsh statement opposing talks with Hamas. He called the Hamas overture a pathetic attempt to deflect world attention away from the crimes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.But Cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz, a former army chief and defense minister, took a more conciliatory view.In an interview on Israel Army Radio, he said Israel might consider indirect contacts with Hamas to end the fighting.As long as rocket attacks persist, Israel will not for even one hour let up its attacks on Gaza militants, Mofaz said. But mediation is something we can think about, he added.At least one other Cabinet minister supports contacts with Hamas, but a clear majority, including Olmert, is opposed.Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza said Hamas has not approached his group about a cease-fire.This is not a time for truce, he told The Associated Press. We have to inflict revenge upon this criminal enemy. Israel's air assault was the most punishing since Hamas overran Gaza in June.After the Hamas takeover, Israel closed the borders to all but minimum essentials, and Egypt also shut its only crossing with Gaza. The result has been further hardship for the poverty-stricken territory.

Speaking at a sparsely attended Wednesday prayer gathering at a Gaza soccer stadium for the beginning of the Eid al-Adha festival, Haniyeh blamed Israel for the sour atmosphere, referring to Israel's latest air assault.The Palestinians greet the feast differently from the other Muslim nations — with martyrs, with members of resistance dying, because of the crimes of the Zionist occupation, he said. We greet it with tears in our eyes and sadness in our hearts.The Eid al-Adha festival commemorates the ancient story of Abraham and his readiness to sacrifice his son, rendered in the Quran as Ishmael, as an act of obedience to God, who provided a lamb to be offered instead. Main features of the holiday are slaughtering animals and giving gifts, but both have been curtailed this year because of shortages caused by the tight cordon around Gaza. Outside their home in the upscale Gaza City neighborhood of Rimal, the Hamad family gathered to slaughter a cow after prayers, using a small crane to lift the 880-pound animal. One-third of the meat is traditionally distributed to the needy. Although he paid 25 percent more for the cow than in the past, Alaa Hamad said he will give out more than the required third to poor neighbors. Poverty now is a general phenomenon, he said. Umm Ahmed Abu Assem, 50, said she had to sell her gold bracelet for $220 to buy her children a sheep to slaughter. There is so much shortage as it is, she said. People were trying to make do with what they have, substituting traditional feast staples with local goods. Chocolate has not been coming in, so strawberries abundant in the market because of an export ban — featured high in holiday handouts.

Monday, December 17, 2007

DONORS PLEDGE 7 BL DOLLARS

GENESIS 11:1-9 King James Bible
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.(today with interprters the world is one language again).
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.(notice the words let us)(todays world leaders, judges and men in power say let us also do our will not GODS WILL.)
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.(God warns us here once every nation is in unison no Sin will be out of mind. The world will deny theres a God and will think they have all the answers. Sounds like this Generation to me.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.(When Jesus returns to earth he will once again stop the Sinners and bring in righteousness to the World.)
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

THE ISRAELIS BELIEVE GOD SPLIT THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH INTO 70 NATIONS AND LANGUAGES. THIS IS INTERESTING THAT THE NEW WORLD ORDER (ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT IS COMING TOGETHER AND 70 NATIONS WILL BE AT THIS DONOR SUMMIT. AND SINCE THE BIBLE SAYS THE EU WILL LEAD THIS WORLD GOVERNMENT. BIBLE PROPHECY IS QUICKLY COMING TO PASS LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS WOULD HAPPEN. THE CULMINATION OF PROPHECY WILL BE LIKE A WOMAN IN LABOUR, THE PAIN STARTS OUT MINUTES BETWEEN LABOUR PAINS UNTIL WHEN THE CHILD COMES OUT THE PAIN IS INTENSE AND CONSTANT. THIS IS HOW LAST DAYS PROPHECIES WILL BE COMING TO PASS AFTER ISRAEL IS IN THEIR OWN LAND AND RECAPTURED JERUSALEM AS THEIR CAPITAL. SINCE 67 TILL NOW HAS BEEN 40 YRS A BIBLE GENERATION, AND THE BIBLE CLEARLY SAYS ALL PROPHECIES OF THE BIBLE WILL BE COMPLETED IN THE LAST GENERATION TO SEE ISRAEL IN THEIR OWN LAND AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM. ITS NO ACCIDENT THAT JERUSALEM IS BEING DIVIDED TO CAUSE WW3 TO OCCUR BECAUSE THE BIBLE HAS TO BE FULFILLED IN THIS FINAL GENERATION AND USHER IN THE MESSIAHS (JESUS) RETURN TO EARTH BODILY ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES WERE HE WAS TAKEN TO HEAVEN AFTER HIS RESURRECTION.

70 Nations at Day-Long Conference for Palestinian Stateby Hillel Fendel DEC 16,07

(IsraelNN.com) Representatives of some 70 nations and another 20 international delegations will convene in Paris on Monday in a one-day Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State. The goal is to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, on behalf of a Palestinian state adjoining, crowding - and threatening - the State of Israel. The event is being held as a continuation of sorts of last month's Annapolis Summit, at which Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to begin final-status talks. The agreement flew in the face of the U.S.-sponsored Road Map plan, which specified that the PA must stop anti-Israel terrorism from within the areas under its control before final-status talks could begin.Among the international representatives taking part in the Monday conference in Paris are UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Quartet Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair, who recently stepped down as Britain's Prime Minister, will co-chair the event. Participating organizations include the European Commission, the Arab League, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and European and Arab financial funds. All 27 members of the European Union will be represented, as will be Middle East countries, the Group of Eight industrialized nations, Brazil, China, India and Norway.

Houses for Arabs - But Not for Jews

PA chairman Mahmud Abbas, who also heads the Fatah terrorist organization, is seeking $5.6 billion dollars over the coming three years for various needs of a state-in-the-making. Among them are thousands of Arab housing units to be built throughout Judea and Samaria - to which Israel has already reportedly agreed.

At the same time, Israel has imposed a ban - under American pressure - on Jewish construction in these areas.The PA is asking for money for development projects for education, health, business, and more. Some 30-40% of the projects are to be in Hamas-controlled Gaza, with guarantees to ensure that the funds do not reach Hamas. Such guarantees have been only partially effective in the past. Analysts expect a common thread to run through many of the speeches at the conference: Pressure and demands upon Israel to remove security checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. This, despite the fact that they actually aid the PA in fulfilling its commitment to fight terrorism; Israeli soldiers frequently detect would-be terrorists who attempt to smuggle weapons or explosives into Israel via the checkpoints.

The Dangers of a Palestinian State

Though it is the position of world opinion, the Bush Administration and Prime Minister Olmert's government that a Palestinian state is necessary, many analysts feel otherwise. Objections include military, religious and political considerations. Even Shimon Peres, in his book, Tomorrow is Now, resounding opposed a Palestinian state, writing, During a war, the borders of the Palestinian state will serve as an ideal springboard for mobile forces to immediately breach Israeli defenses towards the infrastructure vital to Israel's existence, to limit the freedom of action of the Israeli Air Force in Israeli skies, and to shed the population's blood through masses of artillery positions proximity to the border. In the absence of defensible borders, Israel will be annihilated in a war.Yitzchak Rabin wrote in his memoirs, Palestine will rise upon the ruins of the State of Israel.Shmuel Katz, co-founder of the Herut Party with Menachem Begin and an MK of the First Knesset, wrote, If the Arabs were given a state in a part of Palestine, they would surely accept it as the next of the 'phases' for attaining the rest of the country – which they have been forecasting for years. It would inevitably make a serious contribution to the grievous weakening of Israel, strategically and politically. It is illusory in the extreme – and shockingly misleading – to suggest that it will bring peace.

List of Donations to Palestinians
By The Associated Press – DEC 17,07


A look at the major donations given Monday at an international donors conference for the Palestinians. The total sum pledged was $7.4 billion from 2008 to 2010, surpassing the $5.6 billion sought.
Many donors were focusing their aid on 2008, leaving plans for later budget years up to future government decisions.The French Foreign Ministry said European countries accounted for 52 percent of donations, Arab nations 20 percent, North America countries and international organizations 11 percent each and all other countries 6 percent.

United States: $555 million for 2008, though about $400 million has not been approved by Congress.Arab League members: $1.3 billion over three years, including $500 million from Saudi Arabia and $300 million each from United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. European countries: more than $3 billion, including $650 million from the European Union alone in 2008, probably similar levels for 2009 and 2010.Key European donors include Britain, $500 million for three years, pledged with conditions; Norway, $420 million over three years; Spain, $360 million over three years; France and Sweden, $300 million each over three years; and Germany, $290 million over three years.Source: National governments and diplomats; the European Union; Palestinian Planning Minister Samir Abdullah.

Global donors pledge 7.4 bln dlrs for Palestinians by Christophe de Roquefeuil DEC 17,07

PARIS (AFP) - International donors pledged 7.4 billion dollars to the Palestinians Monday at a conference described by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the last hope to save their government from bankruptcy. Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad had formally asked donors meeting in Paris for 5.6 billion dollars by 2010 to help fulfil his plan to develop a viable economy for a future state.The real winner is the Palestinian state, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told AFP as he announced that a total of 7.4 billion dollars (5.15 billion euros) had been promised.The pledges were made at a one-day conference convened to agree a package of aid to stabilise the Palestinian economy and shore up the peace process with Israel -- jumpstarted in the US city of Annapolis last month.

We see this conference as an important vote of confidence on the part of the international community, Fayyad said as the conference wrapped up.But Islamist group Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June and was not invited to Paris or the Annapolis meeting, labelled it a dangerous conspiracy aimed at dividing the Palestinians.We support all forms of aid, financial or otherwise, to the Palestinian people. But the Paris conference is coating poison with honey and is a dangerous conspiracy, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement released in Gaza.Some humanitarian groups questioned the benefit of such a massive aid package.In London, the development charity Oxfam warned donors were pouring cash into a leaking bucket, arguing that aid efforts already in place were being seriously hampered by Israeli restrictions on movement.The challenge is to fix the leak, not pour faster... Due to Israel's movement restrictions and the blockade of Gaza, millions of dollars of aid for Palestinians are being lost, Oxfam's Middle East director Adam Leach said.But Tony Blair, Middle East envoy for the diplomatic Quartet, said the money would be used for building the capacity and the institutions for the (Palestinian) state.Over the next few months what we have got to show to people is that we are capable of making the difference on the ground, he said.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had earlier warned the almost 90 delegations that the West Bank and Gaza were facing a total catastrophe without their aid.

Pledges quickly came pouring in with Rice announcing a US donation of 555 million dollars for 2008, including 150 million dollars for budget support.The Palestinian Authority is experiencing a serious budgetary crisis. This conference is literally the government's last hope to avoid bankruptcy, Rice said.The European Commission pledged to donate 650 million dollars in aid for 2008 alone while Britain and Saudi Arabia announced three-year aid packages of 490 million dollars and at least 500 million dollars respectively.
Opening the conference earlier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged 300 million dollars over three years. Germany promised 200 million dollars by 2010 and Sweden offered 300 million dollars in 2007 and 2008.Some 3.4 billion dollars of Monday's pledges was to go to the Palestinians in 2008, the first year of Fayyad's three-year recovery plan, a final statement at the end of the conference said. This support will be essential for accompanying the political process launched in Annapolis at the end of November, the statement added. As the conference kicked off, Abbas urged Israel -- represented by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni -- to freeze all settlement activity in the Palestinian territories to allow the newly-relaunched peace drive to gain a foothold.

I expect a complete halt of all settlement activities without exception, Abbas said, also calling for the dismantling of 127 wildcat settlements, the lifting of military checkpoints, a halt to construction of the separation barrier and prisoner releases.
Around 70 countries, as well as all the major international organisations, were attending the Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State, a month after Israel and the Palestinians relaunched negotiations frozen for seven years. The takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas, which won a majority in 2006 parliamentary elections, effectively split the Palestinian territories in half. Hamas -- pledged to Israel's destruction and shunned by the West -- rules in Gaza, while the Western-backed Abbas controls the West Bank.

Quartet concerned by Israeli expansion in east Jerusalem DEC 17,07

PARIS (AFP) - The Middle East Quartet expressed concern Monday about the extension of Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem, in a statement issued on the sidelines of a Palestinian donors' conference. The quartet expressed concern over the announcement of new housing tenders for Har Homa/Jabal Abu Ghneim, the statement said.Principals called for all sides to refrain from steps that undermine confidence and underscored the importance of avoiding any actions that could prejudice the outcome of permanent status negotiations, it said.The quartet is comprised of the EU, Russia, the United States and the UN.Two weeks ago Israel said it had invited bids to build more than 300 new housing units in Har Homa, a settlement in annexed east Jerusalem.The quartet also called for the removal of restrictions on Palestinian movement, in order to encourage the development of the economy.(The quartet) expressed urgent concern over the continued closure of major crossing-points, given their impact on the Palestinian economy and daily life, the statement said.

US security envoy to visit Israel Tuesday DEC 17,07

JERUSALEM (AFP) - US special envoy for Middle East security General James Jones is to visit Israel for talks on Tuesday, an Israeli official said. General Jones is coming to the region for 24 hours on Tuesday. He will meet Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert, the official said.The role of his mandate is to indicate whether Israel and the Palestinans are carrying out their roadmap commitments, he added, referring to a an internationally drafted peace blueprint that has made next to no progress since its launch more than four years ago.The United States named Jones, a former NATO commander, as its Middle East security envoy on November 28, a day after Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to revive the peace process after a seven-year freeze.He will work with Israelis and Palestinians on the full range of security issues, and he will work to strengthen security for both sides, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the time.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

TONY BLAIR ON MIDEAST PROCESS

Exclusive interview: Tony Blair DEC 14,07

In an exclusive interview, Tony Blair, the special envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet of the UN, US, EU and Russia tells Al Jazeera that in order to bring peace to the region more help is needed to get the Palestinians in a position where they can build the institutions of their own state.He also argues that the difference between Annapolis and previous peace conferences is that the entire international community, including Israel, now see a two-state solution as a priority.Al Jazeera: Can you please put us in the picture of your tour in the region - what are you planning to do after Annapolis and before Paris?

Tony Blair: Essentially, the Annapolis conference announced that the Palestinians and Israelis were going to negotiations to resolve the final status issues, in other words to put the peace deal together.

But in order to get a Palestinian state we need to help the Palestinians build the institutions of that state; education and health, economic development, security and governance and so on. So the Paris conference next week is going to be a pledging conference so that the international community can get behind the Palestinians and the reformer development plan that they will present at that conference can support it financially.

We are looking for round about $5.6bn from the international community to support it. And so I am here in the region obviously to ask people to give that commitment to the Palestinians. The European Union and the Americans have made commitments, and my own government back in Britain has, and obviously it's important that Gulf countries do as well.

Q: However, giving assistance is one thing and whether or not it is reaching all Palestinians is something else... is that not so?

A: Yes, it's important that we make sure that all the Palestinians benefit from this. So some of this money will go in budgetary support which will go to pay wages, some of it will go to humanitarian support, but a lot of it should also go for development money, because if the Palestinian state is going to be successful, it has to have the capability to run itself properly not just in the West Bank, but in Gaza as well.

Q: You are talking about assistance with billions of dollars and those living in Gaza do not have clean water to drink, they do not have electricity, they do not have ambulances and their life is really difficult...

A: Well it is... I mean it's really difficult for people, so the question is: How do we make it better? And in my view we have to work on three things together which [are], first of all, a political deal between Palestinians and Israelis, that's what Annapolis launched with a timeline, we will seek to reach a final agreement for the first time, in 2008.

Secondly, we need to give the Palestinians the support to develop their countries and the third thing we need is for the facts on the ground to change. We need increased Palestinian capability, a removal progressively of the Israeli presence and the ability of the Palestinians to have their own homeland... their own state... where they can govern their own affairs and that is the purpose.

But you need all of these three things together, because without the political deal then you won't get the Palestinians able to build their own state and without the Palestinians building their own state then the facts on the ground won't change.

I'm aware of the fact that people are very sceptical in this region as to whether we will succeed or not, but we have got to try because there is no alternative but to make this succeed.

Q: But are not people in the region excused for being sceptical if they see that after Annapolis what happened on the ground was a decision to expand the Abu Ghuneim settlement and increase the siege as if nothing happened?

A: Well, actually, the international communities called upon Israel to reverse that decision and it is important that we don't have steps taken, whether outposts or settlements, that are inconsistent with what the final agreement will look like.

And what I'm trying to do is to make sure that we can get economic projects going on the Palestinian sides. For example around Jericho a whole agri-industrial development... For example industrial parks down in [Tulkarem]... For example housing projects... and opening up tourism in Bethlehem... making sure for example in Gaza that the sewage treatment project goes ahead.

There are a whole series of things that we have got to do to change that reality on the ground and I do agree, of course it's important that both sides do not take steps that are inconsistent with the final deal and that's what we are working for.

Q: Is this what you are betting on when you say an agreement can be reached in 2008 or are you betting on something else we do not know?

A: Well there's nothing else I don't know! Look the starting point of this is to realise that people, including your people watching this, they will say look for 40 years... nothing has happened, it's never going to happen... so why bother?

And my response to them s: People used to say to me when I came to power in 1997 about Northern Ireland look - they've been fighting each other for years, they're never going to stop so what's the point? And the answer then - and is now, in this situation - is that there is no alternative but to try. And the difference this time, I think, is that for the first time it's clear for the whole of the international community that this is a priority.

It's also a priority for Israel because Israel will have no long-term security unless the Palestinians are given a proper state. Of course this will be done in a way that protects Israel's security but it also has to be done in a way that gives dignity and respect for Palestinians.

And for the Arab world, they want this dispute resolved now. They've got other things that they want to look at now. You only have to come to this region and see the enormous economic potential and possibility. Then you look at this dispute in a small territory between Israel and Palestine that has caused so much turmoil the world over... And we can do it, it's not impossible if the people have the will.

Q: However the question is, to your knowledge do they have the will? Secondly, you say that the international community and the US have a priority to settle this dispute... So why now?

A: Well, I guess my answer to that would be that we can argue forever as to whether President Bush should have done something different earlier or not... but that's an argument, we are where we are. The important thing is now he has set this timetable and after all he was actually the first American president ever to commit to a two-state solution and this is a timetable not like Oslo or the other negotiations - it's an actual timetable to reach an agreement over all the core issues the final status issue.

So I think this is a very ambitious step that has been taken, but I agree we have got to deliver on it now. That's the task of all of us together; to make sure that we do deliver on it. So we can either sit here and say look it's hopeless or we can try... And I'm a believer in trying.

Q: What do you say to a viewer who has been following the conflict since the beginning and heard all resolutions; 242, 338 and so on... all of these resolutions when they are talked about became Oslo, post-Oslo, the roadmap in which Arabs saw a bias to Israel... Nevertheless, Israel did not implement them and now there is Bush's vision and Bush's promise to Sharon. Where are international resolutions? Why don't we go back to them?

A: Well, I think we will have to go back to them, but that is not really the issue now. The issue is this; it's very important if you want to settle a dispute like this you have got to see both sides and sometimes it's very difficult to see the other point of view.

From the Israeli point of view their pre-occupation is security. They think they are surrounded by countries who don't want them to exist and they have been subject to certain terrorist attacks from outside into Israel. Now you can argue as to all the reasons why this is an unreasonable point of view but this is how they think. For the Palestinians their reality is that as a result of Israel's security concern there is the occupation and that occupation is stifling for the Palestinians... they suffer as a result of it.

Now, what I want to do is all these resolutions are great but do they tell you where you want to end up? My point is how do we get from where we are to that end point? And that will only happen if those three bits come together. In other words, you build a Palestinian capability to govern that state effectively because that is of fundamental importance to the Israeli concern on security. And the third thing is in the meantime you start to change what is happening on the ground.

That means lifting the restrictions that are there as the Palestinians gain their capability on security. It means developing the economic side. It means making sure that people are acting in a way and behaving in a way that is consistent with the final agreement. So, yes, it's true that there have been all these resolutions in the United Nations and security council and elsewhere, but they won't work unless on [the] ground the reality is changed and that is what I am trying to do now.

Q: So in your opinion and from your background and experience with Northern Ireland, could the thing be applied in the region this time around? Isn't it a totally different situation? Aren't there complications... regional complications that overlap here?

A: It's certainly complicated this region, I'll agree with you there. But here's the difference. When I was British prime minister I was able to come in and out of the region but for a couple of days at a time. And it's only since I have been the special representative [that] I have been able to come in and spend significant... I mean I've been spending a lot of my time out here now and you get a far deeper understanding of what the issue is and what the problem is.

Actually, Jim Wolfensohn did a very good job, but my portfolio is a little broader than that and also in some ways this is a political problem and therefore there is a level of political engagement that I can have as a result of the experience and context that I had as a prime minister.

But at the end the most important thing is that we have the Annapolis conference which launches a process. I agree, it's just a process but it's a process with a timeline. We will have Paris next week which will be a pledging conference for the Palestinians and then we have got to put the final bit in place which is to make sure that that change starts to happen on the ground. I hope that within quite a short space of time we can show the Palestinians there is the possibility of progress. And then you can get to the point where all Palestinians, Gaza and West Bank, can get behind a process of peace. sS we can have the two states living side by side in peace which is what both of them need; [what] both sets of people desperately need.

Q: However, when you talk about what goes on on the ground and the realities there you did not even mention Hamas in Gaza. It is there also on the ground and in reality it has its own vision. Was it truly successful - I mean the policy of isolating Hamas and pushing it to Gaza?

A: Here is the problem very simply with Hamas; I respect entirely the fact that they won the elections. If they want my help I will help, and they want our money, which they do from the international community, we've got to agree the terms upon which we help them [and how] that financial support is to be given. And the terms for me are that we agree that there should be two states, Israel and Palestine. So, if they are prepared to enter into that engagement, if you like, on those terms understanding that there are going to be two states fine.

Q: What if they do not understand that?

A: If they do not understand that how can we help them? When people say we've isolated Hamas, here is the point, if we all agree that there should be two states, Israel and a viable Palestinian state, the only way you can negotiate is if everybody agrees that's what you are trying to negotiate.

If Hamas are uncertain or oppose the integration with the Israeli state, it becomes difficult to negotiate with them. You know I think one of the interesting things is for example what Hamas is doing in Gaza now, I think actually most Palestinian people would prefer to see the progress towards the two-state solution. I'm also frankly worried about some things that Hamas is doing in Gaza in terms of their restrictions and the treatment of women and so on.

In the end, when people say you are isolating Hamas or excluding Hamas, this process is prevailed to everybody who shares the same basic goals and that is the two-states, and if Hamas shared that goal and was prepared to deal with it peacefully, fine.

Q: We are now talking about peace in the Middle East, while in the past when we read news and talked about war in Iraq and the decision to go for war on Iraq and your name was mentioned repeatedly at the time you said you did not participate in that war only based on your personal friendship with Bush. After all that happened in Iraq, are you still sure that those reasons truly justified what happened?

A: Well, I'll tell you what I believe; I believe that it was right to remove Saddam Hussein because he was a brutal dictator [who] killed hundreds of thousands of his people. And I also think that... Iraq is given a chance to be a stable country and that those people who are interfering with it from outside stop, whether it is al-Qaeda on the one hand or Iranian elements on the other.

We have given Iraq the possibility of a full democracy, very substantial international support, but when people say to me it is a terrible situation in Iraq with people dying in Iraq, I agree. But the people doing the killing are those who drive cars bombs in the markets full of innocent people. And in the end, Iraqis shouldn't have a choice between the brutality of Saddam and the brutality of the terrorists with their bombs. They should be able to have what we have.

Q: This is in theory, but on the ground, Iraq has been fragmented now and there was a report saying that after the British withdrawal from Basra, the region will be governed by criminal gangs, the first time we hear such a description.

A: Yes, but this is why it is important that we stop this to make sure that this doesn't happen. Because in the end, you know, it is a real [indictment] to the sense of the whole international community's attitude to Iraq.

If the Iraqis are left with a choice between either a brutal dictator named Saddam or certain criminal gangs and terrorists, the majority of the people in Iraq, I'm quite sure [will] want to unify the country with proper systems of government.

Now, I think it is believed they will get there. But it is like the Taliban in Afghanistan. You know, we removed the Taliban from Afghanistan but they are still trying to fight back. But our job when they do fight back should be to stand up to them, not give in to them, because in the end what these people want, they want completely reactionary politics, they want the suppression and repression to the people and they got completely outdated on fashion views. They are brutal in their methods. And what I want from people whether in Afghanistan or in Iraq or in Palestine [is for them] to be free to choose their government to be free to live as they want.

Q: Do you truly believe that they are living their life as they want, or that there is at least a flicker of hope that they can do that in the near future? Some are accusing the United States [of being] the cause of destabilisation in Iraq and now it represents itself as if it was the guarantor?

A: What I want to say is that I agree with that point that they did get that life, but who is stopping them? We are not stopping them; we are trying to help them.

Q: Excuse me, but how are you trying to help them?

A: Because we say that these people who are engaged in terrorism should be defeated and that the government should be allowed to govern the country properly and we are prepared to support that with money from the international community.

I mean look, this is where the debate [is]. It is important that people hear the other point of view, because sometimes I hear even back in my own country someone stops me and says how can we blame the Muslims for feeling angry with what you and Bush are doing in Afghanistan or what you do in Iraq? And I say to people - we removed two brutal dictatorial regimes then gave the United States back [the] process for democracy, plus a vast amount of international money and support.

The terrorists, Taliban, al-Qaeda, these different groups in Iraq then come in blowing up innocent people and trying to kill innocent people to stop that process and people say it is your fault, it is not. It is the fault is the people who are doing the killing.

Q: It is worth nothing that when you launched the war you didn't say to remove Saddam Hussein, you said there were weapons of mass destruction and that was not proven. And now the Americans say they are in the region to protect it from terrorism.

Some believe that the terrorism is the presence of occupation in the region and what Iraqis received is non-stability and if you ask them they would have preferred to keep the security.

A: When people say that George Bush has provoked the terrorism, let's just analyse that for a moment. I mean, what is so terrible about removing a brutal dictatorial regime and say now we are going to give the people [the right] to elect their government? How does that provoke terrorism?

It is the terrorist that is doing the terrorism and one of the things that we have got to do is to get our mindset away from excusing this terrorism or saying that these extremists somehow represent ordinary Muslims which they don't - and get to the point when we all unite whether we are moderate people of whatever religious persuasion against the extremists who want to cause division and sectarianism.

Q: Some inhabitants in the region do not have a problem with whom you are describing as extremists. They have a problem with the description of the resistance men to terrorists. The term terrorism has not reached consensus in the world. Let us ask now about your vision about what will happen in the world as all eyes now turns towards Iran.

A: This is the thing that I cannot understand. I've studied resistance movements in history and we had many in the Second World War; very brave people.

But when we talk about resistance movements in Afghanistan or Iraq we've got to transfer people to vote [for] their government. So, what is the resistance exactly? I mean, if they elect a government and the government says the foreign troops get out, the foreign troops get out.

The truth is these people call themselves resistance fighters but they are not interested in what people think. What they are actually trying to do is to stop their country from being run by the people and instead be run by an ideology that is based on a complete perversion of the proper vision of Islam and to try intern this country backwards.

For example, the Taliban in Afghanistan refuse to allow girls to be taught in school. Well, what [sort of] a resistance movement is that? I mean, you know I think we've just got to recognise that these people are not actually resistance fighters at all.

Q: However there is a resistance to the Israeli occupation in the Middle East and also some may describe as terrorism other acts from a different point of view. As an envoy, peace envoy, do you see things in a different manner that you saw in the past, for example shelling media offices let's say, how do you describe that?

A: I don't agree with this, but I don't know what offices you mean.

Q: I mean Al Jazeera offices for example in Afghanistan or in Iraq?

A: Well, first of all let me say this, you asked what I've learned in my time as envoy to the Middle East. I think what I have learned by travelling and seeing around Jericho in the Jordan valley and Hebron, actually travelling in the Palestinian territory, I do understand the deep sense of injustice the Palestinian people have, and I don't agree with terrorism in any context instantly.

I understand why the Palestinian people feel angry. The important thing is to change that situation. Instantly I don't agree with bombing the media for being the media in any situation; even though we have our disagreements from time to time.

Q: Some people in Al Jazeera feel that they owe you their lives about that conversation between you and President Bush in which it is said you convinced him not to bomb Al Jazeera's office.

A: I don't think you have been really in any danger. So, it is kind of you to thank me but it is not necessary.

Q: So this conversation did not take place, there was not intention or it took place in a different context?

A: No, put it like this, as far as I know, there never has been any intention to bomb Al Jazeera. What happens in politics is that you live your life in conspiracy theories and frankly there are enough normal and real political problems to solve without worrying about those ones. So, I'm afraid, I'm sorry to tell the viewers but that particular conspiracy about President Bush is not correct.

Friday, December 14, 2007

IN 2000 BARAK GAVE UP MOUNT

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

NOW THAT THE LISBON TREATY IS SIGNED WHICH I THINK GUARENTEES A PERMANANT PRESIDENT NOW, LOOKOUT FOR THE EU TO CONTROL THE PEACE PROCESS AND SEND TROOPS INTO ISRAEL TO GET THE ROADMAP ON TRACK.

EU Treaty main points DEC 14,07

Here are some of the main points of the European Union's new Treaty of Lisbon: It incorporates the key reforms in the constitution but it discards the name.The Charter of Fundamental Rights becomes legally binding - in all the member states except Britain and Poland, which negotiated exemptions.There is also a provision that if a million citizens petition the European Commission, it will propose legislation in the field concerned.

A new foreign policy chief with EU staff will give the bloc a greater say on the world stage. The High Representative will answer to EU governments and be a vice-president of the European Commission, with power over the EU external aid budget. A NATO-style mutual defence clause in case one of the member states is attacked is another of the foreign policy features.Voting at the member state level will be based on a double majority system, from 2017. A decision, to pass, will need 55 percent of the countries' support.At the moment this means 15 of them.These have to represent 65 percent of the EU's population. The Ioannina decisional delay provision especially important for Poland - in lieu of greater voting weight - becomes valid at this time.

The redistribution of seats in the European Parliament has been adjusted under a reform agreed in the assembly. This reshuffle for an enlarged EU reflects population changes. The treaty raises the total number of seats to 750 but it does not count the parliament's president.Like the constitution, the treaty aims to streamline the number of members in the EU executive college, or European Commission. It says the number of commissioners will be reduced from 27 to 15 by the year 2014. Its head will be named according to the results of European elections, this needing endorsement by a parliamentary vote.

The EU leaders will choose a president of the European Council for a 2-1/2 year renewable term.This does away with the current six-month rotating presidency - today assumed by a country. In the future an individual will chair the agenda and summits.Also left out is the flag commonly associated with the EU, formerly the European Communities, which adopted the banner in the 1980s. The Lisbon Treaty also makes no mention of the anthem symbol, Ode to Joy.

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Barak Agreed To Hand Temple Mount & Yesha to Arabs in 2000 Talks by Hana Levi Julian DEC 14,07

(IsraelNN.com) According to a document brought out of mothballs seven years after it was signed, Defense Minister Ehud Barak – then Prime Minister of Israel – agreed to transfer the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest site, to Arab sovereignty.

The document entitled The Status of the Diplomatic Process with the Palestinians - Points to Update the Incoming Prime Minister outlined the many points of disagreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), but noted significant agreement on at least three core issues. The talks at Camp David and Taba in 2000 and 2001 resulted in agreements on the issues of borders, refugees and Jerusalem, according to a 26-page document obtained by the Ha'aretz news service.Signed by Gilad Sher, bureau chief to then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the document included plans for an initiated separation in the event that talks would break down. It was the precursor to Israel's plan to withdraw from Gaza, which was carried out in then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's 2005 Disengagement operation, and to withdraw from Judea and Samaria which the current government is planning.All aspects of life were to be covered in a plan that was to be carried out over a number of years -- leaving enough time for adjustment and change as conditions warranted, including updated negotiations. The document indicated the cabinet gave its final approval for the plan in October 2000.On December 23, 2000, then-US President Bill Clinton sent a document entitled The Ideas Raised by President Clinton to Israel and the PA.

Those ideas were for Israel to annex 4 to 6% of Judea and Samaria for Jewish settlement, with 94-96% of the region going to a PA state, providing that Israel allow all PLO Arabs free passage through Israel. The Temple Mount would go to the PLO, with the Western Wall, the City of David, the Mount of Olives and other holy sites being given to Israel.According to Ha'aretz, Israel told Clinton that it wanted a special authority to ensure freedom of worship to Jews and Muslims at Jerusalem holy sites. In the Israeli response, Barak stated that the Jewish population of Judea and Samaria would not fit into Clinton's proposed annexed territory. He also stated that Israel should be in charge of securing safe passage to all worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hevron, Joseph's Tomb in Shechem, and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. Barak and Clinton agreed to keep Israel's seven-page response a secret, but Barak sent letters before he left office to Clinton, George W. Bush, Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak saying that Israel was not bound by Clinton's manifesto. Recently Barak, who is now the Defense Minister and Labor party chairman, has said he is advocating a plan to entice Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria to leave their homes in exchange for financial compensation.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Revealed: Israel agreed to forfeit Temple Mount
Documents detail ex-Israeli leader's deal handing Judaism's holiest site to Yasser Arafat December 13, 2007 11:09 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein 2007 WorldNetDaily.com


Temple Mount

JERUSALEM – In spite of longstanding denials by top officials here, the Israeli government in 2000 agreed to relinquish the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to the Palestinians during U.S.-backed negotiations, according to declassified documents made public today. The information comes as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier this month denied talks started at November's Annapolis summit would lead to Israel giving up its sovereignty over the Temple Mount, while chief Palestinian negotiators tell WND the Jewish state already agreed to forfeit Judaism's holiest site to a coalition of Arab countries. According to declassified Israeli government documents published today by Israel's Haaretz newspaper, during U.S.-led negotiations in 2000 at Camp David, Ehud Barak, then prime minister, agreed sovereignty over the Temple Mount would be either ambiguous or control would be determined based on the bond of each party to the site. The Palestinians would therefore control the upper sections of the Mount, which houses the Al Aqsa Mosque and also is the site of the First and Second Jewish Temples.

The 2000 negotiations fell through after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejected an offer of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Barak at times denied he offered the Temple Mount to the Palestinians, but he also indicated during interviews he was willing to compromise over the site. Haaretz published excerpts from a 26-page document it obtained, signed by Barak's negotiator Gilad Sher and said to be summaries of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The document was titled The Status of the Diplomatic Process with the Palestinians Points to Update the Incoming Prime Minister. Sher also wrote in his book published after the 2000 negotiations, titled Beyond Reach, that President Bill Clinton floated a plan that called for the Temple Mount to become Palestinian sovereign territory, while the Western Wall below and its complex would fall under Israeli sovereignty.

Barak was said to have initially rejected that plan, but according to participants at the negotiations summit, he was ultimately willing to forfeit the Temple Mount. The 26-page document published by Haaretz also said Barak was willing to give up most of the West Bank and split Jerusalem into two capitals, one called Jerusalem and another Al-Quds. Negotiations would have seen Arab sections of Jerusalem being turned over to the Palestinians. The release of the document follow's last month's Annapolis summit at which Olmert committed to aim at creating a Palestinian state before the end of next year, handing strategic territory to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. In a briefing to reporters upon returning to Israel from Annapolis, Olmert claimed Israel's sovereignty over the Temple Mount is not up for discussion. He said negotiations started at this week's Annapolis summit had no bearing on the situation on the Temple Mount. But a chief Palestinian negotiator, speaking to WND on condition of anonymity, said Olmert's denials were false.What Olmert said (regarding the Mount) is absolutely false. I think he's not yet ready to tell the Israeli public and is waiting for the right time, and he fears his coalition with religious extremists will fall apart if he announces it now, said the negotiator. Olmert's maintains a government coalition with the religious Shas party and Russian Yisroel Beiteinu party, but if those two bolt, the prime minister could create a new coalition with leftist parties.

The chief Palestinian negotiator said that in the months leading up to Annapolis, the Palestinian team was surprised by Olmert's willingness to give up the Mount. We had intense debates on many topics, which remain open and unsettled, but the Harem Al-Sharif (Temple Mount) is not a sticking point. The Israelis didn't argue with us. We were pleasantly surprised Olmert didn't debate about giving the lower section of the [Mount] either, which was a sticking point in the past.According to the negotiator, Olmert agreed to evacuate the Mount but not to turn it over to the Palestinians alone. The negotiator said both sides agreed, the Temple Mount would be given to joint Egypt, Jordan and Palestinian Authority control. He said the Israeli government felt an umbrella group of several Arab countries controlling the holy site instead of only the PA would help ease Israeli domestic opposition to giving up the Temple Mount, since Egypt and Jordan are considered by Israeli policy to be moderate countries. The Palestinian negotiator pointed out Israeli prime ministers previously denied withdrawal plans only to later carry them out. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, elected on a platform against evacuating territory, denied for his first year in office he would retreat from the Gaza Strip, but in 2005 he carried out a Gaza withdrawal.

Israel bars Jews, Christians from praying on Mount

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims say it is their third holiest site. The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries. The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's presence dwelt. The Al Aqsa Mosque now sits on the site. The Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays. The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact. The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from a sacred mosque – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to the farthest mosque and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Currently under Israeli control, Jews and Christians are barred from praying on the Mount.

The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area. Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians. The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered sensitive by the Waqf. During open days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any holy objects to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.