Friday, November 07, 2008

EU SAILS TO GAZA

OPEN LETTER TO MR SARKOZY LEADER (PRESIDENT)OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.

AND WHILE WERE AT IT HERES AN OPEN LETTER TO MR SARKOZY. PLEASE DISMISS THE USA FROM BEING IN THE ISRAELI-ARAB PEACE PROCESS. CONVINCE OBAMA AND HIS CREW THAT THE EU MUST BE THE GUARENTOR OF THE ISRAELIS. MAKE A 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL AND THE ARABS. MR SARKOSKY IN THIS 7 YEAR TREATY YOU MUST HAVE IT STATED THAT ISRAEL WILL BE ABLE TO REBUILD THE 3RD TEMPLE WITH EUROPEAN UNION TROOPS PROTECTING THE SITE AS TO GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT. THE DOME OF THE ROCK DOES NOT HAVE TO BE DESTROYED AS THE ISRAELIS 3RD TEMPLE WILL FIT ALSO ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT BUT TO THE NORTH OF THE DOME BY THE DOME OF THE SPIRITS. THIS WILL GIVE THE ISRAELIS THEIR 3RD TEMPLE TO SACRIFCE TO THEIR GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WHOLE WORLD. THE VATICAN COULD MAYBE BUILD A CHURCH ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT ALSO SO THE CHRISTIANS COULD ALSO PRAISE THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD KING JESUS FROM THE TEMPLE MOUNT ALSO. THE EUROPEAN UNION COULD PROTECT ALL 3 GROUPS OF WORSHIPPERS AND ESPECIALLY PROTECT ISRAEL WHILE THEY SACRIFICE THEIR ANIMALS IN THE 3RD TEMPLE. AND THE CHRISTIANS COULD MAYBE SOMEHOW WATCH AS THESE SACRIFICES REPRESENT THE BLOOD OF THEIR KING AND SAVIOUR CHRIST JESUS (ALL GOD AND ALL HUMAN). BUT MR SARKOZY LET ISRAEL BE IN CONTROL OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT, THEY HAVE THE SAY IN ALL THAT IS DONE ON THE MOUNT EXCEPT YOUR EUROPEAN UNION TROOPS ARE ALLOWED ON TO GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY AND RIGHT TO PRAY AND SACRIFICE TO THEIR AWESOME GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WHOLE EARTH. THANK YOU MR SARKOZY FOR SECURING ISRAELS SECURITY AS USE TAKE FULL AND ONLY CONTROL OF THE ISRAELI-ARAB PEACE PROCESS. REMEMBER MR SARKOZY THE TRUE MESSIAH OF ISRAEL WILL BE RULING FROM THERE IN THE FUTURE SO YOU PROTECT ISRAEL WITH YOUR RAPID REACTION FORCES AND PAVE THE WAY OF SAFETY AS THE TRUE MESSIAH SOON WILL RULE FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER. OH AND ONE LAST THING MR SARKOZY LET THE ISRAELI SANHEDRIN HAVE THEIR ROLE IN THE REBUILDING AND BEING JUDGES LIKE IN BIBLE TIMES.

Rice: No deal yet, but peace talks continue By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

Gaza AP RAMALLAH, West Bank – It won't happen on President Bush's watch, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says his promise of an independent Palestinian state will be met.President-elect Obama shares the goal of Palestinian statehood and has pledged to tackle Mideast peacemaking earlier and more enthusiastically than Bush did.While not achieving their ultimate goal before Bush leaves office in January, peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have laid the groundwork for success as long as President-elect Obama and the two parties follow through on incremental progress made, Rice said Friday.The distance to that peace has been narrowed, although the peace has not yet been achieved, Rice said halfway through what could be her final mission to Israel and the West Bank.It is not surprising that a conflict that has now gone on for decades may take some more to resolve, but the right elements are there, she said.It was nearly a year ago, in late November 2007, that Bush convened an international peace summit in Annapolis, Md., and announced that he would help shepherd an agreement to end the long-standing conflict before the end of this year.Rice has made eight trips to the region since, but has not been directly involved in negotiations. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been meeting regularly, despite frustration over the pace and scope of the talks on the Palestinian side and internal political turmoil on the Israeli side.We knew ... that if that agreement was not reached by the end of the year, that there would be those who would say that the Annapolis process, the negotiations, had failed, Rice said during a news conference with the U.S.-backed Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas.

In fact, it is quite the opposite, she insisted.

The Annapolis process has laid the foundations for the eventual establishment of the state of Palestine. The Annapolis process ... is vital, it is vibrant, and it is continuing, and I am quite certain that, carried to its conclusion, it will produce a state of Palestine.A possible change of government in Israel and the transition to a new U.S. administration could stall the talks for months.In Israel's Feb. 10 election, hardline leader Benjamin Netanyahu is competing against moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who leads the Israeli negotiating team.Rice and other Mideast mediators will meet in Egypt on Sunday to get a progress report — though not substantive because the discussions have been secret — from Livni and Palestinian negotiators. They are expected to pledge their continued support for the process.

The international quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia — is also expected to reaffirm its support for the Annapolis framework.The talks thus far have produced few tangible results, but Rice insisted there has been progress, and she held out hope that with the commitment of the Obama administration, the Israelis and Palestinians, a peace agreement is not too far off.

While we may not yet be at the finish line, I am quite certain that if Palestinians and Israelis stay on the Annapolis course, they are going to cross that finish line and can do so relatively soon, she said.Abbas also said the past year has not been in vain.We have not lost time. We have used every minute, Abbas said. That will allow us to move with a new (U.S.) administration and a new Israeli administration to peace.He urged the incoming U.S. administration to start immediately dealing with the Middle East issue ... so as not to waste time, without any benefit.We hope that the new administration will follow up on this and hear this point of view, he said.

Abbas complained to Rice about continued construction in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a violation of Israel's peace obligations. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Abbas expressed concern that Israel might use a possible political vacuum ahead of the Obama inauguration and its own elections to accelerate settlement building. Rice criticized settlement activity, saying, Both actions and announcements (of new plans) are damaging to the atmosphere of the negotiations.

Earlier Friday, Rice met in Jerusalem with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and with Netanyahu. Netanyahu later said he's proposing a new path to peace that will combine political negotiations with rapid economic development for the Palestinians.
However, Netanyahu's positions could make a peace deal harder to achieve, since he's willing to make fewer territorial concessions in the West Bank than the current government and opposes a partition of Jerusalem. Later Friday, Rice met in Jordan with King Abdullah II. As part of her itinerary, she is also visiting the West Bank town of Jenin, once a stronghold of Palestinian militants. Several months ago, Abbas' forces deployed in Jenin and it has become a showcase of his law and order campaign.Additional reporting by Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah.

European politicians defy Israel, sail to Gaza Fri Nov 7, 3:46 pm ET

LARNACA, Cyprus (Reuters) – Eleven European politicians sailed to Gaza from Cyprus Friday after saying attempts to get to the Palestinian territory via Egypt failed.

Members of parliament from Britain, Ireland, Switzerland and Italy left the Mediterranean island on a boat arranged by a pro-Palestinian group seeking to highlight the poor living conditions of 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip.

We were going to witness the living conditions in Gaza. We were not allowed through the Rafah crossing so we are going by boat because it is the only way to get in, said British MP Clare Short.The parliamentarians said they expected to arrive in Gaza early Saturday. It is the third time the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement has sailed from Cyprus to Gaza since August, defying Israel which patrols waters off the coastal strip.They are taking a tonne of medical supplies and three medical scanners used for spinal injuries, said Arafat Shoukri, 37, a doctor based in Britain.We are taking very basic medical supplies like paracetamol and painkillers. We were shocked when we got the list from the Health Ministry in Gaza, it means they don't have anything, Shoukri said.International aid agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, have said virtually no medical supplies were reaching Gaza.The ICRC had blamed that on a lack of cooperation between Palestinian authorities in the West Bank, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction holds sway, and Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in 2007.It also urged Israel, which tightened overland border restrictions after the Hamas takeover, to facilitate timely deliveries of medical supplies and equipment.Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005.Short, a former minister in Tony Blair's government, said: We want to witness the living conditions of these people, challenge the siege, and challenge the failure of our governments to uphold the Geneva convention.The whole of the EU is colluding to what is taking place in Gaza to our shame.Organizers of the boat shuttle said more activists would travel to Gaza in mid-December, and a boat of European musicians would travel there in January.
(Writing by Michele Kambas, editing by Diana Abdallah)

Gaza militants launch more rockets at Israel Fri Nov 7, 3:44 pm ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Seven rockets and mortar bombs fired from the Gaza Strip struck inside Israel on Friday, causing no damage or casualties, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group said its gunmen had launched 14 rockets against Israel during the day in response to Israeli operations in the area.An Islamic Jihad spokesman said the group would consider stopping launching rockets if Israel ceased its actions.It depends on Israel, if they stop their aggression and abide by the truce we are ready to consider stopping firing, Abu Ahmed of the Islamic Jihad armed wing said.Palestinian militant groups fired rockets earlier this week after Israel killed six gunmen in a raid and in air strikes on Tuesday, in a first clash with Hamas Islamists since an Egyptian-brokered truce came into effect in June.(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; writing by Ori Lewis and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Michael Roddy)

Palestinian state coming soon, says Rice by Sylvie Lanteaume Sylvie Lanteaume – Fri Nov 7, 3:36 pm ET

AQABA, Jordan (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday Palestinians should soon have their own state, though she has made it clear she does not expect a breakthrough before Barack Obama moves into the White House.They are dignified people and I am certain the day is coming soon when they have a state that will be in accordance with that great national dignity, she said after meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah, the West Bank's political capital, before heading later to Jordan.Rice has nevertheless tacitly admitted that Israel and the Palestinians were unlikely to reach a peace deal by the time US President George W. Bush's mandate ends on January 20, despite earlier pledges to seek agreement by the end of this year.The distance to peace has been narrowed although peace has not been achieved, she said at Friday's news conference in Ramallah.In the absence of an accord, Rice is pushing the two sides to define the outlines of a deal before she hands over the thorny Middle East dossier to an Obama administration.

One of the things we must do is that we must show... that Annapolis has laid the foundation for the establishment of the state of Palestine, she said. Rice had played a key role in reviving the peace process at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, one year ago after a seven-year hiatus.The Annapolis process is vital, it is vibrant and it continues, she said, even though little tangible process has been achieved, with core issues dealing with the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the borders of a future Palestinian state still to be resolved.Rice criticised continued construction activity in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, calling it damaging to the atmosphere of negotiations -- and the parties' actions should encourage confidence, not undermine it.The top US diplomat later met over dinner in Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba with King Abdullah during which, according to a palace statement afterwards, the Jordanian monarch had urged a continuation of involvement by the incoming Obama administration in the peace process.Support for peace negotiations should be maintained, and the new US administration should be involved in the peace process as soon as possible, the statement cited the king as telling Rice.Peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel should continue based on a two-state solution, regardless of any results of the US and Israeli elections, he added.Peace efforts have been hobbled by the division of the Palestinian territories into a West Bank where the secular Abbas holds sway and a Gaza Strip run by the Islamist Hamas movement.The slow-moving peace process has been further affected by the political turmoil surrounding the resignation of Israel's scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that led to the scheduling of snap elections in February.Since her arrival in the region on Thursday, Rice has held talks with Olmert as well as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the two frontrunners in the race for the prime minister's job.

Olmert has congratulated Obama over the telephone and discussed the need to continue and advance the peace process, while maintaining the security of the state of Israel, his office said.Rice also plans to visit Jenin to highlight the successful deployment of Palestinian security forces in the former flashpoint city in the northern West Bank.She will end her four-day visit on Sunday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh at a meeting of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet, comprising the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.Rice said the Israelis and the Palestinians were expected to reaffirm their commitment to a two-state solution when they brief the international mediators.

Police grill Israel's Olmert again Fri Nov 7, 10:48 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli police on Friday questioned outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the ninth time since allegations of corruption emerged in May.The prime minister is being questioned at his official residence in Jerusalem, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.Olmert, 63, has handed in his resignation but will remain at the helm of a caretaker government until after general elections scheduled for February 10.Police in September recommended indicting Olmert over suspicions he had unlawfully accepted cash-stuffed envelopes from a US businessman and for allegedly billing the same overseas trips several times over and using the proceeds to pay for private trips.Olmert insists that he is innocent.

Hamas threatens to boycott Palestinian talks Fri Nov 7, 9:49 am ET

JABALIYA, Gaza Strip (AFP) – Hamas threatened on Friday to boycott next week's Palestinian reconciliation talks, accusing president Mahmud Abbas of arresting hundreds of members of the Islamist movement.We will not go to the Palestinian dialogue as long as this massacre against Hamas continues in the West Bank, Hamas MP Mushar al Masri told a crowd in the northern Gaza Strip city of Jabaliya.He said Hamas would decide later Friday whether to take part in the talks scheduled to start in Cairo on Monday.He accused Abbas, who also leads the Fatah movement, of arresting hundreds of Hamas members in the West Bank to please Israel and the United States.

If you persist with your injustice and your repression, Hamas and the people of the West Bank will trample you, Masri shouted.The two factions have been bitterly divided since Hamas violently seized power in Gaza in June 2007, confining Abbas's rule to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cleaving Palestinians into two hostile camps.Representatives from all major Palestinian political movements have been invited to Cairo to discuss the reconciliation plan, which has been welcomed by Fatah and 11 other factions.Hamas expressed reservations about the plan, which calls for a politically independent transitional government to pave the way for new elections, saying Abbas would get an automatic extension of a term the Islamists insist ends in January.The 9th of January at midnight and one minute, the Palestinian people will no longer have a president called Mahmud Abbas, said Masri.

Abbas insisted his law enforcement forces arrested people who posed a security risk irrespective of political affiliation. They are arrested and brought to justice, he said at a joint news conference Friday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Bush punts unfinished Mideast peace deal to Obama By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer – Fri Nov 7, 6:47 am ET

JERUSALEM – The Bush administration has conceded that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is no longer possible by the end of its term and is preparing to hand the fragile, unfinished U.S.-backed peace effort to President-elect Obama.Obama may not want it, at least as designed by the Republican Bush administration, seen as slow to embrace the role of honest Mideast broker. Many of Obama's foreign policy advisers were players in the Clinton administration's extensive Mideast peace efforts and are unenthusiastic about President Bush's hands-off approach.After months of publicly insisting that an agreement still could be sealed by the year-end deadline set by the two sides and Bush last November in Annapolis, Md., U.S. officials said Thursday for the first time it would have to wait.We do not think it is likely it will happen before the end of the year, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in Washington after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged as much at the start of a Mideast trip.Bush has employed Rice as a goad and monitor, but not a central negotiator. The administration said that to be viable, any deal should come from the Israelis and Palestinians themselves. Rice's eighth visit to the region since the Annapolis peace conference had been intended as a push for urgent progress on the modest gains from a year of U.S.-sponsored talks between Israel and one part of the fractured Palestinian leadership.Instead, amid political uncertainty in Israel, where a corruption scandal is forcing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from office, the administration is focused on keeping the two sides from backsliding. Rice wants them to produce a placeholding affirmation of their commitment to the peace process.

She said it remained an open question as to what form the affirmation would take, but said it was critical for the incoming Obama administration, as well as a new Israeli government to be elected in February, to inherit a solid framework to restart negotiations quickly.It should be carried forward, she said, stressing that progress, if not a full-on deal, had been achieved since Annapolis, including the fact that the two sides were talking again after years of Palestinian rebellion and international efforts to support the Palestinian people.She added that she hoped the Israelis and Palestinians would affirm that the Annapolis process and the framework it establishes is indeed the basis on which they believe they can come to a resolution of their conflict, regardless of anyone's timetables.It will be important to wrap up all of that work one way or another, she said.Negotiators from the two sides were to brief top officials from the international diplomatic quartet on the Middle East — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — in Egypt on Sunday on their progress to date.

But it was not clear whether that meeting, which Rice also will attend, would produce a document or verbal statement that fits her bill, as Israel appears reluctant to put anything in writing that could memorialize specific results of the talks thus far.We hope that the current American administration will give the upcoming administration a positive opinion to continue this process, and bring it to a success, said Ahmed Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator.Rice's comments at times took the tone of a concession speech and came at a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator in the talks. At it, the two women spoke of the importance of keeping the talks alive.It is important that we preserve the process within the structure that we have created, said Livni, a centrist who will be running against hardline former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Feb. 10 voting.Netanyahu currently is favored in most polls and has deep reservations about the peace process.Rice sees Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Friday before holding talks in Ramallah in the West Bank with Palestinian officials. She then makes a quick side trip to Aqaba, Jordan, to see Jordan's King Abdullah II before returning to the West Bank on Saturday and then heading to Egypt for the quartet meeting.Speaking to reporters aboard her plane en route to the Middle East, Rice lamented that Israel's political situation is a constraint on the ability of any government to conclude a deal. At the same time, she said it was the Bush administration's hope that Annapolis has laid groundwork which should make possible the establishment of a Palestinian state when the political circumstances permit. I think that whatever happens by the end of the year, you've got a firm foundation for quickly moving this forward to conclusion, she said. AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven in Washington contributed to this report.

Saudi ambassador denies inviting Israel to inter-faith meet Fri Nov 7, 6:17 am ET

RIYADH (AFP) – A Saudi diplomat denied in remarks published on Friday that Riyadh had invited Israel to a UN inter-faith meeting in New York next week, saying the invitation had come from the United Nations.The president of the UN General Assembly addressed invitations to all UN member states, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Lebanon, Abdul Aziz Khoja, was quoted as saying in Saudi and Lebanese newspapers.The November 13 conference is being held at the initiative of Saudi Arabia, which has no relations with Israel. Both Saudi King Abdullah and Israeli President Shimon Peres are due to attend.The meeting, which aims to promote dialogue among the world's monotheistic religions, will be a follow-up to a similar conference in Madrid in July. This was an initiative by King Abdullah, whose country hosts Islam's holiest shrines and does not permit the public practice of religions other than Islam.

Peres's office said on Wednesday that he will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and that they intended to use the conference to meet leaders from the Arab world.Khoja said Lebanese politicians who accused Saudi Arabia of inviting Israel should check their facts, according to the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat and other newspapers.Saudi Arabia is the author of an Arab blueprint offering Israel peace in return for withdrawal from occupied Arab lands but refuses to have ties or contacts with Israel in the absence of a Middle East peace settlement.

Israel urges US not to rule out military option in Iran Fri Nov 7, 5:55 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Friday issued a thinly veiled call for the United States not to rule out the possibility of a military strike against Iran because of its nuclear ambitions.We don't rule out any option. We recommend others don't rule out any option either, Barak told journalists after talks with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.We are convinced that Iran continues to try to obtain a nuclear weapon and continues to cheat everybody by holding negotiations on the control of such weapons, Barak said.Tehran denies it wants nuclear weapons, and says its atomic project is puirely peaceful.On Thursday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said possible US talks with Iran may be problematic, highlighting possible disagreements with a Barack Obama administration.Dialogue at this point may be interpreted as a sign of weakness... I think that premature dialogue at a time where Iran thinks that the world has given up on sanctions may be problematic, she said.Obama warned during a visit to Israel in July that a nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat, but he also reiterated his openness to meeting Tehran's representatives if the conditions were appropriate.Israel is widely considered to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, although it has never officially confirmed nor denied having such weapons.

Rice admits no Mideast peace deal in 2008 Thu Nov 6, 7:36 am ET

TEL AVIV (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel on Thursday in her latest bid to push Middle East peace, but tacitly admitted the sides may not achieve the goal of a deal by the year's end.Rice stressed the US-backed peace process will continue after George W. Bush hands over the presidency to Barack Obama on January 20.It is our expectation that the Annapolis process has laid groundwork which should make possible the establishment of a Palestinian state when political circumstances permit, Rice told reporters aboard her plane.I think that whatever happens by the end of the year, you've got a firm foundation for quickly moving forward to a conclusion, said Rice who played a key role in relaunching the peace process at a November 2007 conference in Annapolis, Maryland.She admitted the peace process is affected by the decision to hold February 20 elections in Israel, which is now under a caretaker government.Obviously Israel is in the middle of elections and that is a constraint on the ability of any government to conclude what is the core conflict for Israel and the Palestinians ... But I think we can sustain momentum, Rice said.

During her visit to the region, her 19th in two years, Rice will hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and attend a meeting in Egypt of the Middle East Quartet of peace mediators.Rice also hinted she wishes the sides to define the progress made so far in the talks.I think at some point it will be important to work to wrap all of that work up, one way or another.

Lebanese political rivals adjourn dialogue to December Wed Nov 5, 8:37 am ET

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon's rival political leaders met on Wednesday for a second round of talks on lingering disputes but no breakthrough was made given deep-seated differences, notably over Hezbollah's weapons.The 14 politicians, who assembled for some three and a half hours under the auspices of President Michel Sleiman, decided to gather again on December 22, a presidential spokesman told AFP.High on the agenda of Wednesday's talks, which brought together members of the pro- and anti-Syrian camps, was a demand by the Hezbollah militant group to expand the number of participants in the dialogue to include more of its allies.That suggestion has been rejected by members of the Western-backed parliamentary majority, who see in it an effort to torpedo the stated goal of the talks to forge a national defence strategy.

A major stumbling block in agreeing on a strategy has been Hezbollah's weapons, an issue highlighted last May when the Shiite group staged a spectacular takeover of mainly Sunni parts of west Beirut.Hezbollah has rejected calls to disarm, arguing that its weapons and militia are essential to defend the country against neighbouring Israel.Members of the parliamentary majority say Hezbollah's weapons undermine the authority of the state, which should be the sole decision-maker on matters of defence.The first session of the national dialogue on September 16 took place after Qatar brokered a deal in May that put an end to a damaging 18-month political crisis that brought the country close to civil war.That session was quickly wrapped up in an effort to give the various parties a chance to bridge their differences.Press baron and MP Ghassan Tueni, a member of the parliamentry majority, was taken ill during the session on Wednesday and taken to hospital. His office told AFP that Tueni, 82, had suffered a malady that was not serious and was being kept in hospital for observation.Tueni's son, prominent journalist and MP Gibran Tueni, was among a number anti-Syrian figures who have been assassinated in Lebanon in the last three years.

Arab League urges Obama to act quickly in Mideast Wed Nov 5, 5:41 am ET

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Arab League head Amr Moussa has urged President-elect Barack Obama to act swiftly to try to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.Moussa welcomed the result of the U.S. election and said it marked a watershed for the United States and for efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.Moussa says Obama's call for change is needed in the Middle East to ease tensions between Arabs and Israelis and to resolve the nuclear standoff with Iran.He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Obama must bring a policy of honest brokership to the region. He said outgoing President George W. Bush's policies for the region had failed.Moussa was in Brussels for talks with EU officials and lawmakers.

Israel denounces UN Human Rights Council By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Nov 4, 6:58 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – Israel accused the U.N. Human Rights Council Tuesday of targeting the Jewish state in an obsessive and discriminatory fashion, but Egypt said it is imperative that the U.N. body investigate violations of Palestinian rights.The performance of the council, which replaced the discredited U.N. Human Rights Commission 2 1/2 years ago, was the subject of debate in the General Assembly which was considering the annual report of the Geneva-based council.Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador Daniel Carmon told the 192-nation world body that since it considered last year's report the council had adopted seven resolutions condemning Israel and held a one-sided special session against Israel — far more than any other member of the United Nations.We all witness a U.N. human rights body targeting Israel in an obsessive and discriminatory fashion, Carmon said.But Egypt's U.N. Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz told the assembly the council must ensure respect of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories. He added that it must also verify Israel's adherence to international obligations such as cooperating with the U.N. investigators in the Palestinian territories.Abdelaziz noted Israeli officials refused to cooperate with Archbishop Desmond Tutu's investigation into the 2006 shelling of the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun and the simultaneous firing by Palestinian militants of Qassam rockets at Israeli civilians.

One aim in replacing the highly politicized Human Rights Commission with the Human Rights Council was to keep some of the world's worst human rights offenders from becoming members.But the council has been widely criticized for failing to change many of the commission's practices, including putting much more emphasis on allegations of human rights abuses by Israel than on any other country.Muslim countries form a strong bloc on the council and have used their votes to push through resolutions against Israel and block condemnation of their allies, including Sudan. The United States argued against the council and has not sought to join it because rights-abusing countries remain members.

Israel marks anniversary of Rabin assassination Tue Nov 4, 11:14 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel commemorated on Tuesday the 1995 murder of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, with a cabinet minister warning there could be another assassination in the near future.The writing is once again on the wall, this time in bigger letters. The next political assassination is right around the corner, Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said at a ceremony at Rabin's grave on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl.His dire warning echoed similar comments by Yuval Diskin, head of the Shin Beth domestic intelligence agency, who said on Sunday that far right-wingers would not hesitate to use firearms in order to stop political processes and target political leaders.A rally was also held on Tuesday at the Tel Aviv park where Rabin was gunned down by a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process with the Palestinians.Official ceremonies will be held on November 10 in accordance with the Jewish calender.Rabin is revered as a national hero, both for his legendary career as army chief and for peace efforts in the 1990s that earned him a Nobel peace prize shared with Israeli President Shimon Peres and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

NEW US PRESIDENT NEW PEACE HOPES

ELECTION 2008 Report: Obama backs Palestinian capital in Jerusalem
Leaders claim presidential candidate asked them to keep his remarks secret November 04, 2008 10:09 am Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily


JERUSALEM – Sen. Barack Obama told the Palestinian leadership during a trip to the region in July he supports their rights to a capital in eastern Jerusalem, but he asked them to keep his remarks secret, according to a Lebanese newspaper.The Al-Akhbar daily, known to have close contacts to Palestinian leaders in Lebanon, quoted sources in Ramallah claiming that in a meeting in July with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the two heard from Obama the best things they ever heard from an American presidential candidate.The report claimed Obama told Abbas and Fayyad he supports the rights of the Palestinians to east Jerusalem, as well as their right to a stable, sovereign state, but he petitioned them to keep the remarks confidential.Asked for comment by WND, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat would neither confirm nor deny knowledge of Obama's purported remarks.The Lebanese report echoes a similar exclusive WND article immediately following Obama's meeting with Abbas and Fayyad in which a senior Palestinian source said Obama informed the Palestinians he supports a negotiated settlement that may grant the PA control over sections of Jerusalem.He assured us there was a misunderstanding when he said in [June] he supports the Israelis' rights to hold on to Jerusalem, the PA official, who took part in the meeting with Obama told WND at the time. He told us he corrected this right away and that he supports a negotiated settlement that will give the Palestinians territory.The official was referring to a speech Obama delivered in June to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in which he stated if he is elected president, Jerusalem would remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.Immediately following the speech, Obama reversed himself during a CNN appearance, explaining he meant Jerusalem shouldn't be physically divided with a partition.

Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations, he said in response to a question about whether Palestinians have a legitimate claim to the city.Obama said that as a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute a division of the city.And I think that it is smart for us to, to work through a system in which everybody has access to the extraordinary religious sites in Old Jerusalem but that Israel has a legitimate claim on that city.

Mediterranean Union agrees on HQ, Arab-Israeli role by Emma Charlton Emma Charlton – NOV 4,08

MARSEILLE, France (AFP) – Foreign ministers from the new Mediterranean Union struck a deal Tuesday for Barcelona to host the forum's headquarters and for Israel and the Arab League to take part side-by-side.The Union's 43 member states held two days of talks in the port of Marseille to end a four-month deadlock on the two contentious issues, which threatened to hamstring the fledgling organisation.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, whose countries currently co-chair the forum, announced the breakthrough at a joint news conference in the southern French city.It wasn't supposed to work, and yet it did, said Kouchner, adding: The essential points were accepted completely and without reservation by all 43 states in the Union for the Mediterranean.Ministers from the Mediterranean's mainly-Arab southern rim agreed to back the Spanish city of Barcelona's candidacy to host the Union in exchange for the post of secretary-general going to a southern member.They also clinched a deal on granting the Arab League a full-time seat at the forum -- a key demand of Arab members, strongly opposed by Israel which feared the pan-Arab group would try to block its involvement.

The Arabic participation will take place in every meeting with the right to speak at all levels, said Abul Gheit, although it will have no right to vote.Israel agreed to the Arab League's role in exchange for one of five deputy secretary-general posts for an initial three-year period, possibly renewable.The deputy posts will rotate between three European members and two southern ones, and will initially be held by the Palestinian Authority, Greece, Malta and Italy, alongside Israel, according to the final declaration.The text -- with likely technical amendments -- still has to be formally ratified however by the two co-presidents of the Union, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak.Launched at a Paris summit in July, the new union brings together EU members with states from north Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world and Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.An Israeli diplomat said it agreed to the Arab League compromise on the basis it would be able to play a front-seat role in setting up the fledgling Union, and hopefully build bridges around the Mediterranean.

But she warned the Barcelona Process can never replace direct bilateral negotiations to resolve Israel's conflicts with Arab nations.A spokesman for the Arab League also warned that its participation would not lead to normalisation with Israel, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was delighted by the accord on Barcelona, while EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner called it a logical choice.The Mediterranean capital of Spain's Catalonia region, Barcelona lent its name to the 13-year-old Barcelona Process, a previous EU regional initiative that stalled in part over Arab-Israeli disputes.In exchange for hosting its headquarters, Spain also agreed to drop the tag Barcelona Process from the name of the new forum.France, which championed the Union, hoped that by basing it on modest regional projects, such as cleaning up pollution in the Mediterranean, it would be able to sidestep the trap of regional disputes.

Priorities set out in the declaration include fighting pollution in the Mediterranean, solar energy, building land and sea highways and cooperation on higher education and research. The Marseille accord, clinched after months of tough negotiations, rescues the forum from the threat of looming deadlock, but it also amounts to formally recognising tensions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And the highly-political compromise to create five deputies to the secretary-general is a far cry from the slimmed-down, nimble governing structure at first envisaged for the Union.

Israeli troops clash with Palestinian militants By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer NOV 4,08

ABC News GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli troops and Palestinian militants clashed in a fierce gunbattle along the Israel-Gaza border Tuesday in the first armed confrontation between the sides since a truce took effect in June. One militant was killed, Palestinian officials said.The Israeli army said its forces uncovered a tunnel about 300 yards inside the Gaza Strip that militants planned to use to abduct Israeli soldiers. It said a special army unit had headed to the area to destroy the tunnel. It was not immediately clear whether troops were inside Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas.Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, said in a text message to reporters that Hamas forces were engaged in a gunfight with Israeli troops in central Gaza.Israel and Palestinian militant groups reached a cease-fire in June after months of indirect negotiations. The deal halted a deadly cycle of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli reprisals, though sporadic rocket attacks on southern Israel have persisted.The Israeli army claimed the move Tuesday did not violate the truce, but instead was a legitimate step to remove an immediate threat to Israel.Moaiya Hassanain, a Palestinian Health Ministry official, said heavy gunbattles erupted, killing one Palestinian. Residents identified the man as a Hamas militant.It was the just the second fatality in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in Gaza since the truce took effect. Israeli troops shot and killed a teenage Palestinian militant along the border with Gaza in July.

Hassanain said rescue officials were having a hard time reaching the site of the fighting and getting precise information on casualties.

No matter who wins US vote, hope remains for Mideast peace NOV 4,08

ABC News JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas expressed hope on Tuesday for the prospects of Middle East peace, no matter who wins US presidential elections.Olmert said peace efforts "have nothing to do with the identity of the US president or the person who will replace him, whether it's Barack Obama or John McCain. I know them both and know they will be Israel's friends.Analysing what is happening here, and the developments in the Palestinian Authority and in the international arena, the question is whether we can delay our handling of these problems. I think not.Quoted by the online edition of daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot, Olmert heaped praise on US President George W. Bush and expressed the conviction that whoever replaces him will be a friend of Israel.He dismissed calls to freeze the US-backed peace talks or indirect negotiations with the Syrians.There is no doubt that what we received from the Bush administration will ensure that his name will remain engraved in letters of gold for many long years on the heart of Israel, Olmert said.There is no possibility of saying too much about what we got from the Bush administration, he added.There are many things which we cannot even touch on. The 30 billion dollars (in defence aid) which we received in a 10-year period represents only the tip of the iceberg.

For his part, Abbas said he hoped the winner of Tuesday's US presidential election would make more headway in the peace process.We hope that the new American president will have more success in his efforts towards peace in the Middle East, he was quoted as saying after meeting Hungarian parliamentary president Katalin Szili in Budapest.We expect change and we hope that that will bring peace for us, Abbas said.

The two American candidates are working on achieving peace and Palestine will cooperate with the new president whoever he is, he said.Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace talks almost a year ago but they have made little visible progress since then.Olmert dismissed calls to put negotiations on hold until Israeli elections on February 10, rejecting claims that his provisional government had no powers to conduct the talks.In September, he resigned over graft allegations, but remains at the head of a caretaker government.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was elected to replace him as head of the ruling Kadima party. Over the following month, she tried unsuccessfully to form a new coalition. After failing to do so, she opened the way to early elections.Livni, who is a top candidate for the premiership, also stressed the importance of the talks with the Palestinians.Israel will continue to promote the diplomatic process, with the backing of the international community, in a way that ensures its interests, she said during a meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch. The world must support the process and not expect Israel to take shortcuts that would harm its ability to meet its needs.Members of the Middle East peace Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- are meeting in Egypt at the weekend to discuss the status of Middle East peacemaking.

Speaking in Dubai, meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he believed a peace settlement could come about quickly if the circumstances were right. Asked if a settlement could be negotiated soon, he told Al-Arabiya television: I think that's possible, I think people understand how it can happen. We know that very detailed negotiations have taken place over the last few months, he said on the last day of a Gulf tour. We know that the political situation at the moment has made it difficult for this to be brought to a conclusion but I think that given people understand not only the importance but how a solution would look, I think it's possible with the right circumstances to move quickly to a settlement.

World Bank officials in Gaza for sewage project By BEN HUBBARD Ben Hubbard NOV 4,08

News GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A World Bank delegation launched a sewage project, long delayed by the standoff between Israel and Hamas, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to prevent raw sewage from spilling into residential areas.The $63 million project is the initiative of Mideast envoy Tony Blair, and the launch brought the highest level World Bank delegation to visit Gaza in three years.The delegation, which included the bank's executive director for the Middle East, met with representatives of the Palestinian Water Authority but not with members of militant Muslim group Hamas, which has run Gaza since it seized power here last summer.The officials oversaw a test of the first $15 million stage of a project, which will drain a northern Gaza sewage lake containing 660,000 gallons of partially treated human waste into nine treatment basins.The successful testing of phase one of the North Gaza sewage project is an important achievement, Blair said in a statement. It will also provide a much-needed upgrade to the sanitation facilities for north Gaza ... this project is a key example of how all sides can work together to alleviate the situation in the Palestinian Territories, particularly in Gaza.The standoff with Israel has led to the collapse of the coastal strip's sewage system, with much of the human waste flushing directly into the ocean or backing up in overburdened facilities.Last year, a part of the wastewater lake ruptured into a nearby village, killing five people. The lake's western side is still in danger of collapsing — which could flood crowded residential areas nearby, said Sadi Ali, the project's director.We are very afraid, Ali said. This lake is really threatening the lives of the people.Israel's reluctance to ship materials into Gaza that could be used to make weapons for militants, contributed to the delays completing the project's first phase.The next phase, expected to start next year, includes the construction of a new treatment plant.

Palestinian officials urge boycott of Jerusalem election Tue Nov 4, 1:12 pm ET

West Bank (AFP) – Palestinian personalities, including a leading Muslim cleric, on Tuesday urged residents of the mainly Arab eastern sector of the city to boycott November 11 municipal elections.Our religious and national positions on the issue are clear: they forbid participation as a voter or a candidate in these elections for an authority that represents the Israeli occupation, said Mohammed Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.Palestinians from Jerusalem, who make up one third of the city's 750,000 inhabitants, have boycotted municipal elections ever since Israel occupied the city in the 1967 Six-Day-War and later annexed it.The three main candidates for the post of mayor all stand firmly behind the claim the city is the eternal and indivisible capital of Israel.Jerusalem is Arab land and its population has always boycotted the elections because taking part would harm the status of Jerusalem as spiritual and political capital of the Palestinians, said Hussein.Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their promised future state.The head of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's office also called for a boycott of the vote.A participation by Jerusalem Palestinians in these elections would weaken our position in the negotiations which president Abbas is holding with Israelis in which the question of Jerusalem is one of the main issues, said Rafiq al-Husseini.

Jerusalem's Palestinian governor, Adnan al-Husseini, for his part, lashed out at city authorities for discriminating against Arab sectors of town which receive fewer municipal services than Jewish neighbourhoods.We only hear from the municipality when it's election time or when it wants to destroy our homes. This mayor's office is only ripping people off, the official said.City authorities seldom grant building permits to Palestinians and often tear down houses built without permits.

British PM says Mideast peace deal could come quickly NOV 3,08
10 hours ago


DUBAI (AFP) — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he believed that a Middle East peace settlement could come about quickly if the circumstances were right.Asked if a settlement could be negotiated soon, he told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television: I think that's possible, I think people understand how it can happen.

We know that very detailed negotiations have taken place over the last few months, Brown said on the last day of a Gulf tour which has seen him hold talks with regional leaders including King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.We know that the political situation at the moment has made it difficult for this to be brought to a conclusion but I think that given people understand not only the importance but how a solution would look, I think it's possible with the right circumstances to move quickly to a settlement.Israel and the Palestinians relaunched US-backed peace talks almost a year ago but they have made little visible progress since and the prospects of a deal have been further clouded with Israel facing a general election in February.

In the whole region it is important to the stability of the region that we have a Middle East peace settlement between Palestinians and Israel... that is key to the future stability of the region and the world, Brown added.He said the international community needed to make the peace process a priority.He later told journalists: All the building blocks (are) in place so that a settlement could be reached if we could find the right environment in which it could happen.Members of the so-called international peace Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- are meeting in Egypt at the weekend to discuss the status of Middle East peacemaking.

Hamas Ready For Talks With New US President - Exiled Leader NOV 3,08

AMMAN (AFP)--The exiled Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, said in an interview published Tuesday that his Palestinian Islamist movement is ready to hold talks with any elected U.S. president.Hamas is ready for dialogue with any incoming U.S. president ... Democrat Obama or Republican McCain, Meshaal told Jordan's Al-Arab Al-Yawm daily.I am confident that we are ready to deal with any presidential candidate, but we will always stick to our rights. We acknowledge that the United States is powerful, but we are more powerful on our territory.The U.S. votes Tuesday, with frontrunner Obama seeking to become the first black president and McCain hoping for a poll-defying comeback.Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria, said Hamas welcomes any change in U.S. foreign policies ... We welcome any change to end favoritism towards Israel, as well as aggression on the region.Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is boycotted by the U.S. as a terrorist group. Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http:// www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=qYsyrujoKFsPavOl5yfDKQ%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day. (END) Dow Jones Newswires.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU U.S. partner' firing rockets at Jewish homes
Using front group to claim responsibility for attacks November 03, 2008
9:55 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily


JAFFA, Israel – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party is responsible for the rockets fired recently from the Gaza Strip at Jewish civilian population centers, informed sources told WND.The information indicates Fatah, which U.S. policy considers moderate, has been violating a five-month-old truce in Gaza, while the Hamas terrorist organization has been strictly enforcing the cease-fire.

Just last week, rockets were fired at the Israeli city of Sderot by Palestinians in Gaza with a previously unknown group, calling itself Hezbollah-Palestine, taking responsibility. The same group took credit for rocket attacks on Oct. 21. Since the truce went into affect in June, few violations have been reported.Hamas sources in Gaza told WND an investigation has found Hezbollah-Palestine actually is a front group for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's declared military wing. The Hamas sources said their organization arrested several Al Aqsa members who admitted to firing the rockets under the banner of the Hezbollah front group. The sources also said they inquired within the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, which denied involvement in any rocket attacks or knowledge of the Hezbollah-Palestine group.A source within the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades admitted to WND his group was behind the recent rocket-fire in Gaza.Hamas surmises the rival Fatah organization is looking to disrupt the Gaza truce in a bid to draw Israeli retaliation and a closing of the borders between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which would restrict significantly the flow of goods into Gaza, likely leading to the Palestinian street losing some support for Gaza's Hamas rulers.Last summer, Hamas violently seized control of Gaza, expelling the U.S.-backed Fatah organization and taking over all Fatah security compounds in the territory.This weekend, Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades released an official pamphlet calling for attacks against Israel and terming the truce a gift to the Zionist enemy.

We call on all Palestinian organizations to start the next round of resistance confrontations against the Zionist enemy. Hamas is salivating toward Israel like a hungry dog. The true resistance cannot wait any longer, read the Fatah pamphlet, which was obtained and translated by WND.The pamphlet was released as Israel and the PA announced they will hold a high-level joint briefing in Egypt next week for the international community to assess the status of U.S.-backed negotiations aimed at creating a Fatah-led Palestinian state before the end of the year.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will head Israel's delegation, with Abbas representing the Palestinians at a meeting with leaders of the Mideast Quartet, which consists of the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia. Ahead of the briefing, Abbas announced in Jordan he does not believe there will be a final agreement between the two sides before the 2009 deadline.Israel and the PA have been holding regular, high-level talks expected to result in an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

But while Fatah leads peace talks, its chief negotiator, Ahmed Queri, recently warned that if Israel does not conclude a deal toward a Palestinian state the result will be attacks against the Jewish state.

Monday, November 3, 2008 Israel monitoring Egyptian buildup in the Sinai

TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has publicly disavowed an assessment that Egypt has been assembling a military force in the Sinai Peninsula, in violation of the 1979 peace accord.Officials said thousands of Egyptian troops, many of them under the guise of police, have been deployed throughout the Sinai. Egypt is waiting for the right moment to deploy its army in the Sinai, contrary to the peace agreement, former Strategic Threats Minister Avigdor Lieberman said. There are enough signs and enough estimations that the Egyptians are just waiting for their window of opportunity.Hours after the interview, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for Lieberman's remarks.Those words should never have been said, Olmert said in a statement. From the moment they were uttered those words were nothing but useless and harmful. Egypt and Mubarak are [Israel's] strategic partners.Israeli sources said the military has been closely following the Egyptian buildup in the Sinai. The sources said that so far the military has determined that the Egyptian buildup was limited to internal security rather than combat operations. The peace with Egypt is a strategic asset for the state of Israel, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. Egypt is a responsible and important factor in the Middle East.

In late October, Israeli Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad discussed Egypt's military presence. The sources said Gilad cited an Egyptian Navy exercise in October, reported to have been the largest ever and which cited Israel as the enemy. Egypt's navy has been deemed the largest in the Arab world.The provocation came in the form of the massive military exercise Egypt held several days ago, that identified us as the enemy, Lieberman said in a television interview on Nov. 1. You have the smuggling of arms into Gaza and Hamas' hands from the Sinai. If Egypt genuinely wanted to put an end to it they could.Israeli sources said the Egyptian buildup in the Sinai began in 2005 when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip. At the time, the government of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved the Egyptian deployment of 750 special troops along the demilitarized Sinai-Gaza border.Within months, Egypt proposed the stationing of another 2,500 troops in eastern Sinai. In early 2008, amid massive Palestinian infiltration and weapons smuggling, Egypt sent several thousand troops to the eastern peninsula as part of a counter-insurgency operation. The Israeli sources said Egypt did not ask for Israeli permission despite the violation of the peace treaty.Former Mossad director Efraim Halevy agreed that Egypt was expanding its troop presence in the Sinai. But Halevy said Egypt's intentions were not hostile.I don't think that Egypt is planning war against Israel, Halevy said. Egypt, like Israel, is preparing for any possibility. The same way we ask where Egypt is heading, they ask where Israel is heading.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

SPAIN GET 2 IMPORTANT POSTS

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

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.

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

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

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

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

EU SPAIN #11

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

OH WOW THIS IS INCREDIBLE SPAIN IS HEADQUARTERING THE MEDITERRANEAN UNION.

Barcelona to host Mediterranean Union headquarters
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today NOV 4,08 @ 17:48 CET


EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The headquarters of the recently launched Union for the Mediterranean will be located in Barcelona, Spain, foreign ministers of the countries participating in the project decided on Tuesday (4 November).The secretariat will be presided over by a single secretary general – yet to be appointed – and five deputy secretaries from Greece, Italy, Malta, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner – whose country currently presides over the Union for the Mediterranean together with Egypt. The Royal Palace of Pedralbes in Barcelona, where the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean will be located. (Photo: Wikipedia/Pex Cornel)

Mr Kouchner, speaking to reporters following a meeting of EU and Mediterranean foreign ministers in Marseille, added that a sixth deputy secretary may yet be added to the list at the demand of Turkey.The secretariat will be tasked with implementing concrete projects in a number of different areas: maritime safety, economy, energy, transport, agriculture, urban development and environment.The French foreign minister hailed the results of the meeting as a great success and underlined that it was the first time that Israel would be present at such a level in an international institution alongside the Palestinian Authority.In exchange for a position as deputy secretary, Israel has accepted that the Arab League could be present at all Union meetings, at all levels, although without any voting rights.Prior to the decision, the Arab League had only been allowed to take part in Euro-Mediterranean meetings as part of the Egyptian delegation.

Barcelona beats Tunisia and Valetta

Valetta, the capital of EU member Malta, and Tunis, the capital of Tunisia had also been in the running to host the UM's headquarters, but Tunis withdrew its candidacy last Friday, while Valetta did not gather enough support for its candidacy, according to the Times of Malta.Barcelona had given the name to an earlier initiative aiming to boost EU co-operation with its southern neighbours that was set up in 1995 – the Barcelona Process.Spain had also increased diplomatic efforts in the past weeks in order to gather support for its candidacy, with its prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero meeting both EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner last week. EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana – himself a Spaniard, said he was very happy that the Union for the Mediterranean's headquarters would be located in Barcelona, in the 19th-century Palace of Pedralbes.It is a great joy for me, he told reporters in Marseille, where the meeting was taking place.After the decision that Barcelona would host the secretariat of the project, Spain demanded that its name also be changed from the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean to simply Union for the Mediterranean, Mr Kouchner pointed out.

Academics remain sceptical

The Union for the Mediterranean – the brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy – was officially launched at a summit meeting in Paris in July.It is aimed at breathing a new life into the Barcelona Process, which has failed to achieve any significant results.But observers and academics remain sceptical as to what the new initiative's added value can be.Essentially, I don't think that much has changed at all, professor Ahmed Driss from the University of Tunis said at a conference organised on Monday (3 November) during the European Parliament's Arab Week.

Additionally, the balance of powers within the Union of the Mediterranean is not good, he said.If we really want to have a joint presidency, one has to believe it is a joint, common project. There is no such impression today. You have one side proposing something to the other side. There is no common preparation, no real dialogue between the two sides prior to this, he told the conference's audience.

Professor Annette Junemann, from the Helmut Schmidt University of the Armed Forces in Hamburg voiced a similar opinion.The Mediterranean countries were not involved in setting up the project, it was mainly made in France, she said.She added she saw a lot of hot air in the Union for the Mediterranean and very little substance.

Additionally, all participants in the conference deplored the de-politisation of the project, which they said did not contain enough provisions on human rights. NGOs regularly complain of serious breaches in a number of the countries that are members of the new Union. Conference participants also complained of a lack of civil society involvement.

EU asks US for greater role on world stage
PHILIPPA RUNNER Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:27 CET


The EU has in a letter to the next US president appealed for a greater European role on the world stage, more engagement with a resurgent Russia and more emphasis on peacemaking in Afghanistan and the Middle East.The six-page text was agreed at an informal EU foreign ministers meeting in Marseilles on Monday (3 November) and will remain under wraps until after the US election on Tuesday. But its contents were outlined by French EU presidency officials on the margins of the Mediterranean Union gathering in the southern French city, Le Figaro reports.Based around four priorities, the text calls for a better interplay between security and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, with a view to making Afghan elections in late 2009 determinant for peace in the country.It says the US and EU should take note of Russia's economic revival and intensify diplomatic contacts to avoid the risk of confrontation. The EU as Russia's permanent neighbour should have a major role in future negotiations.The letter urges the new US administration to put the Middle East peace process at the top of its agenda and foresees a useful role for the EU as co-guarantors of a future Israeli-Palestinian accord.

It also stresses the importance of multilateralism in world governance and calls for reforms to the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the G8 format, to be expanded to a group of 14 leading industrialised nations.The time is past when people asked what Europe was for. What we want is for our initiatives to be understood and shared, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said in Marseilles. Europe has a telephone number, he explained, alluding to former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger's quip that he didn't know which number to call when he wanted to speak to Europe. It's the number of the country chairing the EU at any given moment. Today, France, in two months, the Czech Republic.Russia is our neighbour. It's a huge country which has changed a lot. Never forgetting about human rights, we have to undertake a dialogue with Russia, the French foreign minister added.Mr Kouchner's remarks and the letter follow the historic rift in EU-US relations over President Bush's unilateral decision to invade Iraq in 2003, with much of the Republican president's second term devoted to resbuilding trans-Atlantic bonds.The current French leader, Nicolas Sarkozy, is markedly more pro-American than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, with Mr Sarkozy putting the EU centre stage in recent efforts to broker peace between Russia and Georgia and to find a way out of the global financial crisis.But the joint letter masks ongoing divisions between the US and EU and within the EU itself.

The US remains critical of Germany's reluctance to commit troops to combat zones in southern Afghanistan, while the former-communist EU states are concerned by France's Russia-friendly tone.France's unilateral decision in St Petersburg last week to announce that EU-Russia partnership treaty talks can be restarted at the EU-Russia summit on 14 November caused a furore in Lithuania, with the Polish and Lithuanian presidents framing a joint letter of protest on Monday.We reiterate that under the continued occupation of Georgian territories it would be too early to resume talks on a new partnership agreement with Russia, Lech Kaczynski and Valdas Adamkus said.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

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

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

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

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

French EU defence plan is not anti-NATO, minister says
VALENTINA POP Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:29 CET


EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The US is still critical of the EU's common security and defence policy, a pet project of the bloc's French presidency, but French interior minister Michelle Alliot-Marie defended the initiative on Monday as not being aimed against NATO. Challenged by the deputy chairman of the NATO military committee, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberrry to explain France's view on the transatlantic link in the enhanced EU security and defence policy, Ms Alliot-Marie said there are countries who don't have confidence in this [transatlantic] dialogue and believe a strong European security and defence policy is aimed at minimizing NATO, but I believe the opposite.She stressed that the EU is better adapted to deal with certain conflicts, while in others NATO power is needed.Both were addressing a 100-odd audience at the Security and Defence Days conference in Brussels on Monday evening. Mr Eikenberry made acidic remarks about the EU's ability to plan, deploy and conduct successful missions, stressing that out of the bloc's 20 missions so far, five were short-term operations in Congo. I'm not questioning the value of those missions, they were successful in the relief of pressing humanitarian problems, but what is the overarching strategic thinking in the EU with regard to the Congo?

He also criticized the EU's overwhelming preference for soft power and lack of deployable troops despite massive spending on defence. European security in this century depends on peace and stability abroad. This is a paradigm shift often stated but still not evident in terms of policies and strategic choices. The current European strategy does not articulate clear regional priorities or comprehensive integrated responses to trans-national threats, he said.The NATO deputy chairman nevertheless underlined that in the US there is openness towards a closer cooperation between his organisation and the European Union. President's Sarkozy's notion of bringing more Europe into NATO is pushing against a door that is already wide open, he argued.French defence minister Herve Morin told the Financial Times on Monday that the mood in Washington had changed, after president Sarkozy announced that France would become a full member of NATO.It took hours of conversation for the Americans to realise that France wasn't trying to set up a rival operation and that European defence could actually bolster the capabilities of the transatlantic alliance as a whole, Mr Morin had told FT.Mr Morin also criticised British opposition to establishing a headquarters in Brussels for the EU's common security and defence policy (ESDP). I appreciate British pragmatism but we have a situation where we have numerous headquarters - in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and now even Greece - and that costs us money, he said.

More ESDP even without Lisbon Treaty

Meanwhile, German conservative MEP Karl von Wogau, the chairman of the European Parliament's sub-committee on security and defence argued at a parliament hearing on Monday, that the failure of the Lisbon treaty, rejected in the Irish referendum, is no impediment for building up the ESDP.The treaty would have allowed more EU power in the field of security and defense, which still remains a core competence of national governments, the MEP said. But he referred to the creation in 2004 of the European Defence Agency (EDA), an EU body aimed at helping the bloc's governments to co-ordinate and prioritise defence spending, as an example of how the ESDP can proceed without Lisbon.Nick Witney, former EDA chief, argued the same line, while praising France's efforts to re-energize the ESDP. He also stressed the need for a common headquarters in Brussels, capable of strategic planning for the EU's different missions.

UK opposes Brussels headquarters

France's push for a common headquarter is being challenged by the UK argument that the EU can draw on NATO's planning capabilities and its 17,000-strong European headquarter in Mons, some 70 km south of Brussels.This is enshrined in the current EU treaty of Nice, which says that when a given crisis gives rise to an EU-led operation making use of NATO assets and capabilities, the EU and NATO will draw on the so-called Berlin Plus arrangements.These arrangements cover three main elements that are directly connected to operations and which can be combined: EU access to NATO planning, NATO European command options and use of NATO assets and capabilities.

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HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE NOV 04,2008

09:30 AM +112.00
10:00 AM +161.45
10:30 AM +193.07
11:00 AM +276.46
11:30 AM +271.76
12:00 PM +301.07
12:30 PM +280.20
01:00 PM +252.56
01:30 PM +273.35
02:00 PM +269.61
02:30 PM +213.06
03:00 PM +171.16
03:30 PM +204.46
04:00 PM +305.45 9625.28

S&P 500 1005.75 +39.45

NASDAQ 1780.12 +53.79

GOLD 763.1 +36.3

OIL 70.11 +6.20

TSE 300 +395.32 10,116.58

CDNX +39.68 975.27

S&P/TSX/60 +23.70 610.63

ANOTHER AMAZING ACT SPAIN IS ALLOWED A SEAT AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC SUMMIT.

Barroso backs Spanish seat at G20 summit
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:28 CET


European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for Spain, the fifth largest economy in the European Union and the eighth largest in the world, to be invited to the upcoming emergency G20 meeting in Washington on 17 November on tackling the global financial crisis.Spain should be at the summit in Washington, he told reporters after meeting with the Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid.Spain's Mr Zapatero has furiously worked the phone lines trying to get an invitation to the party (Photo: Inma Mesa-PSOE)

For obvious reasons Spain should participate because it is the eighth largest economy in the world and it has an experience which is of great interest for the reform of the global financial system, he added.Spain has been engaged in a furious bout of lobbying of world leaders in the past week in attempt to be invited to sit at the grown-ups' table for once.Madrid argues that the size of its economy - the only economy in the world's top ten than is not represented in the G20 - and more importantly for the topic at hand, the health of its economy, demand that Spain be considered a peer amongst the world's leading nations at this time of crisis. As a result of stricter regulation and conservative lending practices amongst the country's banks, Spain's financial sector is not as highly leveraged as that of other countries. The Financial Times newspaper recently rated the Bank of Spain the best situated financial regulator to weather the current turbulence.Mr Zapatero's lobbying has met with some success amongst a number of leaders outside Washington. At the last European Summit, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would back Spain having a seat at any G20 meeting, and French President Nicholas Sarkozy has also said he backs the idea.

The European Parliament supports the Spanish position, and Austria's representative on the EU executive, foreign relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has written to Mr Zapatero expressing her wish to see Spain at the meeting.At the Latin American Summit in El Salvador last week, Mr Zapatero also chalked up additional backing from Mexico and Brazil, both invitees to the summit, and the latter the 2008 chair of the G20 group of nations.US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice however told Spanish foreign minister Angel Moratinos last week that Spain will not win a seat at the meeting not as a result of Mr Zapatero's withdrawl of troops from Iraq, as has been suggested by Spanish pundits as a reason why Madrid has not been invited. Instead, according to a report in Spain's ABC newspaper, she said, the US chose the G20 so that it could draw a line somewhere, inevitably offending some nations.

However, there has been some suggestion in Brussels that France, which has two seats at the summit - as a member of the G7 and as current chair of the EU six-month rotating presidency - may offer up one of them in Spain's favour.Inevitably, the moderate success Madrid has achieved has encouraged other nations to also try to win an invitation to the dance.El Pais is reporting that the Netherlands, with a GDP half the size of Spain's, has approached President Sarkozy requesting they be invited as well. Meanwhile, Poland, with an economy a third the size of Spain's, has spoken to the Bush Administration directly requesting they also attend.The French delegation to the summit has also now yielded a seat to the Czech finance minister, whose nation will take over the chairmanship of the EU from France in January.The Spanish centre-left daily reports that Mr Zapatero rejects such a formula, preferring instead a national seat, and not as part of someone else's delegation, in order to have the right to participate in debates.What doesn't sit well with me is to be standing up. I have to be in a seat, Mr Zapatero said yesterday, according to the paper.