UN chief discusses Mideast with Israel's Barak
Wed Apr 28, 3:34 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak here Wednesday and voiced hope indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks would start soon.A UN statement said the UN secretary general expressed his hope that proximity talks between the parties would begin shortly.Ban and Barak, a former Israeli premier, reviewed matters of mutual interest regarding the stability of the region, including Lebanon and exchanged views on the Iranian nuclear issue, it added.The UN boss called for further progress by Israel in allowing access for reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip.Israel on April 4 allowed the first commercial shipment of clothes and shoes into Gaza since 2008 but said its border closure policy towards the territory's Hamas rulers had not changed.Israel has said the blockade, which keep out all but vital aid, are necessary to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military infrastructure in Gaza and to pressure it to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured in 2006.
Tuesday, Barak was in Washington where he held talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US envoy George Mitchell and Clinton's top Middle East diplomat Jeffrey Feltman.Mitchell has just returned from the region in a new bid to revive the indirect proximity talks that were aborted as soon as they started in March when Israel announced it would build new homes in east Jerusalem.
Palestinian forces ready to secure West Bank
Wed Apr 28, 11:37 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Palestinian security forces are ready to secure the entire West Bank as part of a negotiated agreement with Israel, the West Bank security chief told reporters on Wednesday.Major General Diab al-Ali spoke a day after some 2,000 Palestinian security forces held a major live-fire drill in a suburb of Ramallah, the political capital of the occupied West Bank.We are ready to put a Palestinian soldier on every inch of Palestinian land, Ali said.He insisted that his forces would not allow a repeat of what happened in Gaza in June 2007, when the Islamist Hamas movement swept forces loyal to president Mahmud Abbas out in a week of bloody street battles.The security forces have learned from what happened in Gaza, he said.He admitted that there had been problems with overlapping powers among the different Palestinian security services but said they now work as a cohesive force.This drill was to confirm our readiness for all the security services to work together, and it was not easy, he said.But today there is no conflict of powers whatsoever.In the past two years, Palestinian security forces have imposed law and order in several West Bank towns that had been major militant bastions at the height of the 2000 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.But while Israel has lauded their efforts and removed some of the hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks it maintains in the territory, it insists its own forces are responsible for the dramatic decline in violence.
Hamas warned: fear may give way to revolt in Gaza By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Wed Apr 28, 7:00 am ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Security forces of the Islamist group Hamas detained Palestinian political activists overnight for distributing leaflets urging them to ease up on the people of Gaza or face a possibly explosive revolt.An official of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) told Reuters several members were arrested late on Tuesday and set free on Wednesday.The PFLP leaflets were the strongest public criticism yet of Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and has been clamping down on any behavior it sees as un-Islamic, while recently levying new taxes on the 1.5 million inhabitants.People are under huge pressure but they are also afraid to express themselves and we took the responsibility to voice their concerns, PFLP official Jamil Mezher told Reuters.
The leaflet warned Hamas to beware increasing pressure on the people in a way that could push the community to rebel against these practices and even to explode in the faces of those responsible.It urged the territory's Islamist rulers to stop violating freedoms, oppressing political opponents and imposing taxes on small businesses in the enclave, whose borders with Israel and Egypt are tightly controlled.The price of a pack of cigarettes, most of which are smuggled in via tunnels from Egypt, has been raised to cover a 3 shekel (80 cent) tax which goes to Hamas.Another group, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), urged peaceful protests against Hamas taxes.The DFLP condemns the increase of taxes and fees ... which have led to an unprecedented rise in prices amid deteriorating economic and social conditions, it said.We call for popular action and peace protests to stop these measures.
POOR AND SHUT IN
Israel invaded Gaza in a three-week offensive 16 months ago to force an end to rocket fire by Hamas and other groups aimed at towns in southern Israel. But the border remains tense and violent incidents involving troops and militants are frequent.Local traders say the group is trying to patch up its depleted finances and calculate this tax will yield it about $6 million per month.The PFLP also noted a new Hamas move to take over uninhabited housing and offer it to their members.
Economists say half the people are jobless in Gaza, which subsists on United Nations aid. They cannot leave the enclave.PFLP leaders said they had urged Hamas in a face-to-face meeting recently to ease up.The Hamas administration denied it had imposed any new tax and said it had only activated a tiny section of the taxation system.
Mezher said the PFLP had plenty of testimony to the contrary from ordinary people. Many government employees said they had not yet been paid for the month of March.Hamas Islamists are allied with Iran and refuse to recognize the Jewish state, unlike their arch rivals in the Fatah movement Fatah, which is dominant in the West Bank and open to a peace treaty that would create a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Prospects of the two groups reconciling to heal the split in Palestinian ranks are seen as remote. (Editing by Douglas Hamilton and Charles Dick)
Mayor pledges more Jewish homes in east Jerusalem
Wed Apr 28, 1:27 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat pledged that more Jewish homes will be built in east Jerusalem, despite US calls for a freeze there in a bid to boost prospects for Middle East peace.Barkat showed no sign of constraints on construction in Jerusalem despite a Haaretz newspaper report saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to refrain from significant actions in the disputed holy city.The answer is no, a clear no, he told reporters Tuesday when asked if Israel would heed calls by President Barak Obama's administration to stop building in east Jerusalem until at least Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are launched.The mayor said there had only been a temporary halt to construction as Israel reeled from the shock of having its US ally publicly reprimand it for announcing last month 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem.When you get two slaps in your face, first of all, you stop and you think: Did you do anything wrong? he said.It takes some time to recover from such an attack by such a friend like the US administration. Now I think we're past that phase right now, Barkat told reporters over dinner.There is no freeze, he confirmed, adding there will be more announcements of further construction.There will be buildings going on. You cannot stop a vibrant living city, especially not Jerusalem. And by the way, if you stop it, Jews will leave and Arabs will build illegally,he added.You must build for both Jews and Arabs, he said.Giving Palestinians any grip of east Jerusalem is putting a Trojan horse for Jews in Jerusalem,the mayor said.
Saying he was simply following a masterplan for Jerusalem, Barkat said he aimed to keep the holy city's Jewish population at 65 percent and the Palestinian population at 35 percent.Barkat said he showed the masterplan -- which also calls for designs that help increase tourists from two million a year to 10 million a year in a decade -- to US lawmakers and government officials during his visit to Washington.He said he planned to meet with State Department officials on Wednesday.His visit coincides with that of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, but is independent of it.
The United States has been pressing the two sides to return to negotiations for months, but the Palestinians have refused to do so without a complete freeze on Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
U.S., Israel say Syria arming Hezbollah with missiles
Tue Apr 27, 4:59 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and Israeli defense ministers accused Syria on Tuesday of arming Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas with increasingly powerful missiles, but Israel said it did not intend to provoke a conflict over the buildup.The comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Israel's Ehud Barak stopped short of identifying what type of missiles were being supplied to Hezbollah, after reports that the group had obtained long-range Scud missiles capable of hitting targets across the Jewish state.U.S. intelligence and defense officials have cast doubt on Israeli allegations that Scuds have reached Lebanon.Gates, who spoke alongside Barak after a meeting at the Pentagon, said Syria as well as Iran were providing Hezbollah with weapons of ever increasing capability.We are at a point now where Hezbollah has far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world, Gates said, noting that Washington was following the matter closely.Barak said the missiles could disrupt the very delicate balance in Lebanon.But he played down the chances of a conflict over the transfers, which have grabbed headlines since the Scud allegations surfaced in a Kuwaiti media report on April 10 and were endorsed by Israel's head of state, Shimon Peres.
We do not intend to provoke any kind of major collision in Lebanon, or vis-a-vis Syria ... but we are watching closely these developments and think that they do not contribute to stability in the region, Barak said.Hezbollah fired thousands of the mostly short-range Katyusha rockets into Israel in 2006 and the Jewish state is worried the guerrillas have replenished their arsenal to strike on Iran's behalf if its nuclear sites come under attack.A Pentagon report on Iran released last week said that Hezbollah had rearmed itself to beyond the levels seen before the 2006 war, despite U.N.-backed efforts to curb weapon shipments to the group.In addition to arms, Iran provides about $100 million to $200 million per year to support Hezbollah, it said.The missile allegations involving Syria have complicated President Barack Obama's efforts to forge a rapprochement with Damascus, which his administration sees as crucial to Middle East peace efforts and to stabilize the nascent democracy in neighboring Iraq.Obama aims to return an ambassador to Damascus after a five-year absence. But the designated envoy, Robert Ford, is still awaiting confirmation by the full Senate.(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Adam Entous and Deborah Charles, editing by Chris Wilson)
Israel warns against giving Iran too much time By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer – Tue Apr 27, 5:42 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The United States is doing the right thing by pursuing a diplomatic solution to the threat that Iran may soon gain a nuclear weapon, but the world cannot afford to wait too long, Israel's defense minister said Tuesday.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he supports the U.S. focus on tougher economic sanctions against Tehran and that the United States is the only world power that can muster a coordinated global effort to deter Iran through economic pressure.Only time will tell to what extent they are really effective, Barak said following meetings at the Pentagon with the top U.S. civilian and uniformed officials. He warned that if the international community waits too long, Iran could acquire a nuclear weapon that would change the landscape of the entire world, not just of the Middle East.U.S. defense officials walk a fine line when discussing Iran and Israel, quick to say that a nuclear Iran is intolerable and a direct threat to Israel, but also firm that a pre-emptive U.S. or Israeli military strike would be counterproductive now.Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned in a secret memo in January that the United States needed more forethought and more options as Iran edges closer to the time when it could build a weapon. He declined to go further Tuesday.I'm very satisfied with the planning process at the Pentagon and elsewhere within the Obama administration, Gates said during a news conference with Barak. We spend a lot of time on Iran, and we'll continue to do so.
Iran and the rearming of the Hezbollah militia were major topics of Barak's session at the Pentagon. He met earlier Tuesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.Barak's three-day visit to Washington is partly intended to project a better image of U.S.-Israeli relations than what emerged from the tense visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month.The traditionally close alliance between United States and Israel has been strained by the Netanyahu government's move to expand Jewish housing on land claimed by Palestinians for their future capital. The United States sees the move as a direct affront to peacemaking. Peace talks remain stalled.
Fatah eyes bigger slice of Fayyad's Palestinian government By Mohammed Assadi – Tue Apr 27, 11:53 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Leading members of the dominant Palestinian movement Fatah are demanding more power in the Palestinian Authority cabinet of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Fatah officials said on Tuesday.We are calling for a reshuffle of the key ministries, said Amin Maqboul, secretary general of Fatah's Revolutionary Council. He was speaking to Reuters after four days of closed-door meetings in the West Bank city of Ramallah.The Council wants to turn the interior affairs, finance and foreign affairs portfolios currently held by Fayyad loyalists over to Fatah members, officials said.Fatah has 11 seats in the 21-member caretaker cabinet led by Fayyad, a technocratic independent who has incurred the envy of many Fatah activists.Fayyad was appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas at a time when the West was pressing for reform in what was widely seen as a corruption-riddled administration. He promoted a policy of transparency welcomed by Western aid donors.
Senior Fatah official Mahmoud al-Aloul said Abbas, who leads Fatah also wants a reshuffle and he has no objection to the Council's demands. But there was no immediate confirmation from the presidency.
NON-PERFORMERS
Minister of Labour Ahmad Majdalani said Fayyad had already asked Abbas for cabinet changes to replace non-performing ministers. He is pressing ahead with an ambitious program to build the institutions of the Palestinian state which he expects to complete in 2011.There is a previous agreement between the president and the prime minister on the reshuffle, Majdalani told Reuters. He cannot continue with his work with the current staff.A close confidant of Fayyad said the premier would not mind Fatah taking any post except finance, which he holds and which is off-limits.They know that they cannot get the ministry of finance and Fayyad may quit if they insist on taking it. I don't think things will go that far, this source said.Fayyad, a former World Bank economist, has a very small political power base. He has gained prominence for a pragmatic policies to improve the economy and the infrastructure of the occupied West Bank, and popularity for his grassroots approach.Fatah argues that a reshuffle would improve the performance of the government, Aloul told Reuters.
Fatah dominated Palestinian politics for decades until the Islamist Hamas scored a surprise win in the 2006 parliamentary election and one year later kicked Fatah out of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas has controlled ever since.Abbas appointed Fayyad after the seizure of Gaza. But many in Fatah have been irked by Abbas's reliance on him.Pressure for greater say in the caretaker government increased last August, after Fatah held its first congress in 20 years, bringing new members into the Revolutionary Council and Central Committee.(Editing by Douglas Hamilton in Jerusalem)
Another aide to former Israel PM arrested by fraud squad
Mon Apr 26, 6:00 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli police on Monday arrested former prime minister Ehud Olmert's one-time office manager, the latest Olmert aide to be questioned over multiple fraud and bribery cases in which the ex-premier is a suspect.TV newscasts showed detectives at Israel's Ben Gurion airport meeting Shula Zaken as she returned from a visit to the United States, and driving her away in an unmarked car.Local media said she was being taken for questioning at the headquarters of the police national fraud squad, near Tel Aviv. The police spokesman did not respond to AFP's request for comment.Olmert's former lawyer and business associate, Uri Messer, was arrested three weeks ago on suspicion of using bribes to secure approval for a massive property development in Jerusalem named the Holyland Project.Media reports had said Olmert, who is also a former mayor of Jerusalem, was suspected of having taken a bribe of 3.5 million shekels (almost one million dollars at the current exchange rate).On April 15 Olmert went on television and denied taking any bribe.
His successor as mayor, Uri Lupolianski, is also under arrest for his alleged involvement in the Holyland scandal.Police have a state's witness to testify against Olmert, according to media reports.In December, Olmert pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption linked to three other cases. He resigned under pressure in September 2008 after police recommended that he be indicted.Messer is himself a witness in the trial currently under way against Olmert, and Zaken is a co-defendant.Olmert is accused of unlawfully accepting gifts of cash-stuffed envelopes from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talanski and of multiple-billing for foreign trips.He has also been charged with cronyism in relation to an investment centre which he oversaw when he was trade and industry minister between 2003 and 2006.The case is expected to drag on for months, if not years. If found guilty, Olmert could face a prison term, although it is unclear for how long.All the charges relate to a period before Olmert became premier, to his terms as mayor of Jerusalem and later as trade and industry minister.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Hamas releases cartoon about captured Israeli By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer – Sun Apr 25, 3:40 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Hamas released an animated film Sunday bearing a grisly message for Israel: If it doesn't meet the Islamic militant group's demands, an Israeli soldier it has held for nearly four years could return home in a coffin.The short but sophisticated cartoon — which depicts Sgt. Gilad Schalit's aging father wandering empty streets with a picture of his son and ends with the words There is still hope — is the latest product of Hamas' growing media machine.TV and radio stations controlled by the group continuously broadcast Hamas-produced songs and music videos threatening the Jewish state and rallying the group's militant Islamic base.But the latest cartoon — which was widely broadcast on Israeli TV — was remarkable for the personal and callous nature of the appeal on an issue that has profound emotional resonance for many Israelis: The fate of Schalit, who was captured by Gaza militants in June 2006.The website of Hamas' armed wing, which posted the video, said it was intended to pressure Israelis to accept demands for a prisoner swap and warns the Israeli government it could regret not making a deal quickly.
Schalit's father, who has become a recognizable face in Israel, is the main character of the three-minute, 20-second short, in Hebrew with English and Arabic subtitles. Noam Schalit is normally clean-shaven, but he appears in the film's later scenes with a cane and scraggly gray beard, suggesting he has grown old while awaiting his son's release.The elder Schalit passes billboards on which Israeli leaders vow to free his son or get information on his fate. He reads a newspaper ad offering $50 million for information on his son's whereabouts, then tosses it in the trash.The soundtrack includes clips of his son's voice taken from a Hamas video released last October to prove the soldier was still alive. That video came amid talks aimed at trading Schalit for about 1,000 Palestinians prisoners. Negotiations have since stalled.Toward the end of the film, screen text in Hebrew and Arabic informs viewers that the Israeli government's efforts to clinch a prisoner swap deal succeeded. Noam Schalit sits near Israel's Erez border crossing with Gaza, where a black van unloads a coffin draped in an Israeli flag.The father screams, then wakes up, finding himself sitting at a bus stop. A screen text reads:There is still hope.
Noam Schalit called the film psychological warfare and urged Hamas to reach a deal with Israel in order to ease an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has made life hard for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.Hamas leaders would do better if instead of producing films and performances, they would worry about the real interests of the Palestinian prisoners and the ordinary citizens of Gaza who have been held hostage by their leaders for a long time,he said in a statement.Hamas has placed considerable emphasis on expanding its media machine since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, ousting forces loyal to its Western-backed rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Last year, the group released its first feature film, an action-packed homage to a top militant.Hamas also has produced cartoons before, including a jihad-loving mouse for a children's show. Last year, a short cartoon showed Schalit strapped to a chair, pleading with a Palestinian boy to set him free. The boy refused, saying he had relatives in Israeli prisons.Nashat al-Aqtash, media professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank, said Hamas has invested in media production as an easy way to spread its ideology — a tactic also used by other militant groups.Cheaper technology has made it easier to produce animated films, which can be widely distributed on the Internet while keeping their creators' identities secret, al-Aqtash said.
Hamas declined to say who made Sunday's film.
Israelis criticized the film for exploiting the Schalit family's pain. The family's plight has struck a chord with Jewish Israelis, most of whom perform mandatory military service and feel the same could have happened to anyone's son. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the film demonstrated Hamas' terrorist and cruel character.Others noted that the video was released just two days after Israel permitted the daughter of Hamas' top security official in Gaza to pass though Israel on her way to seek urgent medical treatment in Jordan. The daughter of Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad left Gaza on Friday for an Israeli hospital, where she was airlifted to Jordan, Israeli and Jordanian officials said Sunday. Jordanian officials declined to discuss Elham Fathi Hamad's treatment but said Jordan's King Abdullah II personally appealed to Israel so the woman, who is in her 20s, could make the rare medical trip through Israel. Hamad once headed the armed wing of Hamas that released the Schalit video. He now oversees all of Hamas' security forces. Nir Hefez, media adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the video's timing attests, more than anything, to the character of this terrorist organization.
On the Net:http://qassam.ps/video-29-Cartoon_Film_for_Gilad_Shalit.html
Divers find rocket debris off Israeli resort
Sat Apr 24, 2:41 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Sappers on Saturday recovered debris from a rocket that hit the water off Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat two days earlier, after being alerted by civilian divers, the military said.After verification, the device found by the two civilian divers turned out to be a 122 mm rocket, a military spokesman said.The civilians reported finding the rocket after two projectiles hit in and near the adjacent Jordanian port of Aqaba on Thursday.Two divers told the army they had seen what appeared to be a rocket on the seabed, an Israeli spokesman said earlier. The army sealed off a nearby beach and sent sappers to the scene.Two military-grade rockets struck Jordan early on Thursday, one slamming into an empty warehouse in Aqaba and the other splashing into the sea near the Israeli border, a Jordanian security official said.The preliminary investigation determined that the explosion in the port of Aqaba on Thursday morning was due to a Katyusha rocket, the security official said, citing sources close to investigators.A second Katyusha rocket was found in Jordanian territorial waters,he added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Jordanian Prime Minister Samir Rifai later said the authorities were 100 percent sure the rocket that hit the warehouse was a Grad-type projectile, rather than a Katyusha.Jordanian authorities said they were investigating whether the target of the rocket attack was Aqaba or Eilat, less than 10 kilometres (six miles) along the coast.In August 2005, three Katyusha rockets were fired in Aqaba, missing two US warships docked in the port. One hit a warehouse, killing a Jordanian soldier, while another struck across the border in Israel.That attack was claimed by a group linked to Al-Qaeda.
Abbas wants Palestinian, Israeli political dialogue
Sat Apr 24, 8:34 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called on Saturday for an open political dialogue between Palestinian groups and both Israeli and Jewish organisations around the world.I call for an open political dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli forces, and we are ready to undertake them without exception,Abbas told a meeting of the Revolutionary Council of his Fatah party.Such talks would be based on the acceptance by both sides of a proposed Palestinian state living side by side with Israel, he said.We are ready to engage in a responsible dialogue, because we know that 84 percent of Israelis want peace ... and that the large majority of Palestinians and Israelis want true peace,he said..Abbas's made his call while the Palestinian Authority is refusing to resume peace talks with the Israeli government itself until such time as the Jewish state freezes all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem.
Israel's Barak sees green light for talks soon by Steve Weizman – Fri Apr 23, 4:50 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Friday that he saw the current diplomacy by the US Middle East envoy leading to agreement within weeks on renewed peace talks with the Palestinians.I get the impression there is a very intensive effort to start them, Barak told Israel's Channel One television as US President Barack Obama's envoy George Mitchell met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank.I imagine and I very much hope that maybe within the next two weeks we shall achieve indirect talks, he said.Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said after the Ramallah meeting that an Arab League committee to monitor peace efforts would meet in Cairo on May 1 to discuss Mitchell's ideas.He did not elaborate, but earlier Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said any firm proposal to restart talks would have to be endorsed by Arab leaders.Direct peace negotiations between the sides collapsed in 2008, and Mitchell was on Friday trying to broker US-mediated indirect talks as a prelude to face-to-face negotiations.There was a generally upbeat tone to his meetings with other Israeli leaders.Despite a recent chill in relations with Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he looked forward to working with Obama to advance peace.We're serious about it. We know you're serious about it. We hope the Palestinians respond,he told Mitchell.We have to move this process forward.
Netanyahu's office said the two had a good meeting that dealt with kickstarting the peace process and would meet again on Sunday.Israeli President Shimon Peres was also positive on the prospect of reviving the talks that stalled in 2008.Your arrival this time is a green light to continue, he told Mitchell.The envoy later travelled to Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to see Abbas, and told reporters that Washington's goal was to achieve a comprehensive Middle East peace soon, not in some vague and distant future.Erekat called the meeting positive, and said Mitchell would return to Ramallah for more talks before leaving the region.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Obama's envoy was seeking to clear a path to talks on core issues, such as the borders of a future Palestinian state alongside Israel, but was not trying to impose a solution.Our goal in these conversations is to advance negotiations over final status issues -- borders obviously being one of them, she told reporters at a meeting of NATO ministers in Estonia.There's a lot of ideas that have been floated around, but at the end of the day it's only the Israelis and Palestinians that can make these decisions for themselves.Mitchell last month convinced the Palestinians to hold indirect talks, only to see the agreement collapse when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem.
The plan, announced as US Vice President Joe Biden was in Jerusalem promoting the peace talks, sparked a bitter row with Washington. And publicly at least, Netanyahu is not budging. There will be no freeze on construction in Jerusalem, he reiterated on Thursday.Everyone knows it,he told Israel's Channel Two television. Israel captured the Arab part of the city in the 1967 Middle East War and then annexed it, claiming the whole of Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital.The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state. Settlements and the status of Jerusalem are among the thorniest issues in efforts to achieve a resolution of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The international community considers all Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, to be illegal. Peace talks, revived in late 2007 after a seven-year hiatus, collapsed again after Israel launched a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip in December 2008. The Palestinians have insisted they will not return to the negotiating table unless there is a total freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.In November, Netanyahu's government announced a partial 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank, but excluding east Jerusalem.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
REMEMBER GOD SAYS LIFE FOR LIFE WHOEVER KILLS A PERSON WILL BE PUT TO DEATH.THIS TELLS ME THAT 3 BILLION ABORTIONS AND KILLING OF INNOCENT PEOPLE HAS GONE ON.THATS WHY 3 BILLION PEOPLE DIE IN WW3.LIFE FOR LIFE AND HATE AGAINST ISRAEL AND GOD(KING JESUS).SINNERS CAN'T RUN FROM THE WRATH OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WHOLE EARTH.THE SINNERS DEEDS ARE ALL WRITTEN IN A BOOK FOR THE FINAL LAKE OF FIRE TRIAL AND SENTENCE OF THE GODLESS TO ETERNAL FLAMES IN A LAKE OF FIRE.
REVELATION 20:11-15
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.(THIS IS 1,000 YEARS AFTER THE END OF 7 YR PEACE TREATY)(WHEN JESUS HAS BEEN REIGNING FROM JERUSALEM-THE WORLD CAPITAL NOW 1,000 YEARS).THEN AT THE END OF THE 1,000 YEAR REIGN THESE NEXT VERSES HAPPEN.LAKE OF ETERNAL FIRE JUDGEMENT FOR THE SINNERS AND HATERS OF ISRAEL AND GOD(KNG JESUS).
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
