LIBYA WANTS REVOLT BY PALESTINIANS AGAINST ISRAEL

EGYPT

ISAIAH 19:1-15
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

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.

Gaddafi tells Palestinians: revolt against Israel
By Ali Shuaib and Salah Sarrar – Sun Feb 13, 5:37 pm ET

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Palestinian refugees should capitalize on the wave of popular revolts in the Middle East by massing peacefully on the borders of Israel until it gives in to their demands, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Sunday.Gaddafi is respected in many parts of the Arab world for his uncompromising criticism of Israel and Arab leaders who have dealings with the Jewish state, though some people in the region dismiss his initiatives as unrealistic.He was giving his first major speech since a popular uprising in neighboring Egypt forced President Hosni Mubarak to resign, an event which electrified the Arab world and prompted speculation that other Arab governments could also be toppled.Fleets of boats should take Palestinians ... and wait by the Palestinian shores until the problem is resolved, Gaddafi was shown saying on state television. This is a time of popular revolutions.

We need to create a problem for the world. This is not a declaration of war. This is a call for peace, he said in a speech given to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohamed, a holy day in the Islamic calendar.He also said: All Arab states which have relations with Israel are cowardly regimes.Palestinians have long demanded that refugees who fled or were forced to leave in the war of Israel's creation in 1948 should be allowed to return, along with their descendants.Israel says any resettlement of Palestinian refugees must occur outside of its borders.

ISLAMIST MILITANTS

Gaddafi also issued a call to Muslim countries to join forces against Western powers. He said the world was divided into white, denoting the United States, Europe and their allies, and green for the Muslim world.The white color has decided to get rid of the green color, Gaddafi said.These countries should be united against the white color because all of these white countries are the enemies of Islam.He said violent acts committed by Osama Bin Laden's al Qaeda network went against Islam because they killed innocent people. But he said there was a political explanation for the emergence of militant Islamists.Why did this movement emerge? Regardless of its behavior, in my analysis this movement appeared in response to the American arrogance toward the Islamic nation and in response to its hegemony of the Islamic world, Gaddafi said.It was a response to ... the submission of rulers in the Islamic world, the subservience of rulers in the Islamic world to this arrogance from Europe and the United States, he said.Gaddafi has for decades challenged what he describes as Western imperialism. His oil exporting country spent years under international sanctions for seeking banned weapons and sponsoring militant groups.These were lifted in 2004 when Gaddafi renounced his previous activities, though he still frequently deploys his colorful rhetoric against the West.(Additional reporting by Souhail Karam in Rabat; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Egypt unrest puts Mideast peace efforts on hold
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press – Sun Feb 13, 4:22 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's downfall appears to have nudged Israel and the Palestinians toward some common ground: Neither side seems to think now is the time for brave moves toward peace.For Israel, Mubarak's departure has left behind an all-consuming worry that the influence of Islamic extremists will grow, and the two countries' historic 1979 peace treaty could be in jeopardy. For the Western-backed Palestinian leadership, the fall of Egypt's strongman deprives them of a key mediator with the Israelis and — just as crucially — with their Palestinian rivals in the militant Islamic Hamas movement.Both sides are now waiting to see what kind of Egyptian government emerges in Mubarak's wake. It's one more distraction preventing Israelis and Palestinians from reviving a U.S.-backed peace push that ground to a halt only weeks after it started last year.

The Palestinians were already reeling from last month's leaks to Al-Jazeera TV disclosing that they had offered deep concessions to Israel in past peace talks. The revelations triggered public outrage. Hoping to diffuse the anger on the street, the Palestinians are now focused on moving ahead with long-delayed elections.One Palestinian official said that with both sides preoccupied and disillusioned it was once again up to America to push for peace.When it comes to the Palestinian people, this is a test for the Americans, said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the top Palestinian decision-making body, the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee.They must understand it's a critical issue.She said that just as President Barack Obama ultimately sided with the Egyptian protesters who brought down Mubarak, he should change what is viewed by the Palestinians as an unfair pro-Israel bias.In a step to prepare for fall elections called in response to the Egypt turmoil, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his Cabinet plan to resign Monday, a Palestinian official said. Fayyad will form a new Cabinet with more officials from President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, he said, to give them a boost against Hamas rivals, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made.

Obama made Mideast peace a top priority upon taking office two years ago, believing that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would remove a major source of tension in the region. He personally presided over the relaunch of peace talks at the White House last September, pledging to forge an agreement within one year.The talks broke down just three weeks later with the expiration of an Israeli slowdown on settlement construction, and Obama's September target for an agreement has since appeared increasingly unrealistic. The Palestinians say there can be no good-faith negotiations if Israel continues to build settlements on the occupied lands they claim for a future independent state.Palestinian officials claim that even with the Middle East in turmoil, Israeli settlement construction remains the top obstacle to peace.But the U.S.'s inability to coax Israel into a settlement freeze is just one of the issues dogging peace efforts.The Palestinians are still recovering from last month's leak of dozens of sensitive negotiating documents to the Al-Jazeera satellite channel, and the Egyptian unrest continues to ripple throughout the region.

The Al-Jazeera documents, which showed that Abbas and other top officials were amenable to key concessions to Israel during failed peace talks in 2008, deeply embarrassed the Palestinian leader and over the weekend compelled his chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, to resign.On Saturday, pushed by both the Al-Jazeera leaks and the events in Egypt, Abbas' government said it would hold long overdue general elections by September.Abbas has repeatedly delayed elections, both due to fears that his Fatah Party would lose, and because of the geographical split in Palestinian society.Abbas governs from the West Bank while the rival Hamas militant group rules the Gaza Strip, having taken it over by force in 2007. The Palestinians hope to turn both territories — located on opposite sides of Israel — into a state. Elections could conceivably provide a way for the rivals to reconcile, though Hamas has said it will boycott the vote.In the absence of peace talks, presidential aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Palestinians would spend the coming months preparing for the elections, pursuing reconciliation and trying to rally international support for Palestinian independence at the United Nations. They have set September as an informal target date for declaring statehood.

For Israel, the reluctance to resume talks is far more straightforward. Mubarak's downfall has robbed Israel of a key ally and raised concerns that the radical Muslim Brotherhood could play a role in a future Egyptian government. The Egyptian army's pledge on Saturday to preserve a bedrock peace treaty with Israel helped ease fears.
At a time of such great uncertainty, Israeli officials are highly reluctant to turn over full control of territory on their doorstep to Abbas, a man they view as well-intentioned but weak.Just as Abbas' forces lost control of Gaza to Hamas, they fear the same thing could happen in the West Bank, putting a hostile group just a few miles from the country's largest cities.Some, however, took the view that in the long run, the changes under way in the region could boost prospects for peace.The good thing could be that we see more democratic regimes here, and a democratic regime is more stable and more likely perhaps to conclude peace agreements, said Eytan Gilboa, an analyst at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv.Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

No risk to Egypt-Israel ties: Ehud Barak
– Sun Feb 13, 11:45 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israel's ties with Cairo are safe and sound, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in comments aired Sunday, adding that Egypt's uprising shares little with the 1979 Iranian revolution.I don't think that the relationship between Israel and Egypt is under any risk, or that any kind of operational risk is waiting for us just behind the corner, Barak told ABC's This Week program.But he did warn of the potential for an unsettling political shift in Egypt if authorities there rush too quickly to elections, a move he said would be catastrophic for the region if it allowed extremists to snatch power.Egypt has maintained a historic peace accord with the neighboring Jewish state for more than 30 years -- only one of two Arab countries to do so.With the ouster this past week of Egypt's longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak, a committed shepherd of the agreement and a Washington ally in the global fight against extremists, concern has surged over the potential for radical elements to take power in Egypt and eventually annul the peace pact.

While Barak -- who spoke to ABC Friday hours after Mubarak stepped down -- was optimistic about keeping strong ties with Cairo, he expressed concern over the political potential of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's major opposition group, especially if elections take place too soon.The real winners of any short-term election, let's say within 90 days, will be the Muslim Brotherhood, because they are already ready to jump.Usually in revolutions, if they are violent, there's an eruption of idealist sentiments at the first moment, and later on, sooner than later, the only group which is coherent, focused, ready to kill and be killed if necessary, takes power, he added.That should be avoided in Egypt, because that would be a catastrophe for the whole region.Some people aligned with the Egyptian opposition have expressed a desire for elections to be held sooner than those already scheduled for September.In an opinion piece in Friday's New York Times, a member of the Brotherhood's guidance council, Essam El-Errian, wrote that we do not intend to take a dominant role in the forthcoming political transition,and that the group was not putting forward a candidate for the elections.Barak, a former Israeli prime minister, said there was little if any connection between the 18-day uprising in Egypt and the revolution in Iran that overthrew the US-backed shah and ushered in an era of Islamic leadership.

I don't believe that something similar to the Iranian events of years ago is happening now, Barak said.He called Egypt's revolution a spontaneous show of people power that was not orchestrated by extremist groups of Muslim radical origins.I think the Egyptians have their own way, he added. I think that the direction is something which emerged very genuinely in a spontaneous manner.

Top US military official visits Jordan's leader
– Sun Feb 13, 8:46 am ET

AMMAN, Jordan – Jordan's state news agency says King Abdullah II has met with a top American military official visiting to reassure the U.S.-allied leader as the uprising in Egypt reverberates around the Middle East.Jordan's government is among several in the region facing protests calling for greater political openness and steps to lift people out of poverty.Abdullah's meeting Sunday with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was closed to news media.The Petra news agency says only that they discussed bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern.Royal Palace officials did not answer their phones.Mullen will also visit Israel, which is deeply worried a new Egyptian government will be less friendly to the Jewish state.

Mubarak's fall shows need for Mideast jolt: Britain
– Sat Feb 12, 1:58 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – The fall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak should act as a jolt to the faltering peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Saturday.Mubarak's resignation on Friday and the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia last month showed it was necessary to take action now before the situation in the Middle East changes further, said Hague.Perhaps one of the good things that might come from events in Egypt and Tunisia is that policymakers in Israel and among Palestinians will be jolted to see that it is vital now to take this forward because in a few years time a two-state solution will be much, much more difficult to achieve, Hague told BBC radio.There is some life in it but it is on life support and it will not live for many more years, added Hague, who this week visited Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.It is vital both to Israel's long-term security and to any hope of a viable Palestinian state for both of them to make the necessary compromises.Sadly in recent months, neither have been ready to do so and I hope that these events will jolt them into that rather than make them more cautious about doing so.Hague's comments came as Egypt pledged to respect the 1979 peace treaty following Mubarak's decision on Friday to quit and hand power to the military. Israel welcomed Egypt's vow.However Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat on Saturday tendered his resignation amid deadlock in efforts to renew peace talks with Israel.

Palestinian negotiator Erakat quits due to leaks
– Sat Feb 12, 10:37 am ET

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat tendered his resignation on Saturday amid deadlock in efforts to renew peace talks with Israel, a Palestinian official said.Erakat told AFP he was stepping down because of his responsibility for the disclosure of confidential documents on Al-Jazeera, shortly after his resignation was announced by senior PLO Yasser Abed Rabbo.

The chief negotiator said he was assuming responsibility for the theft of documents from his office that he said had been deliberately tampered with.Last month, Erakat accused Al-Jazeera of taking part in a campaign to overthrow the Palestinian Authority (PA) after the Doha-based television began to release more than 1,600 confidential files known as The Palestine Papers.The documents, shared by Al-Jazeera and Britain's Guardian daily, expose concessions to Israel in 10 years of secret peace talks, embarrassing and angering the Palestinian leadership.Erakat at the time accused Al-Jazeera of trying to discredit the peace process and provoke his people into a revolution against their leaders in order to bring down the Palestinian political system.He pointed to a possible US-Israeli effort to topple the PA because of its refusal to take part in US-brokered direct peace talks unless the Jewish state halts West Bank settlement construction.The files allege that Palestinian negotiators offered unprecedented concessions during peace negotiations, including on the ultra-sensitive subjects of Jerusalem and refugees, with nothing in return from Israel.They also show PA members closely cooperating with Israel in its fight against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Fatah's bitter rival which rules the Gaza Strip.Hamas on Saturday welcomed Erakat's offer to resign.The step shows that the leaked documents were authentic, spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP, urging the Palestine Liberation Organisation to halt all negotiations with Israel.

Mubarak exit sets off celebrations across Mideast By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press – Fri Feb 11, 6:31 pm ET

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Revelers swept joyously into the streets across the Middle East on Friday after Hosni Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's president. From Beirut to Gaza, tens of thousands handed out candy, set off fireworks and unleashed celebratory gunfire, and the governments of Jordan, Iraq and Sudan sent their blessings.Even in Israel, which had watched Egypt's 18-day uprising against Mubarak with some trepidation, a former Cabinet minister said Mubarak did the right thing. The street won. There was nothing that could be done. It's good that he did what he did, former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who knew Mubarak well and spoke to him just a day earlier, told Israel TV's Channel 10.The boisterous street celebrations erupted within moments of the dramatic announcement by Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman that Mubarak had stepped down. The success of Egypt's protesters in ousting a longtime ruler came less than a month after a pro-democracy movement in Tunisia pushed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14.

The breakneck speed of developments, after decades of authoritarian rule in many Arab countries, left some of those celebrating Friday wondering where regime change might come next.We are very happy today that we were able to overcome the dictator Hosni Mubarak. Tomorrow will be the turn of the dictators in the entire Arab world, said Issam Allawi, an Egyptian celebrating with dozens outside the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut.Two of Egypt's neighbors — Israel and the Palestinians — followed the historic moment particularly closely.Israel's greatest concern in the past two weeks has been that its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt might not survive under a new government, particularly if Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood — the largest and most organized opposition group — gains influence. The Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood, the Islamic militant Hamas, seized control of the Gaza Strip, on Israel's doorstep, in 2007.Israel's government did not comment Friday. However, Israel's former U.N. representative, Dan Gillerman, told Fox News that if the radicals prevail (in Egypt) then we will have Hamas in Gaza, the Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which would be devastating not just for Israel but for the stability of the whole region.Egypt's uprising was led by young secular Egyptians, with the Brotherhood largely remaining in the background.

In Gaza, hopes were rising that a nearly four-year-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory might be coming to an end. Egypt had helped Israel enforce the blockade, which has kept some 1.5 million people confined to the tiny territory.Across Gaza, many thousands rushed into the streets late Friday. Gunmen fired in the air and women distributed candy. God bless Egypt, it's a day of joy and God willing all corrupt leaders in the world will fall, said Radwa Abu Ali, 55, one of those handing out sweets.Hamas leaders called on the new Egypt to open the borders with Gaza. Egypt wrote today a new chapter in the history of the Arab nations and I can see the blockade on Gaza shaking right now, Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, told reporters.Hamas security sent reinforcements to the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent any possible chaos there, including attempts to break through the blockade. In a Hamas-engineered border breach in 2008, hundreds of thousands of Gazans had briefly spilled into Egypt.The governments of Jordan, Iraq and Sudan said Friday they respect the will of the Egyptian people. The resignation of Hosni Mubarak is a step in the right direction, said a statement by Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.Anti-government protests have erupted in recent weeks in Jordan and Iraq, with demonstrators complaining of corruption, lack of services and rising prices. Sudan is run by an autocratic leader wanted for war crimes he is accused of orchestrating in the country's restive Darfur region.Across the Middle East, many thousands celebrated in the streets.

In Tunisia, cries of joy and the thundering honking of horns greeted the announcement. God delivered our Egyptian brothers from this dictator, said Yacoub Youssef, one of those celebrating in the capital of Tunis.On Lebanon's Al-Manar TV, the station run by the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah faction, Egyptian anchor Amr Nassef, who was once imprisoned in Egypt for alleged ties to Islamists, cried on the air. Allahu Akbar (God is great), the Pharaoh is dead. Am I dreaming? I'm afraid to be dreaming, he said. In Jordan's capital of Amman, thousands gathered outside the Egyptian Embassy shouted mabrouk, mabrouk, Arabic for congratulations, as fireworks burst into the sky. The crowd included members of the 500,000-strong Egyptian expatriate community in Jordan. Some burned a portrait of Mubarak. This is the best day of my life. It's a new era for Egypt, said Hawary el-Saudi, 24, an Egyptian construction worker working in Jordan for the past year. Hosni Mubarak has been clinging on to power long before I was even born. He made us live a low life. He forced poor people like me to go aboard to work and make money.Celebrations were also held in several cities in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation, where protesters have also taken on the government of longtime leader Ali Abdullah Saleh after the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. In the capital, Sanaa, more than 3,000 people marched from Sanaa University to the Egyptian Embassy.In Baghdad, lawmakers from all of Iraq's major political parties cheered Mubarak's resignation as a win for democracy — a system still in its infancy in that nation.The resignation of Mubarak represents one of the marvelous days in history, said Sunni lawmaker Jamal al-Battekh, a member of the Iraqiya political alliance.No one can stand against the will of the nation or especially the will of the youth, who have the ability to say no to the dictator of Egypt.Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem, Ibrahim Barzak in the Gaza Strip, Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, Lara Jakes in Baghdad, Mohammed Osman in Khartoum, Sudan, Bouazza Ben Bouazza in Tunis and Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed to this report.

Jubilation in Gaza as Hamas hails Mubarak ouster
by Mai Yaghi – Fri Feb 11, 3:03 pm ET

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Hamas on Friday hailed the fall of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak as the start of the victory of the Egyptian revolution as jubilation erupted across Gaza.We consider the resignation of president Mubarak to be the start of the victory of the Egyptian revolution which we support with all its demands, said the Palestinian Islamist movement's spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri.The toppling of Egypt's strongman represented the victory of the will of the Egyptian people and their sacrifices, he told AFP, calling on the Egyptian army to support "the demands of the people and not let them be led astray.As the news rippled across the densely-populated coastal enclave ruled by Hamas, thousands of people rushed into the streets to celebrate, with cars honking their horns and celebratory busts of gunfire punctuating the night.In Gaza City, gunmen from Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, began gathering in the centre for a celebration rally.Similar gatherings were reported across the Gaza Strip as people responded to calls over loudspeakers to come and join the celebrations with the Egyptian people.Egypt has written a new page in the nation's history, Gaza's Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya said, adding that the blockade of Gaza had "begun to weaken with the collapse of Mubarak's regime.

Abu Zuhri urged Egypt's new leaders to lift its blockade, a measure in force since 2007 after Hamas violently seized power in the enclave, ousting the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Israel has enforced a blockade of Gaza from the land, air and sea since 2006 after Palestinian militants snatched an Israeli soldier on its border with the strip who is still being held captive.Abu Zuhri urged Cairo to immediately open the Rafah terminal between Gaza and Egypt which has been closed since the end of January, leaving thousands of Palestinians trapped in Gaza, and keeping hundreds more from returning home.The militant Islamic Jihad movement also paid tribute to the Egyptian people and their revolution, saying what they had achieved was the dream of all Arabs and Muslims.Earlier on Friday, online calls for a demonstration across Gaza for change appeared to have had little effect. Hamas security forces quickly dispersed those who did turn up in the southern town of Khan Yunis.The protest was called by an Arabic-language Facebook group which said its aim was to encourage unity among the bitterly-divided Palestinian ranks.The fall of Mubarak drew no immediate comment from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), which has largely kept silence since the Egyptian uprising erupted on January 25.But hundreds of Palestinians of all ages in the PA's political capital of Ramallah and other West Bank communities took to the streets to celebrate, waving Egyptian and Palestinian flags.Last month after the anti-regime protests broke out, Abbas called Mubarak, whose regime tried but failed to mediate a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation but was seen as pro-Abbas by the Islamists, to express his solidarity with Egypt.

Israel minister says Egypt needs time for change
– Thu Feb 10, 7:46 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday the world should encourage change in Egypt but give the country enough time to prevent it from falling into the hands of extremists.The role of the rest of the world is to tell (the Egyptians) honestly but behind closed doors and secure lines, We are ready to be there beside you if you move concretely and coherently toward change,Barak told ABC-TV world news.Speaking after President Hosni Mubarak angered protesters by handing powers to his vice president but refusing to resign, Barak said the message to Egypt should be, We respect your need to avoid it falling into the hands of extremists. We understand that you need some time.The real winners of any short-term election, let's say within 90 days, will be the (opposition) Muslim Brotherhood, Barak said.Mubarak has said he plans to stay in office until presidential elections in September.Barak earlier told reporters at the United Nations after talks with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, It's up to the Egyptian people to find their way and to do it according to their own constitution, norms and practices.

He said he was not pessimistic about prospects for the Middle East peace process, despite the turmoil in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world.I am still optimistic, Barak said.In spite of all the turbulence around us, we should look for opportunities within those difficulties rather than to spiral into a sense of too heavy uncertainty that paralyzes us from acting toward a better and more stable region.Egypt changed the course of Middle East politics by making peace with Israel in 1979, the first Arab country to do so. Some Israeli and Western politicians fear that peace deal could be in jeopardy if radicals replace Egypt's current rulers.
(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip and Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Xavier Briand)