ISRAELS MIRACULOUS REBORN TODAY IN HISTORY

ISRAEL

Whose Promised Land? Psalm 78:54-55 (ISRAELS)
54 And He brought them to His holy border, This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55 He also drove out the nations before them,Allotted them an inheritance by survey, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

ISRAEL WILL BECOME A NATION. LITERALLY IN THE SPRING.

GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram,(CHANGED TO ABRAHAM LATER) Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:(PALESTINE,ISRAEL)
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

EZEKIEL 36:24
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

EZEKIEL 37:9-28
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds,(ALL THE WORLD) O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.(COME TO LIFE)
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.(ISRAEL WILL HAVE A POWERFUL ARMY)
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.(BURNED BY HITLER)
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.(THE DRY BONES COME TO LIFE IN ISRAEL)
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

MATTHEW 24:32
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:(ISRAEL WAS LITERALLY REBORN JUST BEFORE SUMMER,MAY 14,1948).

MARK 13:28
28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

DANIEL 9:24
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

ISRAEL WILL BE IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM, THE SIGN OF THE START OF THE LAST GENERATION.

LUKE 21:24
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded

DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;(ISRAEL) for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you,(ISRAEL) and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

ZECHARIAH 2:8
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

JEREMIAH 3:14
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:(ISRAEL) and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

ISAIAH 42:1
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect,(ISRAEL) in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

ISAIAH 45:4
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE

EZEKIEL 47:13-23,48:1-35
13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
15 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad;
16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.
17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.
18 And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.
19 And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
20 The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.
21 So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.
22 And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
23 And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.
1 Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan.
2 And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Asher.
3 And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali.
4 And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Manasseh.
5 And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim.
6 And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Reuben.
7 And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Judah.
8 And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.
9 The oblation that ye shall offer unto the LORD shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.
10 And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst thereof.
11 It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
12 And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.
13 And over against the border of the priests the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.
14 And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the LORD.
15 And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof.
16 And these shall be the measures thereof; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.
17 And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty.
18 And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city.
19 And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.
20 All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city.
21 And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof.
22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince.
23 As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion.
24 And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion.
25 And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion.
26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion.
27 And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion.
28 And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea.
29 This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord GOD.
30 And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures.
31 And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
32 And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan.
33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun.
34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.
35 It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.

Israel's Security Forces Deploy For Nakba Events
by Gavriel Queenann MAY 13,11

Public Security Minister Yitzhack Aharonovitch said Thursday some Muslim's would be denied access to the Temple Mount on Friday, Israel Radio reports.The restrictions, typically imposed on Muslim males under 50, is commonly employed when heightened tensions lead Israel's police to believe violence may erupt.Aharonovitch told Israel Radio police would thin out the number of worshipers at the Temple Mount, due to police intelligence estimates citing a likelihood of prelude demonstrations to Sunday's expected Nakba Day protests.Nakba, or catastrophe, is the Arab reference for the creation of Israel, which occured on May 15 on the secular calender. Israel celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its creation on Tuesday, in accordance with the Hebrew calendar.Reinforced police and border guard units equipped with riot gear are being deployed in eastern Jerusalem, the Old City, and the Temple Mount to maintain order.Activists behind a website called The Third Intifada have called for a new uprising, which would see thousands of Palestinian refugees march towards homes which they fled from or were forced out of when Israel was created in 1948 on Palestinian land.While PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas has publicly ruled out a Third Intifada, Fatah and Hamas have reportedly created a joint committee to coordinate Nakba Day demonstrations.Arabs claiming roots in Israel are also expected to stage rallies and demonstrations in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. The IDF Northern Command has been put on alert as demonstrations are expected on the Israel-Lebanon Border.

Northern Command officers also warned UNIFIL this week there would be severe consequences if demonstrators try to damage the border fence between Israel and Lebanon.We respect people’s right to protest, but we will not tolerate damage caused to infrastructure, like the border fence, a Northern Command spokesperson said.IDF troops are also deploying in large numbers in Judea and Samaria on Friday, amid expectations that massive demonstrations will break out on both fronts as a build up to May 15 demonstrations.The IDF began reinforcing troops in Judea and Samaria amid reports there may be marches intended to breach the security perimeters of Jewish settlements.Expected hotspots in Judea and Samaria include the Kalandiya Checkpoint outside of Jerusalem, near the Ofer Prison off Road 443, Jalazoon near Beit El, as well as Nablus (Schem), Tulkarm and Ramallah.The demonstrations are expected to include stone-throwing and Molotov cocktails, but not firearms, according to security sources.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Mideast envoy resigns as US refocuses on region
AP By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press – Sat May 14, 7:45 am ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is losing his special envoy to the Mideast just as the administration is showing a renewed focus on the long-troubled region.George Mitchell, who helped broker peace in Northern Ireland, announced Friday he is stepping down after fruitless attempts at rekindling Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Obama, accepting the resignation, called Mitchell a tireless advocate for peace.
Mitchell's departure comes as Obama prepares for a flurry of activity on the Middle East, which has seen popular uprisings sprout in several countries but little movement in the effort to find a peaceful settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. That peace process has been moribund since last fall and further complicated by an agreement between Palestinian factions to share power.Obama plans to deliver a speech next Thursday at the State Department about his administration's views on developments in the region. The next day — Mitchell's last on the job — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington.Obama also will play host to Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday. And the White House was looking to schedule a speech by Obama to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the country's largest pro-Israel lobby, before he leaves for Europe May 22, officials said.White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration remains focused on reviving Middle East peace negotiations.The president's commitment remains as firm as it was when he took office, Carney said. This is a hard issue, an extraordinarily hard issue.David Hale, Mitchell's deputy, will serve as acting envoy, Obama said in a statement.

Mitchell wrote a two-paragraph letter to Obama saying he took the diplomatic job intending to only serve two years.I strongly support your vision of comprehensive peace in the Middle East and thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of your administration, Mitchell wrote.On his second full day in office in January 2009, Obama appointed Mitchell to the special envoy's post. The former Democratic senator from Maine, who rose to majority leader, had established his credentials as an international mediator by helping broker peace in Northern Ireland.Since his appointment, Mitchell, 77, has shuttled among the Israelis, Palestinians and friendly Arab states in a bid to restart long-stalled talks that would create an independent Palestinian state. But in recent months, particularly after the upheaval in Arab countries that ousted longtime U.S. ally and key peace partner Hosni Mubarak from power in Egypt, his activity had slowed markedly.Mitchell never established a firm presence, preferring to jet in for short visits lasting several days or even several hours. More critically, Mitchell never established a rapport with either side.With Israelis suspicious of Obama even before he assumed office, Mitchell further unnerved them by taking a tough line against West Bank settlements, saying that any construction was unacceptable. The Palestinians, initially encouraged, became disillusioned when the U.S. was unable to persuade Israel to freeze settlement construction.Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Mitchell's task held greater hope at the time of his appointment.But the way the politics worked out, you have an Israeli government that is very skeptical about the ability of negotiating with the Palestinian Authority, Alterman said. And you have a Palestinian Authority where the internal politics are increasingly fraught.So it's hard to find a political consensus either among the Israelis or the Palestinians to move forward on the kinds of negotiations that George Mitchell was appointed to facilitate.Mitchell believed his patience would serve him well in the Arab-Israeli conflict and its constant forward and backward steps.Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher, former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, said Mitchell's departure could signal a different approach by the Obama administration.His methods just didn't work here, Alpher said.The Northern Ireland method of listen, listen and listen doesn't work here.Nabil Shaath, a leading Palestinian negotiator, suggested the resignation was not so much a blow to the peace effort as a reflection of its failure — and that should conditions change, the identity of the mediator was not key.Mitchell hadn't received enough support from the U.S. administration to make a breakthrough in the peace process. He is a positive man, he is a great man and he is my friend, Shaath said.But Mitchell can be replaced when the U.S. administration is ready. There is no possibility for a mediator to work without the needed support and pressure from the administration on Israel.Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Erica Werner in Washington, Dan Perry and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Abbas says may step down if statehood achieved
Reuters – Sat May 14, 6:54 am ET

MILAN (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published on Saturday that he may step down this year if he achieves all his political goals, which include the establishment of a Palestinian state.When I was elected my program was: greater security, economic and social development, achieving (Palestinian) reconciliation, and then independence of our state, he said.This year there is the possibility of achieving all this. Then I will go into retirement.In an interview with the Italian newspaper la Repubblica ahead of a trip to Italy, Abbas restated that in the absence of progress in peace negotiations with Israel, which have been frozen for months, the Palestinians will unilaterally seek statehood recognition from the United Nations in September.If there is no progress in the talks, our second choice is going in front of the United Nations, he said.Abbas was elected president in 2005 and has said he will not seek another term in a ballot already years overdue.Last week his Fatah faction signed a deal with the rival Islamist group Hamas that is meant to end a four-year-rift and reunite their now-divided administrations in the West Bank and Gaza, paving the way for new elections.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the unity pact as a tremendous blow to peace.Abbas said Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, cannot be excluded from the peace process.(Writing by Nigel Tutt)

Thousands protest for Palestinian right of return
AP By DALE GAVLAK, Associated Press – Fri May 13, 5:23 pm ET

AMMAN, Jordan – Thousands rallied in support of Palestinians on Friday, with demonstrators in Jordan's capital heeding a call by Facebook organizers to demand a sovereign Palestinian state, others near the Jordanian-Israeli border chanting Death to Israel, and still more activists filling Cairo's Tahrir Square.Palestinian youth groups called for protests in the West Bank and nearby Arab countries to mark the anniversary of the May 15, 1948, creation of the Jewish state. Palestinians call the anniversary the day of catastrophe because of the refugee crisis and loss of land that accompanied the creation of Israel.About 500 protesters, demanding a sovereign Palestinian state and the right of refugees to return home, marched in Amman's downtown market district, some wearing Palestinian black and white kefiyahs or headscarves and holding keys to family homes left behind.In Cairo, thousands rallied, beginning a Facebook-generated campaign aimed at marching on the borders of the Palestinian territories.Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood backed Friday's demonstration but did not favor a march to the borders. On Thursday, Egypt's ruling Military Council called on organizers to cancel the march. A few protesters who drove to North Sinai to reach the Gaza border said they were turned back by authorities.Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are not unusual in Jordan or Egypt, but marches solicited on Facebook are. Organizers are apparently inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and other Arab countries that were heavily dependent on mobilization through social network sites.

In Cairo, where the protest was also called to denounce recent Muslim-Christian violence, Palestinian flags filled the square.Egypt is Palestine. All Arab nations are Egypt, said Ola Adel, a 20-year-old law student.This protest is not about forming an army and heading to Gaza. It is about pressuring our officials to support the Palestinians demands.The slogans reflected changes in the political climate, including the ousting of long-term leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and efforts by the Palestinians to get the United Nations to recognize their independence. 1948 and 1967 are the catastrophes, but 2011 is the Revolution of the Return, some of the protesters' signs read.We want to tell the world that Palestine and its refugees are not to be forgotten, said 21-year-old Amman dentistry student Omar Hassan, whose family hails from Bethlehem in the West Bank.In the Jordan Valley near the Israeli border, nearly 5,000 Jordanians gathered.Enough is enough, the Zionist enemy's 43-year occupation of the West Bank is the longest in history, shouted Hamza Mansour, the leader of the Islamic Action Front, Jordan's largest opposition group.

The occupation is a disgrace for the international community and it must end, added Mansour to loud applause from the crowd, who urged, death to Israel.Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were displaced during the Israeli-Arab wars in 1948 and 1967, and the fate of nearly four million Palestinian refugees and their descendants is one of the thorniest issues in the Middle East conflict.Palestinian refugees live in a number of countries in the Middle East. Jordan hosts the largest number, and the refugees and their descendants are estimated to number nearly two million.The Palestinians have long maintained that the refugees have a moral and legal right to return to what was once Palestine — including land which is now Israel. But Israel has argued that granting the right of return would compromise the country's identity as the world's only Jewish state.Associated Press Writers Jamal Halaby in Southern Shuneh, Jordan, and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed reporting.

Thousands rally for Egypt unity after church attacks
AFP by Samer al-Atrush – Fri May 13, 3:26 pm ET

CAIRO (AFP) – Thousands of people rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday calling for national unity, after attacks on Egyptian churches, and for solidarity with the Palestinians.Protesters later broke off and joined a rally outside the Israeli embassy calling for the expulsion of the ambassador. Soldiers guarding it fired in the air to repel them.In Tahrir, some held up crosses and others waved Palestinian flags as the numbers swelled in Cairo's iconic square, the epicentre of protests that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February after an 18-day uprising.If you attack a Christian, you're attacking all Egyptians, said one man delivering a speech at a podium.The churches attacked in Imbaba are not less than the mosques attacked in Jerusalem, he said, linking the two themes of Friday's protest.National unity was there during the revolt but the remnants of the old regime want to destroy the country, said Ahmed Muhanna, who wore a green headband bearing the words the army of Mohammed.A Coptic priest took the podium, in front of a big banner that said national unity and Palestinian reconciliation, to plead for tolerance.We all worship the same god in our churches and mosques, he said.

But most Coptic protesters stayed away from Tahrir, choosing instead to gather in front of the nearby state television building, where Christians have staged a sit-in since clashes on Saturday.The thousands of Coptic protesters outside the state television building held wooden crosses and chanted against hardline Islamist fundamentalists.We are going to church to pray, no matter what happens to us, they chanted.Fifteen people were killed in the weekend violence after Muslims surrounded a church in Cairo demanding the handover of a woman they said Christians had detained after she converted to Islam and left her Christian husband to marry a Muslim.The Muslims also set fire to a second church.The woman who sparked the clashes was arrested on Thursday, along with the Muslim man said to be her husband. She is accused of having more than one husband, a judicial source said.The unrest threatened to drive Egypt's often tense religious tensions to the brink, prompting the military to arrest more than 200 people it said will swiftly be tried.Activists had called for a mass show of unity on Friday, which has become a regular day of protest after the weekly Muslim prayers at noon.The demonstrators in Tahrir waved Palestinian flags as they listened to speeches denouncing Israel and chanted in support of Palestinians.A cleric who gave the Friday sermon accused Arab rulers of selling the Palestinians in order to keep their positions.One of the protesters, 17-year-old Mahmud Gamal, had painted the colours of the Palestinian flag on his face.

We are all Arabs. We all need to be united, he said. Some other protesters held Tunisian and Syrian flags and chanted for pan-Arab solidarity.The protest outside the Israeli embassy remained peaceful, but the demonstrators blocked traffic after the soldiers fired in the air to repel them as they chanted we are going in.The Palestinian-flag waving demonstrators pointed at the Israeli flag at teh the top of the residential building that houses the embassy and chanted: Take it down! Burn it!
An Egyptian peace treaty with Israel is widely unpopular among Egyptians because of the Jewish state's policies towards Palestinians.Activists have called for a march to neighbouring Gaza at the weekend to show solidarity with the Palestinians as they mark the Nakba or catastrophe which befell them following Israel's establishment in 1948.But authorities blocked access to the Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip in anticipation of protesters who intend to set off from Tahrir on Saturday, an AFP correspondent said.The cleric who preached in Tahrir Square also denounced the sectarian tensions that have plagued Egypt for decades, although both Muslims and Copts took part in the protests that overthrew Mubarak.Egyptians, you were united by Tahrir Square, and now Camilia Shehata divides you, he said, referring to a priest's wife Islamists claim was detained by the Coptic Church after converting to Islam.Shehata went on television last week and denied those allegations.Copts account for up to 10 percent of the country's 80 million people. They complain of discrimination, and have been the target of repeated sectarian attack.The most recent violence has been blamed on a hardline Islamist sect, the Salafists, who have regularly staged protests demanding the church release women they believe converted to Islam.The sect was mostly apolitical under Mubarak, but since February it has grown more assertive, and its leaders say they will form parties to contest a parliamentary election in September.

Latest developments in Arab world's unrest
AP By The Associated Press – Fri May 13, 3:11 pm ET

SYRIA-Security forces open fire on thousands of protesters, killing at least six people as soldiers try to head off demonstrations, according to human rights activists. A leading activist says three people were killed in Homs, two in Damascus, and one in a village outside Daraa. Three rallies were held in Damascus — the largest number of protests staged at once in the Syrian capital during the two-month revolt against President Bashar Assad. An activist in Homs says security forces dressed in black and shadowy pro-regime gunmen known as shabiha did the shooting. He says the regime forces first fired in the air, then shot directly into the crowd.

LIBYA-Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim says 11 Muslim clerics were killed in their sleep by a NATO airstrike on the eastern oil town of Brega, describing them as part of a large group of imams who had gathered to pray for peace in conflict-ridden Libya. He says 50 people were wounded, five critically. In response, NATO says it had attacked a command-and-control center used by Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Brega. NATO has been intensifying airstrikes against Gadhafi's installations, including one recent strike that hit his main compound in Tripoli.

YEMEN-Security troops open fire at a protest march in the southern town of Ibb, killing three people and wounding scores, according to field doctor Mortada Seif. He says 10 of the wounded are in critical condition. Friday's shooting came as thousands marched in a funeral procession for a man who died in the town the previous day, when troops cracked down on an anti-government rally. Anti-government demonstrations are also held in several other cities and towns across Yemen, leading to dozens of injuries. Seven Yemeni soldiers were reported killed in two ambushes.

EGYPT-Authorities order the detention of Suzanne Mubarak, wife of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, and a doctor says she passed out on hearing the news. The state-owned MENA news agency says the detention order was issued a day after the government said Hosni Mubarak and his wife were questioned over suspicions they illegally amassed vast wealth. MENA says prosecutors ordered Mrs. Mubarak, who is 70, detained for 15 days pending further investigation. She was interrogated at the hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh where her 83-year old husband has been held, and a security official said she will remain in the hospital for the time being.

JORDAN-Thousands rally in support of Palestinians, with demonstrators in Jordan's capital, Amman, heeding a call by Facebook organizers to demand a sovereign Palestinian state, others near the Jordanian-Israeli border chanting Death to Israel, and still more activists filling Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Obama to lay out Mideast policy on Thursday
Reuters By Matt Spetalnick – Fri May 13, 2:50 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will lay out a vision for his policy toward the Middle East on Thursday, using Osama bin Laden's death as a chance to recast the U.S. response to political upheaval in the Arab world.Obama, who has enjoyed a boost in his standing at home and abroad with the death of the al Qaeda chief, will give his much-anticipated "Arab spring" speech one day before White House talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The president is expected to re-commit to seeking an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal but seen as unlikely to present major new proposals, given the impending resignation of his envoy George Mitchell, who led two years of mostly fruitless mediation efforts.The administration, looking to counter criticism it has struggled to keep pace with turmoil in the Arab world, has been crafting a new U.S. strategy for the region since shortly after popular uprisings erupted, toppling autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and engulfing Libya in near-civil war.The killing of bin Laden in a U.S. raid on his Pakistan compound last week will give Obama a chance to make the case for Arabs to reject al Qaeda's Islamist militancy and embrace democratic change in a new era of relations with Washington.The president believes very firmly that those who view al Qaeda and those who view terrorism as a means to achieving a better future are fast moving toward ... the dustbin of history," White House spokesman Jay Carney said when asked how bin Laden's death would figure in Obama's policy address.

Pro-democracy movements spreading in the Arab world underscored the region's repudiation of bin Laden's message, Carney said.He said that Obama's speech, to be delivered at the State Department, would be a sweeping review of the U.S. response to political unrest in the Arab world.I'm sure he will, as he has in the past, call on governments in the region to respond to those demands through peaceful political dialogue, not just because it's the right thing to do for the people of these countries but because it is in the interest of stability, he told reporters.

ARAB SPRING

The speech comes amid criticism of the Western air campaign's failure to break a stalemate between Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and rebels trying to oust him. The United States is also under pressure to take stronger action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for his violent crackdown on protests.The president obviously has some important things to say about how he views the upheaval and how he has approached the U.S. response to events in the region, Carney said.Analysts are looking for Obama to clarify what has been called the Obama doctrine, a still-fuzzy prescription for dealing with Middle East unrest that his administration has mostly applied on a case-by-cased basis.The message he presented in his Libya speech in late March was that the United States supports protesters' democratic aspirations but will take military action only in concert with allies -- to uphold U.S. interests and deeply held values, or where there was an overwhelming humanitarian need.A complicating factor for Obama's speech is a climate that looks increasingly unfriendly for introducing his own plan for achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that has eluded his predecessors.Many Israelis are already unsettled over the implications for the Jewish state from unrest in the broader Middle East, and a new reconciliation deal between the mainstream Palestinian Fatah faction and its rival, the Islamist Hamas movement, has raised further doubts about peace prospects.Obama's attempts to broker a Middle East peace deal have yielded little since he took office, but he has insisted there is an urgent need to seize the opportunity created by political upheaval in the broader Arab world.This president's commitment remains as firm as it was when he took office, Carney said on Friday. But he gave no indication Obama was ready to tackle the issue head-on, an omission that could disappoint many in the Arab world.Pushing Netanyahu, who heads a pro-settler coalition, could risk alienating Israel's base of support among the U.S. public and in Congress as Obama seeks re-election in 2012. But in the absence of progress on the diplomatic track, the Palestinians are threatening to seek the U.N. General Assembly's blessing for a Palestinian state in September.(Editing by Paul Simao)

Netanyahu, Merkel talk Mideast peace
AFP – Fri May 13, 2:26 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed Israeli-Palestinian ties on Friday, a week before Netanyahu takes his battle against Palestinian statehood to Washington.Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chancellor Merkel ... discussed the practical relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a statement from Netanyahu's office said of the telephone conversation.Last week, Netanyahu visited London and Paris in an effort to convince the British and French leaders not to support an expected Palestinian bid for United Nations endorsement of a unilateral declaration of statehood.Merkel has already stated her opposition to such a move and has said she will not support a motion to that effect if it goes before the UN General Assembly in September.As Netanyahu was holding talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris last Thursday, Merkel met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Berlin. Netanayhu's office said she briefed the Israeli premier on that meeting in their Friday phone conversation, but did not elaborate.Next Friday Netanyahu is to meet US President Barack Obama at the White House and will address both houses of Congress on May 24.
Chancellor Merkel said that she looked forward to and appreciated the significance of the visit to Washington of Prime Minister Netanyahu next week and the speech to Congress the following week,the statement said.

Up to 850 killed in Syria: U.N. rights office
Reuters By Stephanie Nebehay – Fri May 13, 12:06 pm ET

GENEVA (Reuters) – Up to 850 Syrians may have been killed in a two-month military crackdown and thousands of demonstrators have been arrested, the United Nations human rights office said Friday.We again call on the government to exercise restraint, to cease use of force and mass arrests to silence opponents, Rupert Colville, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a news briefing.The toll of 700 to 850 dead, based on information provided by human rights activists, was quite likely to be genuine, he said, adding it had lists of names of alleged victims.Syria has blamed most of the violence on terrorist groups backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.Thousands of Syrians demonstrated after prayers Friday, activists and witnesses said, keeping up a campaign of calls to end the autocratic rule of President Bashar al-Assad.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) voiced concern at the Syrian government's use of force, saying it must be proportionate, and at difficulties for health workers to reach the wounded.We don't have a number for the dead and wounded, but various sources all point to a very high toll, Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the ICRC's head of operations for the Middle East, told Reuters.There are rules for handling a demonstration and under international humanitarian law, the use of force must be proportionate, she said in Geneva.The ICRC was seeking Syrian agreement to visit activists detained in the unrest. We know there have been many, many arrests, certainly in the hundreds, probably thousands, Megevand-Roggo said.

SNIPERS, TANKS

The independent humanitarian organization visits many detainees in the region, including in Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Yemen, she noted.The ICRC, believed to be the only foreign aid agency to have reached the southern town of Deraa, cradle of the uprising, has not been allowed back by authorities due to the security situation, Megevand-Roggo said.During its May 5 mission, it delivered food, water, first aid kits and stretchers with the Syrian Red Crescent, which sent further supplies there this week, she said.We are looking at what type of mobile medical structure we could put in place with the Syrian Red Crescent for situations where there is use of force and wounded, she said.A U.N. human rights mission was preparing to go to Syria, as well as neighboring countries, but had not yet received a reply from Damascus, Colville said.We have many reports of use of snipers, use of tanks in a number of towns. The government is reporting that soldiers and police have been killed, that is why we want to get in there and see for ourselves, he said.
The U.N. human rights office is also alarmed about the arrest and torture of dissidents in Bahrain, including the death of four detainees while in custody, Colville said.We continue to receive reports indicating that hundreds of individuals, including health professionals, politicians and human rights defenders arrested in connection with the protest movement are being denied their fundamental legal rights to due process,he said.(Additional reporting by Barbara Lewis; Editing by Michael Roddy and Janet Lawrence)

Hamas sends signals of moderation to West AP By IBRAHIM BARZAK and JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press – Fri May 13, 6:37 am ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Hamas, the Islamic militant group known for suicide bombings, rocket attacks and hatred of Israel, is sending subtle signals of moderation as it prepares to join a Palestinian unity government.Hamas officials speak of reconciliation with the West and a halt in armed hostilities with Israel, and even hint at some sort of political accommodation with the Jewish state. While Israel is not convinced, there are hopes in some Palestinian circles that the Iran-backed group could become a more accepted part of the Mideast diplomatic equation.The world should realize that we have made many changes, said Ghazi Hamad, the deputy foreign minister of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. The international community should not run away from these changes.For that, finessing will be required: Even a gentler Hamas will not openly accept Israel — as world mediators have demanded — or dismantle its sizable arsenal. Israelis, traumatized by suicide bombers turning their cafes and buses into bloody killing grounds, could hardly be more skeptical.But the world community has mostly ignored Israel's calls to isolate the new government, suggesting a willingness to let Hamas prove it has changed.Both Hamas officials and outside analysts say the group has learned some bitter lessons during its four years in power in Gaza. The impression is that Israel's blockade, which caused widespread hardship in the crowded territory, a blistering Israeli military offensive two years ago and the uprisings throughout the Arab world have all factored into its thinking.Hani Masri, a Palestinian commentator who sometimes mediates between Hamas and its secular rival, Fatah, said Hamas realized that to lead the Palestinians, it needs acceptance by the international community, particularly the West.Hamas was founded in Gaza in 1987 by a group of intellectuals and religious leaders with the goal of establishing an Islamic state in what is now Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It initially focused on building up schools and charities, and Israel even maintained ties with the group to counter the then-dominant Fatah.Hamas quickly turned to violence after a Palestinian uprising erupted in late 1987. Since then, Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.It also struck up an alliance with Israel's staunchest enemies, Syria and Iran, receiving military training and weapons.

Hamas is now believed to possess thousands of rockets capable of striking deep inside Israel from the Gaza Strip, as well as sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. Just last month, an Israeli teen was killed by a Hamas anti-tank rocket that struck a school bus in southern Israel.Even so, behind the scenes, Hamas appears to be in the midst of a transformation, spurred by Israel's pullout from Gaza in 2005 and the Hamas victory in legislative elections a few months later. Hamas and Fatah initially set up a unity government, but it soon fell apart.In 2007, Hamas expelled Fatah forces and seized control of Gaza. It has governed the impoverished coastal strip with a strong hand, while Fatah was left in control of just the West Bank, an inland territory divided from Gaza by southern Israel.The division was widely regretted by Palestinians, and it hampered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' campaign to get the world to recognize a Palestinian state under his leadership. Last week, the sides signed an agreement to form a caretaker unity government until elections next year.Hamas has sent a series of signals recently aimed at showing that it will not be the reason for any new breakdown. While refusing to disarm or give up its right to resist, leaders — including Gaza Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in a speech last week — say they are committed to preserving calm with Israel.The group says it will carry out attacks on Israel only as part of a Palestinian consensus, in effect giving President Abbas, an outspoken critic of violence, veto power over terror and rocket attacks.And critically, its leadership, including its exiled supreme leader Khaled Mashaal, have signaled they will not stand in the way of any agreement Abbas might reach with Israel.At a signing ceremony last week in Cairo, Mashaal referred to an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and made no references to Israel's destruction.Nonetheless, Israel is furiously lobbying the West to boycott any Palestinian government that includes Hamas. Officials believe any change is only tactical, and point to recent rocket fire as evidence.

A leopard has sunk its teeth in our flesh, in the flesh of our children, wives, our elderly, and we will not be tempted to believe that this leopard has now changed its spots, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads to Washington in the coming week to rally support.We will not ignore its voracious growls. We will strike it down.For now, the U.S. and European countries are waiting to see what kind of Palestinian government is finally formed.France's foreign minister, Alain Juppe, cautioned against rejecting the new Palestinian government out of hand and described the Palestinian unity deal as an opportunity to seize.Fawaz Gerges, a Mideast analyst who has closely studied the evolution of Hamas and frequently talks to members of the group, said he is convinced it has changed.The London School of Economics professor said support among the Palestinian public for an accommodation with Israel — and the revolution in Egypt, whose new leadership brokered the reconciliation — have deeply affected the group.They have come to the conclusion that settlement (with Israel) is the only way to go,he said.

Israeli soldiers train to shoot down missiles
AP By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press – Fri May 13, 6:11 am ET

PALMACHIM AIR BASE, Israel – Israel has put together a multilayered shield designed to intercept rockets and missiles capable of striking it from as close as the Gaza Strip and as far away as Iran, reflecting concern that future conflicts will target Israel's civilian population centers.At this sprawling air base in central Israel, soldiers in a fortified control room are training to activate a cornerstone of this shield — the Arrow missile defense system, meant to protect Israel from its enemy Iran's expanding array of missiles.The Arrow, produced jointly by state-run Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. and Chicago-based Boeing Co. at a cost of more than $1 billion, is being deployed in Israel after successful tests in both Israel and the U.S. It has not been tested in combat, but the system is already in its third generation, having been fine-tuned to deal with increasingly complicated threats.

The Arrow was designed to counter Iran's Shahab ballistic missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and whose range of 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers), puts Israel well within striking distance. Despite Iranian denials, Israel is convinced Iran is developing nuclear weapons.Threats also come from much closer to Israel.In 2006, Israel fought a fierce monthlong war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, when Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets at Israel. That pointed up two stark facts: Israel had no tool to knock them down — neither did anyone else — and Israel's civilian population, concentrated mostly along the nation's Mediterranean coast, was increasingly vulnerable to attack.In response, Israel has developed additional systems: Magic Wand, aimed at stopping intermediate-range missiles, and the Iron Dome, which shoots down rockets fired from short distances of just a few miles (kilometers) from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.Last month, Israel successfully introduced the Iron Dome and shot down several Palestinian-fired rockets from Gaza. Palestinian militants have fired thousands of crude, short-range weapons at Israel in recent years, and up to then the military had no answer except airstrikes after the fact.The Arrow, first deployed in 2000, was the first brick in what Israel hopes will be a wall of protection against incoming rockets and missiles.The Israel military on Thursday allowed foreign journalists to observe the Arrow missile defense control room at the Palmachim air base.Entry is through a set of 3-inch-thick steel doors. The control center is reinforced against nuclear attack, a military official indicated.An aerial map of the Middle East appears on each of a dozen screens around the room, where soldiers intercept according to the type of threat, said an officer identified only as Lt. Col. O, according to military regulations.Soldiers are trained to cope with situations where as many as hundreds of rockets are fired simultaneously, said Maj. Tal Mast, a former Arrow commander who has spent 13 years in air defense and still trains twice a month as a reservist.

After detecting an incoming missile, soldiers have minutes at best and seconds at worst to assess what type of projectile it is, calculate its trajectory and decide whether it needs to be shot down or whether it might land in an open field or the sea, making interception unnecessary.The computer system helps make the decisions.
An X on the screen designates an incoming missile as irrelevant — meaning it is not expected to hit anything and need not be shot down.If the decision is to fire, a missile is dispatched from a transportable, trailer-mounted Arrow launcher with six missile tubes that can be reloaded in 15 to 20 minutes, officials said.At one point in a drill, the screen showed two Scud missiles, designated by yellow triangles, homing in on central Israel from Lebanon, and two others from Syria. A blinking blue triangle, signifying the Arrow's interceptor missile, homes in on one of the incoming missiles. Their paths cross, and both disappear from the screen. The other missiles, deemed nonthreatening, are allowed to continue on their course.In real life, the fire button is a simple F2 stroke on the computer keyboard, Lt. Col. O said.

Egypt turmoil helping arms smuggling to Gaza-Israel
Reuters By Dan Williams – Fri May 13, 6:09 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Smugglers of arms into the Gaza Strip are operating almost freely after a change of leadership in Egypt, Israel's Shin Bet security agency said.
A report by the domestic spy agency said with Egypt's new leaders preoccupied with stabilizing their country, governance in Sinai is not high and this allows smugglers to operate almost without hindrance.Today the Egyptian regime's attention is focused on stabilizing the new government and this eases the Sinai smugglers' task, the report said.The Sinai forms a huge desert buffer zone between Egypt and Israel, which sealed an historic peace treaty in 1979 after fighting two wars in less than a decade.The Bedouin people of the Sinai, for whom smuggling is a major source of income, were mostly involved in getting weapons into Gaza to supply the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which controls the enclave and other smaller militant groups, it said.It also reaffirmed Israel's belief that Iran, in seeking to strengthen its influence in the region, was supplying Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants with choice military-grade weaponry.It said hundreds of rockets with a range of 20-40 kilometers (12-25 miles), at least 1,000 mortar bombs, some anti-tank missiles and tones of high explosives and raw material to make high explosives had entered Gaza since the start of 2010.

Outgoing Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, who hands over to his successor Monday, said in a rare speech earlier this week: In Egypt it is very hard to assess what will happen in the elections expected in the summer ... it's not a good idea to rest on our laurels.Even under the rule of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, a partner of Israel in the Middle East,Egyptian actions did not significantly reduce the scale of munitions smuggling, the report said. But matters had now worsened.The Shin Bet report said munitions were transported from Iran to Sudan, across Egypt's Sinai peninsula and through smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip.Sudan accused Israel of launching an air strike in April near Port Sudan airport that killed two people. Khartoum has close ties with Hamas, but denies giving it direct support.Israel is also suspected of carrying out an air strike on an arms convoy in eastern Sudan in 2009 for which it has neither admitted nor denied responsibility.(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Janet Lawrence)