Tuesday, February 02, 2016

PALESTINIANS LOVE FRANCES RECOGNITION OF ITS STATE IF PEACE TALKS DO NOT RESUME.

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE

REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)

DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

MICAH 4:1-5
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4  But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
5  For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

DANIEL 11:31
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.(3RD TEMPLE REBUILT)

DANIEL 12:11
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,(AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD)(3RD TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED BY DICTATOR) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up,(TO WORSHIP THE DICTATOR OR DIE) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.(1,290 DAYS)(AN EXTRA 30 DAYS AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD FOR JESUS TO DESTROY THE ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM.AND TO JUDGE THE SHEEP AND GOAT NATIONS OF MATTHEW 25:31-46-HOW THEY TREATED ISRAEL DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THEN I BELIEVE JESUS WILL REBUILD THE 4TH TEMPLE 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.AND THEN JESUS RULES FOR THE 1,000 YEARS-THEN FOREVER FROM THAT 4TH TEMPLE.)

MATTHEW 24:15-16
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)(THE DICTATOR SITS IN THE REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE CALLING HIMSELF GOD AT THE MIDPOINT OR 3 1/2 YEAR PERIOD OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.OR 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY BETWEEN ISRAEL-ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Western Wall prayer fight ends with historic compromise-New non-Orthodox section will enable all denominations to pray at Jerusalem’s iconic holy site-By Ben Sales January 31, 2016, 3:13 pm-the times of israel

JTA — Israel’s government has approved a compromise to expand the non-Orthodox Jewish prayer section of the Western Wall, putting to rest the decades-long fight between Women of the Wall and Israel’s ultra-Orthodox religious establishment.Sunday’s deal achieves what had been an elusive goal: An interdenominational consensus on Judaism’s holiest prayer site, endorsed by the Israeli government. Under the deal, the non-Orthodox prayer section at the wall will become much larger and more accessible. But ultra-Orthodox — also called haredi — control of the Orthodox section will also be solidified, though non-Orthodox leaders have long protested that monopoly.The deal, a copy of which JTA obtained ahead of the Cabinet vote, still contains a few unknowns. It is unclear how long construction will take. It does not say whether clear signage will direct visitors to the non-Orthodox section. Nor does it say exactly when Women of the Wall, an embattled women’s prayer group, will move its monthly services from the Orthodox Jewish main prayer section to the non-Orthodox one.Still, the Conservative and Reform movements can declare victory. The size of the non-Orthodox section of the Western Wall will double to nearly 10,000 square feet — half the size of the Orthodox main section just to its north. A committee of non-Orthodox leaders and government officials will manage the non-Orthodox section. And a single entrance will lead to both sections.The Western Wall’s haredi Orthodox management, called the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, also safeguarded its interests. Non-Orthodox leaders had campaigned for a share of control of the Orthodox section of the wall, but the Heritage Foundation will retain full authority over it and the larger plaza behind the prayer sections. And when the plan is implemented, Women of the Wall will move to the non-Orthodox section, one of the Heritage Foundation’s long-standing demands.“They all came to the conclusion that they must make serious compromises, because they want it to remain one Kotel for one people,” Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Natan Sharansky told JTA, using the Hebrew term for the site. “lt’s the place that must unite us more than anything else, and it turned into the most ugly war.”Plans for the non-Orthodox section’s expansion began in December 2012, spearheaded by Sharansky. In October of that year, police had arrested Women of the Wall chairwoman Anat Hoffman for wearing a talit during the group’s monthly service — an act that, at the time, was illegal at the site.Talks over a plan to expand the non-Orthodox section of the wall, located in an archaeological park known as Robinson’s Arch, began in April 2013. The negotiations were led by Sharansky and outgoing Israeli Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit, and included representatives of the Reform and Conservative movements, the Heritage Foundation and Women of the Wall.Almost three years later, the deal enacted Sunday calls for the creation of an “official and respected,” 9,700-square foot prayer space in the non-Orthodox section of the Western Wall, running along a 31-foot segment of the wall, that Sharansky said will fit around 1,200 people. It will have a government-funded staff, Torah scrolls and other ritual objects, and be open to all forms of Jewish prayer. Sharansky estimated its construction could take up to two years.Even after it is completed, the non-Orthodox section will remain smaller than its Orthodox counterpart. The Orthodox section measures some 21,500 square feet, adjacent to a nearly 200-foot segment of the wall, and has some 27,000 visitors on an average day.A committee composed of two Reform leaders, two Conservative leaders, two non-Orthodox women representatives, the Jewish Agency chairman and six government officials will run the non-Orthodox section.The Orthodox and non-Orthodox sections of the Western Wall will share an entrance near the Old City of Jerusalem’s Dung Gate, one story above the Western Wall plaza’s current entrance. Currently, the path to the non-Orthodox section is long, narrow and accessible only through a gateway tucked in a back corner of the plaza. The deal will create a wide and visible walkway to the section.The deal does not specify, however, whether there will be signs at the entrance informing visitors of the non-Orthodox section, or anything else notifying visitors of its existence.“The vision of the new section of the Kotel is a physical and conceptual space open to all forms of Jewish prayer,” a statement from Women of the Wall read. “Instead of splitting up the existing pie into ever more divided, smaller pieces, we are making the pie much larger and sharing the new space.”The Western Wall’s haredi management, headed by Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, has long pushed for Women of the Wall to leave the site. Under the deal, the women’s group has agreed to move to the non-Orthodox section only once the deal is implemented. And a faction of Women of the Wall has vowed not to budge from the Orthodox section — regardless of what the deal says.The Western Wall’s religious status has been under contention for decades. Women of the Wall was founded in 1988 to advance women-led communal prayer at the site, prohibited under haredi Orthodox Jewish law. Until 2013, much of the group’s activity contravened the Heritage Foundation’s regulations, and was therefore illegal. Police regularly detained members of the group.Non-Orthodox groups also suffered persecution at the site. In 1997, an egalitarian Conservative Shavuot celebration behind the prayer section was attacked by protesters, who threw bottles, diapers and refuse at the worshipers. The incident led to the establishment of the non-Orthodox prayer section at Robinson’s Arch in 2000.After international backlash to Hoffman’s 2012 arrest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tasked Sharansky with forging a compromise solution to the dispute. An outline Sharansky proposed in April 2013 called for the non-Orthodox section to be equal in size and elevation to the Orthodox section — which proved unworkable due to objections from the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Waqf, an Islamic body that governs the Temple Mount.In August 2013, Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett tried for an interim solution by building a 4,800 square-foot platform that created more space in the non-Orthodox section. Women of the Wall rejected the platform, calling it a “sundeck.” Now, the architects of Sunday’s compromise hope that all sides of the debate will be able to put their differences behind them for the sake of the Western Wall’s symbolism.“This contains the hope that the Western Wall will no longer be an arena for disputes, and will regain the uniting character that befits its special place for the entire Jewish people,” the agreement reads. “May this also bring peace among us.”

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

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).

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

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

DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

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

JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

ISAIAH 33:8
8  The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

GENESIS 25:20-26
20  And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22  And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)

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

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

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

Netanyahu: Abbas unwilling to give up on Haifa, Jaffa-Prime minister charges that Palestinian leader is unwilling to compromise; says controversial NGO bill is ‘democratic’ and ‘will pass’-By Marissa Newman February 1, 2016, 6:14 pm-the times of israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of being unwilling to give up claims to the Israeli cities of Haifa, Acre, and Jaffa.The prime minister also accused Palestinians of teaching their children to hate Jews, and expressed confidence a controversial measure forcing foreign-funded NGOs to disclose the sources of their money would pass, during a weekly Likud Knesset faction meeting.Days after Israel seemed to outright reject a French proposal for new peace talks — with the alternative being outright recognition by France of a Palestinian state — Netanyahu said Palestinian Authority President Abbas was unwilling to give an inch in negotiations.“The heart of the conflict is not the settlements, it’s about Acre, Haifa and Jaffa,” the prime minister said. “[Abbas] can’t compromise, because he’s afraid to come to talks in which he will have to give up on Haifa, Jaffa, and Acre.”A number of maps used by Palestinians include the area that is present-day Israel, and Haifa, Jaffa and Acre are still referred to by some as Palestinian cities. Abbas caused a stir in November when he told Israel’s Channel 2 news he didn’t believe he had the right to return to live in his hometown of Safed in the north of Israel. A few days later he clarified to an Egyptian TV station that he was simply staking out a “personal position.”In Monday’s faction meeting, after screening a video on Palestinian incitement the prime minister maintained the hateful rhetoric was also at the “heart of the conflict.”“In Israel, we teach our children technology, tolerance, and accepting the other, and there [the Palestinians] teach them that the Jews are the descendants of monkeys and pigs, that the ‘occupied areas’ of Acre, Jaffa and Haifa must be liberated, and that Jews must be killed,” the prime minister said.On Friday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius suggested convening an international peace meeting between Netanyahu and Abbas and said if that failed, Paris would recognize the state of Palestine.Jerusalem reacted by accusing the French of making a one-sided ultimatum, but said it would consider the proposal.“The substance of negotiations is compromise and the French initiative, as it has been reported, in effect gives the Palestinians in advance reasons not to do so,” Netanyahu said Sunday. “We are prepared to enter into direct negotiations without preconditions and without dictated conditions.”Netanyahu at the faction meeting also defended the contentious NGO bill, which would require organizations who receive the majority of their funding from foreign governments to mark their documents as such.“The law is correct, democratic, necessary, and it will pass,” he said.If Israel would fund such groups in other countries, contended Netanyahu, there would be a “terrible outcry.”“Today, there will be a no-confidence vote on the ‘NGO bill’ [the vote was later postponed]. I fail to imagine a scenario in which the State of Israel would fund organizations supporting Basque separatists, or in Corsica, or other places,” he said. “There would be a terrible outcry.”The goal of the NGO bill is “to bring transparency regarding the activities of other countries in our democracy,” he said. The people opposing it, he said, “are those who generally side with transparency.”The prime minister also hailed the “infiltration law” up for Knesset vote on Monday — which would limit the detention time for migrants to 12 months — and praised Israeli efforts to block illegal migration to the Jewish state.“Israel is one of the only Western countries that has managed to contain this illegal infiltration,” he said. “We did it with our fence on the Egyptian border, and we are doing it through legislation.”

So what if Paris recognizes a Palestinian state?-France would be neither the first European state nor the first permanent UN Security Council member to do so. Does that mean Israel can ignore Fabius’s ultimatum?-By Raphael Ahren January 31, 2016, 12:34 am-the times of israel

There are two ways to look at the French threat to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state if the stalemate in the peace process persists.We’ll get to the “it’s a serious challenge for Israel” folks lower down. But those who aren’t overly perturbed by the Paris ultimatum say: So what? Paris is free to convene an international conference to try to break the deadlock and get the two sides to make the concessions necessary for a peace deal. Since this outcome seems unlikely — or more accurately, utterly unrealistic — France can go ahead and recognize a “State of Palestine.” Such a move will be condemned in Jerusalem as unhelpful on the path to peace and celebrated in Ramallah as a great victory against the occupation. But declarations and recognitions change nothing on the ground.A sovereign Palestinian state was not born in 1988, when Yasser Arafat proclaimed independence, or in 2012, when 139 states voted to grant “Palestine” nonmember observer state status at the United Nations, or in 2015, when the Palestinian flag was raised at UN headquarters in New York.So French recognition of Palestinian statehood would be merely that: words on a piece of paper, and perhaps a solemn declaration by President Francois Hollande and another stately but ultimately meaningless photo op for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.Indeed, if no other country gets there in the interim, France would become the 137th state to recognize Palestine. In other words, more than 70 percent of the world’s countries have already done so. (The latest state to join the club was Saint Lucia, a tiny island nation in the Eastern Caribbean, which made the move last September.)-France would not even be the first Western European state to recognize Palestine. Parliaments in Britain, Spain, Belgium, Greece and elsewhere have already called on their respective governments to recognize Palestine. Sweden did just that in 2014, and the world did not tilt off its axis.In fact, not much has moved since, either in the peace process or in European-Palestinian relations — besides the fact that, a month after the recognition, the king of Sweden congratulated the people of the “State of Palestine” on their “National Day” in a letter, marking the first time a European monarch officially hailed the Palestinians’ unilateral declaration of independence in 1988.Now some might argue that Stockholm is not Paris — France, after all, is a nuclear power holding a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. But so are Russia and China, which have both long recognized a Palestinian state.Much more significant than a French recognition of Palestine would be a Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. While that would still not immediately change anything on the ground, it would create a new legal framework for future negotiations, and probably not in Jerusalem’s favor.But even if four permanent members of the council voted in favor, such a resolution could be vetoed by the United States. It is currently hard to assess whether the US administration would support or oppose a Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations. That might depend on the resolution’s wording, on timing, and on a whole host of other factors, but it has always been the US position that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needs to be resolved by the two sides, rather than unilaterally via the UN.And this is where members of the “take this French ultimatum seriously” camp chime in. They argue that French recognition of a Palestinian state could make it easier for an American president to refuse to step in with a UN veto. The more respectable members of the international community recognize Palestine, and argue that they are doing so in an effort to reinvigorate the peace process, the harder it gets for Washington to continue to stall such efforts at the UN.Furthermore, those concerned by Paris’s proposal posit that while one more state recognizing Palestine changes nothing on the ground, a heavyweight such as France doing so helps create a critical mass that Israel will at some point be unable to withstand.A solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only come as the result of bilateral negotiations, officials in Jerusalem repeat tirelessly whenever confronted with the specter of unilateral steps. But when France, the Security Council and almost the entire world recognizes Palestine, Israel could find it harder to to maintain that its approval is needed for Palestinian statehood. The family of nations will have made its near-unanimous decision.Recognitions, declarations and resolutions do not have the power to create a truly independent State of Palestine. But they can move the diplomatic goalposts.If Paris moves ahead as promised, seeking to convene an international conference this summer, aiming to prompt substantive peace talks, subsequently drawing near-inevitable bleak conclusions, and then recognizing Palestine, we could learn fairly soon whether this weekend marked the beginning of a significant diplomatic shift.Israeli ministers lined up on Friday and Saturday to announce that Israel would not negotiate under the threat of an ultimatum, and also to argue that the French approach — promising the Palestinians recognition if talks made no progress — only ensured continued Palestinian obduracy. Still, one Foreign Ministry official was also quoted by Reuters as saying that Israel would “examine and respond” to an invitation to France’s planned conference.As of Saturday night, Netanyahu was silent. Perhaps he too was weighing whether he could afford to brush off the French, or whether French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius’s late January snowball might mark the start of a diplomatic avalanche.

Netanyahu: French bid rewards Palestinian intransigence-PM says Paris threat to recognize state if talks fail is a win-win for Palestinians; PA official: Israel will benefit from negotiations-By Stuart Winer January 31, 2016, 3:26 pm-the times of israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday took France to task for its latest Israeli-Palestinian peace talks pitch, saying the proposal would spur Palestinian inflexibility by guaranteeing recognition of a Palestinian state in advance.“This will be an incentive for the Palestinians to come and not compromise,” Netanyahu said of the proposal in a press briefing before the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had announced Friday that France would shortly try to convene an international conference with the hope of enabling new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but that if the effort hit a dead end, Paris would recognize a Palestinian state regardless.“The substance of negotiations is compromise and the French initiative, as it has been reported, in effect gives the Palestinians in advance reasons not to do so,” Netanyahu said, adding that he expected the French to take their peace-making efforts seriously. “I believe that we will see a sobering up on this issue. In any case, we will work to bring this about and our position is very clear: We are prepared to enter into direct negotiations without preconditions and without dictated conditions.”Senior Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat, for years the PA’s top negotiator with Israel, said Sunday that successful talks would be a boon for Israel and the Palestinians.“I think if we succeed it is a win for both of us,” Erekat told Army Radio, blaming the moribund state of negotiations on Netanyahu’s government.“This Israeli government believes that that establishment of a Palestinian state is a losing situation for Israel,” he said. “That is the crux of the matter, that is the crux of the problem.”When challenged over the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Erekat countered that the Palestinians had already recognized Israel within the 1967 borders.“You are registered in the United Nations as the State of Israel and that is your name,” he said. “We have already recognized Israel’s right to exist in the 1967 border in peace and security. I pray and hope that the day will come when I will hear one Israeli official from this government say that we recognize the right of the State of Palestinian to exist in peace and security in the 1967 lines. Stop with this broken record of yours.”In announcing the plan, Fabius said his country has a responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to sustain efforts to reach a two-state solution.“France will engage in the coming weeks in the preparation of an international conference bringing together the parties and their main partners, American, European, Arab, notably to preserve and make happen the solution of two states,” he said.Paris is hoping to hold the conference in the summer.“And what will happen if this last-ditch attempt at reaching a negotiated solution hits a stumbling block?” Fabius said. “In that case, we will have to live up to our responsibilities and recognize a Palestinian state.”The Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said earlier Friday that Palestinian Authority officials are waging a new campaign at the UN to revive peace prospects, with the starting point possibly a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.

Abbas welcomes French statehood plan: ‘We will no longer accept occupation’-Hamas rejects call for fresh talks, says international community trying to impose solutions that failed in the past-By Times of Israel staff January 30, 2016, 4:24 pm-the times of israel

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday welcomed a French plan to recognize the state of Palestine should a fresh push for peace talks fail, and warned that his people would no longer accept Israel’s occupation or settlements.French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced Friday that Paris would shortly try to convene an international conference, with the hope of enabling new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but that if this effort reached a dead end, Paris would recognize a Palestinian state. Israel immediately rejected the proposal.Speaking at a summit of African nations in Addis Ababa, Abbas blasted the occupation, settlements, and what he said was Israel’s seizure of Palestinian natural resources. He also accused the Israeli government of stalling peace efforts by the international community.“We cannot accept the current situation, including the occupation and settlements,” he said, the Maariv website reported.“We have to establish a sovereign state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said, according to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa. “We won’t accept interim or temporary solutions.”“We won’t return to negotiations just for the sake of negotiating and won’t continue to unilaterally implement previous agreements,” Abbas told the summit. Nor will the Palestinians “accept the theft of our natural resources, and the non-utilization of our lands or investment in them,” he said.“The region will not enjoy security and stability unless the Israeli occupation and settlement activities end,” Abbas continued. “We will stay here on our land and in our homeland, where we have developed our historical and cultural identity and made humanitarian contributions for thousands of years.”The Hamas terror group, which rules the Gaza Strip and is a bitter rival of Abbas’ Fatah movement, rejected the French plan as untenable, Ynet said.Senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan said that the calls from the international community to renew peace talks were futile and unacceptable. The world was trying to implement solutions that had previously failed, he said.Meanwhile, leading figures in Israel’s opposition earlier Saturday called the French ultimatum a direct result of the current government’s failed diplomatic policies.“Only an Israeli diplomatic initiative will enable Israel to retain control of its future, and relieve us of the tightening international pressure around our necks,” Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni said. “As long as there is no initiative on our part, the Palestinians will continue to make gains in the world.”The head of the left-wing Meretz party, Zehava Galon, accused Netanyahu of giving the French “the middle finger” by outright rejecting Fabius’s offer.The government’s rejection of the French ultimatum did receive support, however, from Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, though he blamed Israel’s leadership for having eroded the country’s standing in Europe.“Israel will not be coerced into negotiations. We won’t be dragged with threats to the negotiating table,” Lapid said during a cultural event in central Israel on Saturday. “No sovereign nation would accept that.”An unnamed American official also cautiously rejected the French proposal, according to Reuters. “The US position on this issue has been clear. We continue to believe that the preferred path to resolve this conflict is for the parties to reach an agreement on final status issues directly,” the official said.AFP contributed to this report.

Israel: We reject France’s statehood ultimatum, not peace push-Jerusalem clarifies its initial response to Paris threat to recognize Palestinian state if new effort to launch talks should fail-By Raphael Ahren January 30, 2016, 7:39 pm-the times of israel

Jerusalem on Saturday downplayed its initial rejection of a new French initiative to kick-start peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, saying the disapproval stemmed from France’s ultimatum that it would recognize a Palestinian state if fresh negotiation efforts fail to yield results.“The response last night was not at all related to the initiative itself,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that he had been replying to “the threat, and [French Foreign Minister Laurent] Fabius’s incentive for the Palestinians to lead to an impasse and thus get it all without negotiations.”Fabius said Friday that France would shortly try to convene an international conference, with the hope of enabling new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but that if this effort reached a dead end, Paris would recognize a Palestinian state. “And what will happen if this last-ditch attempt at reaching a negotiated solution hits a stumbling block?” Fabius said. “In that case, we will have to live up to our responsibilities and recognize a Palestinian state.”Israel had moved quickly Friday to reject the French ultimatum.“This is not how one conducts negotiations and not how one makes peace,” the prime minister’s spokesman was quoted by the Hebrew daily Haaretz as saying.Another Israeli source said the French threat to recognize Palestine if negotiations failed was “an incentive” for the Palestinians to be obdurate.Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said earlier Saturday that Israel rejected the French ultimatum. “Israel will not negotiate under ultimatums and threats,” he said.The initial government response drew criticism earlier Saturday from opposition lawmakers, who lambasted Netanyahu for what they said was a policy of stagnation.An unnamed American official also cautiously rejected the French proposal, according to Reuters.“The US position on this issue has been clear. We continue to believe that the preferred path to resolve this conflict is for the parties to reach an agreement on final status issues directly,” the official said.The Palestinians, however, welcomed the French initiative. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that his people were no longer willing to accept the status quo of Israeli occupation and settlements on land they seek for their own state. He called for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.Announcing the plan, Fabius said his country has a responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to sustain efforts to reach a two-state solution.“France will engage in the coming weeks in the preparation of an international conference bringing together the parties and their main partners, American, European, Arab, notably to preserve and make happen the solution of two states,” Fabius said. Paris is hoping to hold the conference in the summer.Times of Israel staff and AFP contributed to this report

Opposition head calls for IDF to bomb Gaza tunnels-As Israelis near Gaza border report digging sounds, Herzog blasts ‘idle’ government response to apparent Hamas rebuilding of underground attack system-By Sue Surkes January 31, 2016, 8:21 pm-the times of israel

The Israeli army should bomb tunnels apparently being dug by Hamas terrorists into Israeli territory, the head of the political opposition said Sunday, attacking the lack of action from the government on the threat.Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog made the comments as Israel Defense Forces officials and southern residents have raised fears that Hamas is rebuilding a series of subterranean passages, used for attacking Israel, which were destroyed during the 2014 war between Israel and Gazan fighters.“Hamas brags, and we are idle,” Herzog told regional council heads.The government was guilty of “zero activity” in the wake of reports that Hamas is working around the clock to build tunnels from which to attack Israelis within the country’s borders, he added, according to the Walla news site.“The political leadership must provide a clear public answer to the citizens. [It must] stop hesitating…. They must instruct the IDF to bomb the tunnels and destroy this threat. Especially if there are tunnels that have already crossed the border into Israel.”Last week, a senior defense official said Hamas’s military wing had rehabilitated itself and was ready for a fresh round of hostilities with Israel. Other military leaders have said intensive tunnel rebuilding is underway.Over the weekend, residents of areas near the Gaza Strip complained that tunnel digging into Israel from the Hamas-run territory has come so close to their homes that it has caused their floors to shake.The head of the Eshkol Regional Council, Gadi Yarkoni, told Israel Radio that many residents have been complaining of hearing — and feeling — increased underground digging activity in recent weeks. In addition, they were disappointed that the IDF has failed to build protective barriers against the cross-border terror tunnels — as it had promised it would after the summer 2014 war in Gaza.Hamas, the Islamist terror group that rules the Gaza Strip, built dozens of tunnels into Israel, many of which were used to carry out attacks against soldiers during the 2014 war. The IDF said it destroyed over 30 tunnels during the war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.Last week, at least seven people were killed in the course of digging a Hamas tunnel, which apparently caved in following heavy rains in the area.On Saturday, the terror group publicized a new video clip, lauding what it called the unknown fighters who are “toiling day and night” to build the attack tunnels.The fighters have “rolled up their sleeves so that soldiers of Jihad [Holy War] will hurt the enemy more and more, in every future confrontation,” the clip says. The tunnels will enable Hamas to mount “many surprises,” and remain “a puzzle for which the Zionist enemy will not be able to find a solution.”At a funeral Friday for the excavators killed in the cave-in, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said: “East of Gaza City, heroes are digging through rock and building tunnels, and to the west they are experimenting with rockets every day. The resistance continues on its path of liberation of the land.”Sources in Gaza say 12 Hamas activists — in addition to the seven killed last week — have died during the past year during works to renovate the tunnels, Walla said.Herzog pointed to Egyptian efforts to bomb and to flood the smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Sinai as a model for Israel.“One day, we’ll wake up and discover that, once again, we underestimated the seriousness of the threat,” Herzog warned. “It will cost us in blood and terrible sorrow.“Why are we waiting? For terrorists, with their weapons drawn, to emerge in a kibbutz or a moshav? The prime minister and the defense minister must provide an answer to the citizens.”

Be more aggressive in Strip, ex-Gaza general urges-Retired major general Yom-Tov Samia says army should have maintained presence in coastal enclave-By Daniel Douek and Times of Israel staff February 1, 2016, 6:50 pm-the times of israel

The general who commanded the Israeli military along the Gaza border in the early 2000s criticized the IDF’s current method of dealing with the Palestinian enclave, accusing the army of taking too passive an approach.Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yom-Tov Samia, who led the Israel Defense Force’s Southern Command before becoming a counter-terrorism researcher at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliya, told Army Radio that “Israel’s security strategy concerning Gaza has gone from active initiative to passive defense.”Southern residents and officials have voiced fears in recent days that Gaza terror group Hamas has ramped up tunnel building efforts, with subterranean passages reaching into Israeli territory.On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to hit Gaza harder than during the 2014 war if it is attacked from tunnels in the Gaza Strip.According to Samia, Israel should have maintained military presence in the the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land between Gaza and Egypt, to prevent contraband from crossing into the Palestinian enclave.“There is no doubt in my mind that if the IDF would have remained in the Philadelphi Corridor the Palestinians would have been saved a whole lot of trouble,” said Samia, referring to the many casualties caused by the recurring bouts of violence between Israel and Gaza over the last eight years.“Are we going to wait for a missile to fall on a kindergarten before taking action?” he asked.Samia’s criticism joined a chorus of Israeli politicians who have taken the government to task in recent days for failing to deal with the apparent tunnel threat. On Sunday, Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog said the government was guilty of “zero activity” in the wake of reports that Hamas is working around the clock to build tunnels from which to attack Israelis within the country’s borders, according to the Walla news site.This is not the first time Samia has criticized Israel’s policy concerning Gaza tunnels. In an interview to Channel 2 in August 2014, Samia said Israel should have dealt with the tunnels in Gaza before operation Protective Edge, the previous major clash between Israel and terror groups in the Gaza Strip.In the same Channel 2 interview, Samia also cautioned against any deal with Hamas that would enable the organization to dig new tunnels into Israel. “If any such tunnels are found,” he said, “the political leadership must allow the IDF to take care of them.”

Riding the ‘terror wave’ as it washes over the West Bank-Israelis want to stick to their routines while the Palestinian territories seethe, but things could get a lot worse before they get better-By Avi Issacharoff February 1, 2016, 12:52 pm-the times of israel

I was on my way to Beit El on Route 443, a little after 11 a.m. on Sunday, when the first reports came in about a shooting at the District Coordination Office checkpoint, one of the places I was slated to visit that day. It’s the checkpoint used by diplomats, Palestinian Authority officials, journalists and others in order to enter and exit Ramallah – allowing us to avoid the impossible traffic at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem.Three IDF soldiers were injured, two seriously. The terrorist, a 35-year-old member of the Palestinian security forces entrusted with protecting the PA government offices, came from Ramallah by car. He slowly approached the soldiers at the checkpoint, like hundreds of vehicles do every day, and when the soldiers asked him for his ID he drew a pistol and shot them.One resident of Beit El, who at the time still didn’t know how exactly the attack was carried out, hinted Sunday that Palestinians should be barred from traveling on the main highways in the West Bank. He didn’t know that the terrorist, Amjad Sakari, came from within Palestinian Authority territory, and could have carried out a similar attack at any other checkpoint.The attack raises no shortage of concerns. An employee of the Palestinian security forces used a PA-issued gun to carry out a terror attack – not for the first time and probably not for the last. In fact, it was the sixth attack or attempted attack in the past four months involving a member of the Palestinian security forces.A second infamous incident featured a member of the PA intelligence service, the nephew of the senior PA official Saeb Erekat, who opened fire at the Hizme checkpoint and was shot dead by Israeli security forces in early December. Sunday’s attack, like its predecessors, raises legitimate fears that we’re on the brink of a precipice and that we’ll be seeing more and more Palestinian security personnel joining in the attacks and turning PA weapons on Israelis.But we’re not at that point yet. On the contrary: Aside from those six instances, the commanders of the PA security forces have demonstrated an impressive ability to control their cadres. The question is how long this discipline will remain in place. Unfortunately the long-term prospects are bleak.Now, with the introduction of the “French proposal” — Paris’s threat to recognize a Palestinian state if peace talks fail — tensions are likely to increase between Israel and the PA, and this will not diminish the motivation to carry out attacks. The “intifada of knives” will in all probability continue, alongside Hamas attempts to carry out suicide bombings and further attacks by PA security force members.-Car ramming attack?-Later in the day, at about 2:30 p.m., again on Highway 443 but this time on the way to the Tel Aviv region, I see reports of a suspected vehicular attack only several kilometers away, at a checkpoint between the Palestinian villages of Beit Ur al-Tahta and Beit Ur al-Fawqa.The suspected attacker was being loaded into the ambulance, still alive despite having been shot several times by Israeli soldiers. His car was riddled with bullet holes and covered with bloodstains. Paramedics and security forces were at the scene and, like everyone else, were trying to figure out exactly what had happened. The commander of the IDF’s Binyamin Brigade, who had just been busy investigating the morning’s shooting attack, rushed to the scene. Soldiers manning the checkpoint said the driver, Ahmed Othman, 19, tried to run over one of them, then, failing to do so, turned his car around and tried to ram into another group. The soldiers opened fire on the driver and shot him mid-attack. He later died.Several meters away from the checkpoint and the car that was used in the apparent attack stood a yellow taxi van packed with Palestinians.“What happened there?” I asked the passengers.“We were stopped at the checkpoint for inspection,” one of them responded. “Suddenly [the driver] crashed into us from behind and then the soldiers opened fire on him.”So you were in front of him in the line for inspection?-“Yes, he crashed into us from behind and then they shot him. This wasn’t a terror attack or anything like that. Forget about it.”IDF sources reported that during the suspected attempts to ram into the soldiers, the driver hit the van. “At this stage we’re treating the incident as a car ramming attack, but the investigation is ongoing,” a source said.A short time later, everything was back to normal on the road. The same happened in the media. Nobody seems to be terribly concerned with the latest in the relentless stream of individual events that have marked this “lone wolf intifada.” For Israeli politicians, it’s just a “wave of terror.”Perhaps they mean to reassure the public that it will just quietly fade. This “wave,” however, refuses to go away, even if it has slowed a little. On the radio they go on about celebrities in Tel Aviv, and it doesn’t seem as if anybody cares what is happening only 30 minutes’ drive away.