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)
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
Thousands of Arab Israelis march for Palestinian ‘return’ to Israel-Rally for first time in the Negev, protesters in Rahat, including Arab Knesset members, swear to defend land and uphold Palestinian rights-By AFP and Dov Lieber May 12, 2016, 9:49 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Thousands of Arab Israeli protesters marched in favor of a “right of return” for millions of Palestinians on Thursday, as Israel celebrated its 68th Independence Day.Some of the protesters, many of whom consider themselves Palestinian citizens of Israel, carried Palestinian flags and others held up signs demanding the right to return for refugees and their descendants at the rally in the Negev desert.As mainly Jewish Israelis marked Independence Day, the marchers carried the slogan “On the anniversary of your independence, remember our Nakba.” The term Nakba is widely used by Palestinians and in the Arab world to describe the “catastrophe” of modern Israel’s establishment in 1948.The protest included a swearing-in ceremony where people collectively swore to defend the land, and to uphold the claim by Palestinians who used to live in what is today Israel, and their descendants, of a right to come back and live in the country.The protesters, among them members of the Joint (Arab) List Knesset faction, also poured seeds into the ground in a symbolic gesture.Joint List leader Ayman Odeh said in a speech to the crowd: “The Nakba is not a question of the past but of the future. Recognition of the Nakba, of this great crime, and gestures to correct this wrong, are the only way toward true reconciliation between the two peoples [Israelis and Palestinians].”Organizers said it was the first time such a demonstration has been held in the Negev.The Palestinians refer to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, following the defeat of Arab nations in the War of Independence, as the “Nabka,” the Arabic word for “catastrophe.” Nakba day will be formerly marked on May 15.For Palestinians, the right to return to homes they fled or were forced out of in 1948 is a prerequisite for any peace agreement. However, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has informally acknowledged that he does not expect Israel to absorb millions of Palestinians since this would fundamentally alter the 78-22 Jewish-non-Jewish population balance in Israel.Israeli governments of left and right reject the notion of a “right of return” for Palestinians, arguing that a mass influx of Palestinians would spell the end of the Jewish state. Israel has called for Palestinian refugees to be absorbed into a future Palestinian state, just as Israel took in hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa.Israel also rejects the UN designation of second, third and subsequent generations of descendants of Palestinians who used to live in what is now Israel as “refugees,” noting that only Palestinian descendants of refugees are treated in this way by the UN.
US tourists visit the ‘total heaven’ of West Bank settlements-Arguing that settlements are underfunded by the Israeli government, a US-based charity takes American tourists on a day trip designed to show how they can help fill the gap and why they should-By Eliyahu Kamisher May 12, 2016, 10:31 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
KARNEI SHOMRON, West Bank — On a warm afternoon around 48 kilometers (30 miles) from Tel Aviv, a bus filled with 51 American tourists is struggling to make its way up a steep dirt road. Thick bulletproof windows and armored plating put extra weight on the bus’s engine and brakes, which groan painfully as the mayor of Karnei Shomron speeds ahead in his white Toyota Prius.At the top of the hill sits a massive Star of David, made of metal, that overlooks the surrounding settlements of Yakir and Nofim and the Palestinian village of Jinsafut. While many Americans flock to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during the Passover holiday, these tourists are touring Jewish communities in the northern West Bank, biblically referred to as “Shomron” in Hebrew or “Samaria” in English.The tours are led by One Israel Fund, a US-based charity founded in 1994 and dedicated to supporting Jewish settlements in the West Bank — to “enrich and enhance the lives of Jews in Judea and Samaria.” From security to schools, hospitals and senior centers, the One Israel Fund provides support for every aspect of Jewish life in the West Bank.Natalie Sopinsky, the fund’s director of community development, thinks of the organization as a “Jewish Federation for Judea and Samaria.”In Karnei Shomron, the One Israel Fund has sponsored a new state-of-the-art security center, which, according to the town’s mayor Yigal Lahav, has been essential in ensuring his town’s safety. Lahav contends the Israeli government does not adequately provide for the settlement’s security and social services. Among Lahav’s list of needs is a more easily accessible medical center and radar detection technology. Thus, outside money from groups like the One Israel Fund is filling the gap, allowing settlements to thrive in relative stability.Despite the need for advanced security precautions, Lahav describes life in Karnei Shomron as “total heaven.” He tells the tour group how he “fell in love with the land, the people, the smell in the air” and of how the settlement plans to build more, notwithstanding political obstacles.Eve Harow, the director of tourism of One Israel Fund, is a veteran settlement activist from Efrat and is leading today’s tour. She blends her personal connection to the land with right-wing political ideology, fun facts about the region and biblical references.Although born and raised in New Jersey, Harow’s attachment to the West Bank, like that of many settlers, is rooted in the region’s historic Jewish presence. “I want to be a part of history,” Harow tells this reporter.For Harow, every settlement is not a new or foreign implantation, but a continuation of Jewish life that was interrupted by exile over 2,000 years ago. “The world must understand that this land is our mother and our heart,” states Harow, “and she is blossoming before our eyes.”Archeological sites that evidence Jewish history here are highlighted during the tour. In the settlement of Ma’ale Shomron, for instance, the group is shown what Harow contends were an ancient Jewish trading post and wine storage facility from the First and Second Temple periods.“Jewish life was reestablished in Ma’ale Shomron… from the First Temple, the Second Temple, and now the third Temple,” says Harow, linking the ancient sites into a larger biblical saga.Continuing on to the settlement of Kedumim, founded in 1974 near the Palestinian city of Nablus, the group meets Assistant Mayor Raphaella Segal. For Segal, a long-time settlement activist, Kedumim represents the progress the settlement movement has had in achieving recognition and permanency. “We used to live in a bunch of trailers,” she states proudly. “Now we are a strong community.” Segal’s modern home, with its sweeping view of the valley below, looks more like unremarkable Israeli suburbia than the perception of Israeli settlements at the forefront of conflict.However, now it is Segal’s daughters who are continuing the tradition by moving in to trailers in nearby settlement outposts, which Segal hopes will someday reach Kedumim’s level of development.The mayor of Kedumim, Hananel Dorani, is a second-generation resident, and the recent birth of his granddaughter marks the fourth generation of his family in Kedumim. Unlike Karnei Shomron, Kedumim “has no security fence, because we do not want to establish a border for the community,” states Dorani.Kedumim plans to expand; the only thing holding it back is obtaining the necessary permits from the Israeli government, he says.It’s not clear if that will happen. The international community considers settlements illegal and Palestinians see the enterprise as encroaching upon land they claim for a future state.Israel has maintained the land is disputed and continues to build homes in settlements across the West Bank, but each new construction permit is met with international pressure to halt building and return to peace negotiations with the Palestinians, which have remained stagnant for several years.In the meantime more and more Israelis have made their way across the Green Line, many motivated by ideology, but some by relatively cheap housing prices in a suburban setting.“I’ll buy two houses,” one of the visitors promises, semi-jokingly.Dorani hopes Kedumim will continue to grow and become an integral part of Israel proper. He takes pride in the town’s recently completed water park, which has attracted Israelis and their children from inside the Green Line to visit the cascading pools. On this Passover vacation, the pools are packed with children yelling and splashing with colorful water toys.Although a nearby Palestinian village is visible from the water park, Palestinians remain conspicuously absent from the water park festivities, illustrating the stark separation between the communities. “It’s better that everyone has their own facilities,” Segal says.Fear of violence is an obvious deterrent to interaction. “If we went into the [Palestinian] village, we would be killed,” states Lahav.On this tour, the separation from Palestinian people and viewpoints is maintained. While Palestinian towns and villages are periodically visible from the bus’s bulletproof windows, they are largely ignored — or, in one case, passingly referred to by Harow as a “very nasty Arab village.”From Kedumim, the bus takes Route 60 past the settlement of Yitzhar and the Palestinian town of Sawiya onto the tour’s last stop, the Gva’ot Winery, perched on a rocky hilltop overlooking the settlement of Shiloh. From a fledgling settlement winery, Gva’ot now produces over 50,000 bottles annually and is sold internationally.The fruity Cabernet Sauvignons and rich Merlots produced here are among Israel’s best, says chief winemaker Dr. Shivi Drori. “I am not a newcomer to this land, but a link in the chain,” he adds, looking out over the vines that hug the rolling hillsides.Drinking wine at Gva’ot is presented to the group not simply as a sensuous pleasure, but as an act of support for this Jewish presence deep in the West Bank.Some in the One Israel Fund tour group plainly appreciate this significance as they sip their Cabernet Sauvignon. “This is the center of the Hebrew nation,” says one man.Drori says the harsh conditions of these hills actually make for delicious wine. “The best wines,” he says, “come from struggle.”
UNRWA: One in five Palestinians in Syria have fled country-UN Palestinian refugee agency says of 560,000 Palestinians in Syria before the war, some 120,000 left the war-torn country-By AFP May 12, 2016, 9:36 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
DAMASCUS — More than 20 percent of Syria’s Palestinian refugees have fled the country and its five-year war, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Thursday.“Before the war, there were 560,000 Palestine refugees. We estimate that currently about 110,000 to 120,000 have left the country,” UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl said on a visit to Damascus.“There are about 45,000 who went to Lebanon, 15,000 to Jordan,” he said.“The others –- therefore almost half of those who have left –- have traveled, we presume, through Turkey and then to a variety of other countries.“Some of them will be in Europe. We know of Palestine refugees who have reached parts of Asia. We know of some who have reached Latin America.”Syria is home to 12 refugee camps, three of them unofficial, according to UNRWA.Before the war, some 160,000 mostly Palestinians and Syrians lived in the district of Yarmouk in southern Damascus.But the once thriving suburb has been devastated by conflict since late 2012 and UNRWA cannot access the camp to distribute aid to some 6,000 remaining residents.“UNRWA will not give up its efforts to try to find ways to have this type of access in the future but in the meantime we are… concentrated on providing the assistance that we can in the neighborhoods directly beside Yarmouk,” Krahenbuhl said.“The situation for Palestine refugees and civilians inside Yarmouk remains extremely desperate — very, very difficult.”Last month, the Islamic State group had almost evicted rival Al-Qaeda jihadists from Yarmouk, according to a Palestine Liberation Organization official.Syria has hosted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since their ancestors fled their homes when the state of Israel was created in 1948, and in successive conflicts since.
Hezbollah chief: Islamic State carrying out new Nakba in Mideast-Using Palestinian term for 1948 creation of Israel, Hassan Nasrallah blames US for rise of Sunni terror group, says West now paying price-By Times of Israel staff May 12, 2016, 8:21 pm
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that the Islamic State was carrying out a new “Nakba” in the Middle East, employing the Arabic word for catastrophe traditionally used by the Palestinians and the Arab world to refer to the 1948 creation of the State of Israel.Nasrallah’s remarks, coming as Israel celebrated its 68th Independence Day, including a harsh attack on the US, which he accused of creating the Islamic State terror group to extend hegemony over the region.Noting that the day marked the anniversary of Israel’s creation, Nasrallah said that a “similar Nakba” was taking place in the region at the hands of the Islamic State, which controls swathes of land in Syria and Iraq and is infamous for the wanton killing of male members of non-Sunni minority groups and the enslaving of their women and girls.The difference “between the current Nakba and the one of 1948,” Nasrallah added, was that “there are groups that currently exist that will stand in the way of this new Nakba,” in reference to Hezbollah, a Shiite group whose members have been fighting alongside Iranian forces and Assad’s military since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in March 2011.His address broadcast over satellite on Thursday, as Israel marked its 68th Independence Day.The Hezbollah leader further blamed the United States for the rise of the terror group, going as far as accusing Washington of creating — and funding — IS to fight its and Israel’s enemies in the Middle East.The US “and its regional allies have brought takfiri [non-believers] and barbaric terrorist groups aimed at destroying the spirit and will of the resistance,” said the Hezbollah leader.“Islamic State is a means to achieve US goals, as demonstrated through the return of American troops in Iraq,” he said according to Lebanese news site Naharnet.“The West does not have a problem with Muslims, but with the movements and people who reject Israeli occupation of Palestine. They have a problem with all those who reject foreign hegemony in the region,” he said.“They want IS to reach all of Iran’s borders and even within Iran itself,” he added. “They sought to fight us through direct means, such as the 2006 war with Israel, but they failed and so they are seeking the same method they adopted when they fought the Soviet Union.”Nasrallah claimed the West was now “paying the price” for IS “as we have seen in Paris and Brussels,” in reference to the coordinated terror attacks in the French capital last November that claimed 130 lives and the attacks in the Belgian capital in March which killed over 30 people.
Right-wing activists held over bids to ascend Temple Mount, block Muslims-Police arrest 15 in Jerusalem, including three women with babies strapped to their bodies trying to keep Muslims from Damascus Gate-By Times of Israel staff May 12, 2016, 7:55 pm
Police arrested over a dozen right-wing activists in the Old City of Jerusalem Thursday, as they tried to hold an illegal march to the Temple Mount and keep others from reaching the area in two seemingly separate incidents.Around 6 p.m., dozens of right-wing activists begin an unauthorized procession from downtown Jerusalem toward the Temple Mount, the police said in a statement.The police commanding officer at the scene called on the marchers to disperse, as the event was taking place illegally. When the marchers refused, five were arrested.Later, another 10 people were arrested as they formed a human chain at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City to try to keep Muslims from entering the area.Among those arrested were three women with babies strapped to their bodies who engaged in acts of violence and disturbing the peace in a manner which endangered the children, police said in a statement.Social welfare authorities were also asked to intervene, police said.Earlier on Thursday, several dozen Arabs from northern Israel affiliated with the Islamic Movement came to Jerusalem and also planned to march to the Temple Mount. The march wasn’t approved police said, and the participants were returned home.The incidents took place on Israel’s Independence Day and police said they would continue to prevent any breach of the law or “attempt to undermine the security stability and endanger the public’s peace and security.”Access to non-Muslim visitors to the site is limited to a few hours on certain days of the week.The Temple Mount was the site of two Jewish temples in antiquity and it is considered the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims deem the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop the mount, their third holiest site, after Mecca and Medina.
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
Thousands of Arab Israelis march for Palestinian ‘return’ to Israel-Rally for first time in the Negev, protesters in Rahat, including Arab Knesset members, swear to defend land and uphold Palestinian rights-By AFP and Dov Lieber May 12, 2016, 9:49 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Thousands of Arab Israeli protesters marched in favor of a “right of return” for millions of Palestinians on Thursday, as Israel celebrated its 68th Independence Day.Some of the protesters, many of whom consider themselves Palestinian citizens of Israel, carried Palestinian flags and others held up signs demanding the right to return for refugees and their descendants at the rally in the Negev desert.As mainly Jewish Israelis marked Independence Day, the marchers carried the slogan “On the anniversary of your independence, remember our Nakba.” The term Nakba is widely used by Palestinians and in the Arab world to describe the “catastrophe” of modern Israel’s establishment in 1948.The protest included a swearing-in ceremony where people collectively swore to defend the land, and to uphold the claim by Palestinians who used to live in what is today Israel, and their descendants, of a right to come back and live in the country.The protesters, among them members of the Joint (Arab) List Knesset faction, also poured seeds into the ground in a symbolic gesture.Joint List leader Ayman Odeh said in a speech to the crowd: “The Nakba is not a question of the past but of the future. Recognition of the Nakba, of this great crime, and gestures to correct this wrong, are the only way toward true reconciliation between the two peoples [Israelis and Palestinians].”Organizers said it was the first time such a demonstration has been held in the Negev.The Palestinians refer to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, following the defeat of Arab nations in the War of Independence, as the “Nabka,” the Arabic word for “catastrophe.” Nakba day will be formerly marked on May 15.For Palestinians, the right to return to homes they fled or were forced out of in 1948 is a prerequisite for any peace agreement. However, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has informally acknowledged that he does not expect Israel to absorb millions of Palestinians since this would fundamentally alter the 78-22 Jewish-non-Jewish population balance in Israel.Israeli governments of left and right reject the notion of a “right of return” for Palestinians, arguing that a mass influx of Palestinians would spell the end of the Jewish state. Israel has called for Palestinian refugees to be absorbed into a future Palestinian state, just as Israel took in hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa.Israel also rejects the UN designation of second, third and subsequent generations of descendants of Palestinians who used to live in what is now Israel as “refugees,” noting that only Palestinian descendants of refugees are treated in this way by the UN.
US tourists visit the ‘total heaven’ of West Bank settlements-Arguing that settlements are underfunded by the Israeli government, a US-based charity takes American tourists on a day trip designed to show how they can help fill the gap and why they should-By Eliyahu Kamisher May 12, 2016, 10:31 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
KARNEI SHOMRON, West Bank — On a warm afternoon around 48 kilometers (30 miles) from Tel Aviv, a bus filled with 51 American tourists is struggling to make its way up a steep dirt road. Thick bulletproof windows and armored plating put extra weight on the bus’s engine and brakes, which groan painfully as the mayor of Karnei Shomron speeds ahead in his white Toyota Prius.At the top of the hill sits a massive Star of David, made of metal, that overlooks the surrounding settlements of Yakir and Nofim and the Palestinian village of Jinsafut. While many Americans flock to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during the Passover holiday, these tourists are touring Jewish communities in the northern West Bank, biblically referred to as “Shomron” in Hebrew or “Samaria” in English.The tours are led by One Israel Fund, a US-based charity founded in 1994 and dedicated to supporting Jewish settlements in the West Bank — to “enrich and enhance the lives of Jews in Judea and Samaria.” From security to schools, hospitals and senior centers, the One Israel Fund provides support for every aspect of Jewish life in the West Bank.Natalie Sopinsky, the fund’s director of community development, thinks of the organization as a “Jewish Federation for Judea and Samaria.”In Karnei Shomron, the One Israel Fund has sponsored a new state-of-the-art security center, which, according to the town’s mayor Yigal Lahav, has been essential in ensuring his town’s safety. Lahav contends the Israeli government does not adequately provide for the settlement’s security and social services. Among Lahav’s list of needs is a more easily accessible medical center and radar detection technology. Thus, outside money from groups like the One Israel Fund is filling the gap, allowing settlements to thrive in relative stability.Despite the need for advanced security precautions, Lahav describes life in Karnei Shomron as “total heaven.” He tells the tour group how he “fell in love with the land, the people, the smell in the air” and of how the settlement plans to build more, notwithstanding political obstacles.Eve Harow, the director of tourism of One Israel Fund, is a veteran settlement activist from Efrat and is leading today’s tour. She blends her personal connection to the land with right-wing political ideology, fun facts about the region and biblical references.Although born and raised in New Jersey, Harow’s attachment to the West Bank, like that of many settlers, is rooted in the region’s historic Jewish presence. “I want to be a part of history,” Harow tells this reporter.For Harow, every settlement is not a new or foreign implantation, but a continuation of Jewish life that was interrupted by exile over 2,000 years ago. “The world must understand that this land is our mother and our heart,” states Harow, “and she is blossoming before our eyes.”Archeological sites that evidence Jewish history here are highlighted during the tour. In the settlement of Ma’ale Shomron, for instance, the group is shown what Harow contends were an ancient Jewish trading post and wine storage facility from the First and Second Temple periods.“Jewish life was reestablished in Ma’ale Shomron… from the First Temple, the Second Temple, and now the third Temple,” says Harow, linking the ancient sites into a larger biblical saga.Continuing on to the settlement of Kedumim, founded in 1974 near the Palestinian city of Nablus, the group meets Assistant Mayor Raphaella Segal. For Segal, a long-time settlement activist, Kedumim represents the progress the settlement movement has had in achieving recognition and permanency. “We used to live in a bunch of trailers,” she states proudly. “Now we are a strong community.” Segal’s modern home, with its sweeping view of the valley below, looks more like unremarkable Israeli suburbia than the perception of Israeli settlements at the forefront of conflict.However, now it is Segal’s daughters who are continuing the tradition by moving in to trailers in nearby settlement outposts, which Segal hopes will someday reach Kedumim’s level of development.The mayor of Kedumim, Hananel Dorani, is a second-generation resident, and the recent birth of his granddaughter marks the fourth generation of his family in Kedumim. Unlike Karnei Shomron, Kedumim “has no security fence, because we do not want to establish a border for the community,” states Dorani.Kedumim plans to expand; the only thing holding it back is obtaining the necessary permits from the Israeli government, he says.It’s not clear if that will happen. The international community considers settlements illegal and Palestinians see the enterprise as encroaching upon land they claim for a future state.Israel has maintained the land is disputed and continues to build homes in settlements across the West Bank, but each new construction permit is met with international pressure to halt building and return to peace negotiations with the Palestinians, which have remained stagnant for several years.In the meantime more and more Israelis have made their way across the Green Line, many motivated by ideology, but some by relatively cheap housing prices in a suburban setting.“I’ll buy two houses,” one of the visitors promises, semi-jokingly.Dorani hopes Kedumim will continue to grow and become an integral part of Israel proper. He takes pride in the town’s recently completed water park, which has attracted Israelis and their children from inside the Green Line to visit the cascading pools. On this Passover vacation, the pools are packed with children yelling and splashing with colorful water toys.Although a nearby Palestinian village is visible from the water park, Palestinians remain conspicuously absent from the water park festivities, illustrating the stark separation between the communities. “It’s better that everyone has their own facilities,” Segal says.Fear of violence is an obvious deterrent to interaction. “If we went into the [Palestinian] village, we would be killed,” states Lahav.On this tour, the separation from Palestinian people and viewpoints is maintained. While Palestinian towns and villages are periodically visible from the bus’s bulletproof windows, they are largely ignored — or, in one case, passingly referred to by Harow as a “very nasty Arab village.”From Kedumim, the bus takes Route 60 past the settlement of Yitzhar and the Palestinian town of Sawiya onto the tour’s last stop, the Gva’ot Winery, perched on a rocky hilltop overlooking the settlement of Shiloh. From a fledgling settlement winery, Gva’ot now produces over 50,000 bottles annually and is sold internationally.The fruity Cabernet Sauvignons and rich Merlots produced here are among Israel’s best, says chief winemaker Dr. Shivi Drori. “I am not a newcomer to this land, but a link in the chain,” he adds, looking out over the vines that hug the rolling hillsides.Drinking wine at Gva’ot is presented to the group not simply as a sensuous pleasure, but as an act of support for this Jewish presence deep in the West Bank.Some in the One Israel Fund tour group plainly appreciate this significance as they sip their Cabernet Sauvignon. “This is the center of the Hebrew nation,” says one man.Drori says the harsh conditions of these hills actually make for delicious wine. “The best wines,” he says, “come from struggle.”
UNRWA: One in five Palestinians in Syria have fled country-UN Palestinian refugee agency says of 560,000 Palestinians in Syria before the war, some 120,000 left the war-torn country-By AFP May 12, 2016, 9:36 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
DAMASCUS — More than 20 percent of Syria’s Palestinian refugees have fled the country and its five-year war, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Thursday.“Before the war, there were 560,000 Palestine refugees. We estimate that currently about 110,000 to 120,000 have left the country,” UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl said on a visit to Damascus.“There are about 45,000 who went to Lebanon, 15,000 to Jordan,” he said.“The others –- therefore almost half of those who have left –- have traveled, we presume, through Turkey and then to a variety of other countries.“Some of them will be in Europe. We know of Palestine refugees who have reached parts of Asia. We know of some who have reached Latin America.”Syria is home to 12 refugee camps, three of them unofficial, according to UNRWA.Before the war, some 160,000 mostly Palestinians and Syrians lived in the district of Yarmouk in southern Damascus.But the once thriving suburb has been devastated by conflict since late 2012 and UNRWA cannot access the camp to distribute aid to some 6,000 remaining residents.“UNRWA will not give up its efforts to try to find ways to have this type of access in the future but in the meantime we are… concentrated on providing the assistance that we can in the neighborhoods directly beside Yarmouk,” Krahenbuhl said.“The situation for Palestine refugees and civilians inside Yarmouk remains extremely desperate — very, very difficult.”Last month, the Islamic State group had almost evicted rival Al-Qaeda jihadists from Yarmouk, according to a Palestine Liberation Organization official.Syria has hosted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since their ancestors fled their homes when the state of Israel was created in 1948, and in successive conflicts since.
Hezbollah chief: Islamic State carrying out new Nakba in Mideast-Using Palestinian term for 1948 creation of Israel, Hassan Nasrallah blames US for rise of Sunni terror group, says West now paying price-By Times of Israel staff May 12, 2016, 8:21 pm
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that the Islamic State was carrying out a new “Nakba” in the Middle East, employing the Arabic word for catastrophe traditionally used by the Palestinians and the Arab world to refer to the 1948 creation of the State of Israel.Nasrallah’s remarks, coming as Israel celebrated its 68th Independence Day, including a harsh attack on the US, which he accused of creating the Islamic State terror group to extend hegemony over the region.Noting that the day marked the anniversary of Israel’s creation, Nasrallah said that a “similar Nakba” was taking place in the region at the hands of the Islamic State, which controls swathes of land in Syria and Iraq and is infamous for the wanton killing of male members of non-Sunni minority groups and the enslaving of their women and girls.The difference “between the current Nakba and the one of 1948,” Nasrallah added, was that “there are groups that currently exist that will stand in the way of this new Nakba,” in reference to Hezbollah, a Shiite group whose members have been fighting alongside Iranian forces and Assad’s military since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in March 2011.His address broadcast over satellite on Thursday, as Israel marked its 68th Independence Day.The Hezbollah leader further blamed the United States for the rise of the terror group, going as far as accusing Washington of creating — and funding — IS to fight its and Israel’s enemies in the Middle East.The US “and its regional allies have brought takfiri [non-believers] and barbaric terrorist groups aimed at destroying the spirit and will of the resistance,” said the Hezbollah leader.“Islamic State is a means to achieve US goals, as demonstrated through the return of American troops in Iraq,” he said according to Lebanese news site Naharnet.“The West does not have a problem with Muslims, but with the movements and people who reject Israeli occupation of Palestine. They have a problem with all those who reject foreign hegemony in the region,” he said.“They want IS to reach all of Iran’s borders and even within Iran itself,” he added. “They sought to fight us through direct means, such as the 2006 war with Israel, but they failed and so they are seeking the same method they adopted when they fought the Soviet Union.”Nasrallah claimed the West was now “paying the price” for IS “as we have seen in Paris and Brussels,” in reference to the coordinated terror attacks in the French capital last November that claimed 130 lives and the attacks in the Belgian capital in March which killed over 30 people.
Right-wing activists held over bids to ascend Temple Mount, block Muslims-Police arrest 15 in Jerusalem, including three women with babies strapped to their bodies trying to keep Muslims from Damascus Gate-By Times of Israel staff May 12, 2016, 7:55 pm
Police arrested over a dozen right-wing activists in the Old City of Jerusalem Thursday, as they tried to hold an illegal march to the Temple Mount and keep others from reaching the area in two seemingly separate incidents.Around 6 p.m., dozens of right-wing activists begin an unauthorized procession from downtown Jerusalem toward the Temple Mount, the police said in a statement.The police commanding officer at the scene called on the marchers to disperse, as the event was taking place illegally. When the marchers refused, five were arrested.Later, another 10 people were arrested as they formed a human chain at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City to try to keep Muslims from entering the area.Among those arrested were three women with babies strapped to their bodies who engaged in acts of violence and disturbing the peace in a manner which endangered the children, police said in a statement.Social welfare authorities were also asked to intervene, police said.Earlier on Thursday, several dozen Arabs from northern Israel affiliated with the Islamic Movement came to Jerusalem and also planned to march to the Temple Mount. The march wasn’t approved police said, and the participants were returned home.The incidents took place on Israel’s Independence Day and police said they would continue to prevent any breach of the law or “attempt to undermine the security stability and endanger the public’s peace and security.”Access to non-Muslim visitors to the site is limited to a few hours on certain days of the week.The Temple Mount was the site of two Jewish temples in antiquity and it is considered the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims deem the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop the mount, their third holiest site, after Mecca and Medina.
