INTERNATIONAL PULSE Period: January 2009 6666666 End-Time Church / Pluralism Global Politics Israel

ISRAEL ----- ISRAELIS VOTED "TWO THUMBS" UP A member of the Israeli war party once commented that New York has only two Senators representing it in Congress. Israel has fifty. The same goes for the House. They just voted a "two thumbs" up for Israel's military assault on Gaza. http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/530.html ----- HAMAS: ABBAS NO LONGER HEADS PA Jan 9, 2009 0:28 JPost.com - The IDF's anti-Hamas operation in the Gaza Strip has diverted attention from the row over Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's term in office, which expires on Friday. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: AP Abbas's aides said he has no plans to step down in the near future, claiming that the PA's Basic Law allows him to stay in power for another year. Abbas was elected in January 2005 to a four-year term. Hamas officials said that as of Friday they would not recognize Abbas's status as president of the PA. But they also made it clear that they would not demand his resignation for now "because of the war" in the Gaza Strip. "This is not the time to talk about such matters," said one Abbas aide. "President Abbas was elected by a majority of the people, and as such he's the legitimate leader. He represents all the Palestinians and not only those living in the West Bank." PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad told reporters on Thursday that the law calls for holding presidential and legislative elections simultaneously. And since the legislative elections are due to be held in January 2010, Abbas is entitled to stay in office for an additional year, he explained. However, Hamas and some Palestinian legal experts have openly challenged Abbas's right to remain in power after the expiration of his term. "Thursday was Abbas's last day in office," said Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon. "Our position on this issue is clear: Abbas's term in office has expired." Continued: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424896056&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull ----- U.S. MALES U-TURN ON U.N. GAZA VOTE January 9, 2009 - By Sue Pleming UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - In an apparent reversal of earlier promises to Arab states, the United States on Thursday abstained from voting on a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the decision to abstain was because the United States first wanted to see the outcome of Egyptian mediation efforts to end the 13-day Israeli offensive which has killed more than 750 Palestinians. "The United States thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation efforts in order to see what this resolution might have been supporting. And that is why we chose to abstain tonight," she said. The U.S. abstention lessens the resolution's clout and could weaken pressure on close U.S. ally Israel to abide by the U.N. decision, which also called for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Hamas-ruled Gaza. The council's other 14 members voted for the resolution. Western and Arab diplomats said they had expected Rice to vote for the resolution and cited a phone call she had with U.S. President George W. Bush immediately before the vote. State Department officials did not immediately respond to e-mails and phone calls about why the United States ultimately decided not to back the resolution. Before taking her seat in the Security Council chamber, Rice huddled with Arab ministers and told them of the U.S. decision to abstain. "We sensed her sincerity as the secretary of state personally," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told Reuters. Asked whether he thought Bush had ordered Rice to change the U.S. vote at the last minute, he said, "I don't know." Continued: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE50813J20090109 ----- WAR AND NATURAL GAS: THE ISRAELI INVASION AND GAZA'S OFFSHORE GAS FIELDS By Michel Chossudovsky January 9, 2009 - The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves. This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline. British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon's Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority. The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, October 21, 2007). The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001). The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See Map below). It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine. The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars. These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine's gas reserves could be much larger. Continued: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680 ----- FEDS ARGUE RETURN LAW MAKES JEWS FLIGHT RISK Sholom Rubashkin, former Agriprocessors’ CEO: Deemed a flight risk and denied ball. by Stewart Ain - Staff Writer - In a legal argument called “astounding and very troublesome,” a federal prosecutor has argued that Israel’s Law of Return makes American Jews a flight risk and therefore ineligible for bail. The claim, believed to be unprecedented, came in the bank fraud case of Sholom Rubashkin, the former Jewish head of the embattled Iowa kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors, Inc. And the federal judge in the case, Magistrate Jon Stuart Scoles, cited the Law of Return in his Nov. 20 decision denying Rubashkin bail. “Under Israel’s Law of Return, any Jew and members of his family who have expressed their desire to settle in Israel will be granted citizenship,” the judge wrote, adding that the government had claimed that at least one other Agriprocessors’ defendant had already fled to Israel. Rubashkin’s lawyers wrote in their appeal filed last Friday: “It is ironic that a law designed to provide refuge to persecuted Jews has now become the basis for detaining a Jew who might otherwise have been released pending trial.” Deborah Lauter, director of the civil rights office of the Anti-Defamation League, said the prosecution’s “referencing the Law of Return is highly unusual.” Continued: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a14246/News/New_York.html ----- THE INVASION OF GAZA "OPERATION CAST LEAD", PART OF A BROADER ISRAELI MILITARY-INTELLIGENCE AGENDA. by Michel Chossudovsky - Global Research, January 4, 2009 - The aerial bombings and the ongoing ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli ground forces must be analysed in a historical context. Operation "Cast Lead" is a carefully planned undertaking, which is part of a broader military-intelligence agenda first formulated by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001: "Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas."(Barak Ravid, Operation "Cast Lead": Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008) It was Israel which broke the truce on the day of the US presidential elections, November 4: "Israel used this distraction to break the ceasefire between itself and Hamas by bombing the Gaza strip. Israel claimed this violation of the ceasefire was to prevent Hamas from digging tunnels into Israeli territory. The very next day, Israel launched a terrorizing siege of Gaza, cutting off food, fuel, medical supplies and other necessities in an attempt to “subdue” the Palestinians while at the same time engaging in armed incursions. In response, Hamas and others in Gaza again resorted to firing crude, homemade, and mainly inaccurate rockets into Israel. During the past seven years, these rockets have been responsible for the deaths of 17 Israelis. Over the same time span, Israeli Blitzkrieg assaults have killed thousands of Palestinians, drawing worldwide protest but falling on deaf ears at the UN." (Shamus Cooke, The Massacre in Palestine and the Threat of a Wider War, Global Research, December 2008) Planned Humanitarian Disaster On December 8, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was in Tel Aviv for discussions with his Israeli counterparts including the director of Mossad, Meir Dagan. "Operation Cast Lead" was initiated two days day after Christmas. It was coupled with a carefully designed international Public Relations campaign under the auspices of Israel's Foreign Ministry. Hamas' military targets are not the main objective. Operation "Cast Lead" is intended, quite deliberately, to trigger civilian casualities. What we are dealing with is a "planned humanitarian disaster" in Gaza in a densly populated urban area. (See map below) - http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11606 ----- TUESDAY NIGHT LIVE ARCHIVE FROM JERUSALEM - PEACE NOW VS HEBRON http://www.thelandofisrael.com/category/tuesday-night-live/ ----- NEO-CONSERVATISM DIES IN GAZA The recent Israeli offensive has put the final nail in the coffin of the Bush administration's Middle East fantasy. By Juan Cole Salon.com January 8, 2009 - The Gaza War of 2009 is a final and eloquent testimony to the complete failure of the neoconservative movement in United States foreign policy. For over a decade, the leading figures in this school of thought saw the violent overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the institution of a parliamentary regime in Iraq as the magic solution to all the problems in the Middle East. They envisioned, in the wake of the fall of Baghdad, the moderation of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the overthrow of the Baath Party in Syria and the Khomeinist regime in Iran, the deepening of the alliance with Turkey, the marginalization of Saudi Arabia, a new era of cheap petroleum, and a final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on terms favorable to Israel. After eight years in which they strode the globe like colossi, they have left behind a devastated moonscape reminiscent of some post-apocalyptic B movie. As their chief enabler prepares to exit the White House, the only nation they have strengthened is Iran; the only alliance they have deepened is that between Iran and two militant Islamist entities to Israel's north and south, Hezbollah and Hamas. Continued: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/01/08/gaza/index1.html ----- THE GAZA BLOODBATH By MIKE WHITNEY Separating the Truth from the Hype - In a rare moment of honesty, the New York Times divulged the real motive behind the bombardment and invasion of Gaza. In Ethan Bronner's article, "Israel Weighs Goal: Ending Hamas Rule, Rocket fire, or Both", Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said, "We need to reach a situation in which we do not allow Hamas to govern. That is the most important thing. If the war ends in a draw, as expected, and Israel refrains from reoccupying Gaza, Hamas will gain diplomatic recognition...No matter what you call it, Hamas will obtain legitimacy." According to the Times: "In addition, any truce would probably include an increase in commercial traffic from Israel and Egypt into Gaza, which is Hamas's central demand: to end the economic boycott and border closing it has been facing. To build up the Gaza economy under Hamas, Israeli leaders say, would be to build up Hamas. Yet withholding the commerce would continue to leave 1.5 million Gazans living in despair." (Israel Weighs Goal: Ending Hamas Rule, Rocket fire, or Both; Ethan Bronner) If Israel wants to prevent Hamas from "obtaining legitimacy," than the real objective of the invasion is to either severely undermine or topple the regime. All the talk about the qassam rockets and the so-called "Hamas infrastructure", (the new phrase that is supposed to indicate a threat to Israeli security) is merely a diversion. What really worries Israel is the prospect that Obama will "sit down with his enemies"--as he promised during the presidential campaign--and conduct talks with Hamas. That would put the ball in Israel's court and force them to make concessions. But Israel does not want to make concessions. They would rather start a war and change the facts on the ground so they can head-off any attempt by Obama to restart peace process. Continued: http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney01062009.html ----- THE GAZA GHETTO UPRISING By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD- Bethlehem - In Gaza as in Iraq, the US public is being lied to while US taxpayers and US power is wasted to support aggression. Vanity Fair reported on the scheme to topple Hamas concocted by Eliot Abrams (a Zionist in the Bush administration) that was “part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs” that ended up strengthening Hamas. And by contrast to PR strategies, the former head of the Israeli intelligence services admitted in Israeli papers that Israel could have stopped Palestinian retaliatory home-made rockets long ago by lifting its siege of Gaza (a condition of the cease fire between Hamas and Israel agreed to but rarely implemented) but that Israel had a more strategic issue: to try a different way to topple the duly elected Hamas government. But what else are we not being told about Gaza? Over 70% of the 1.5 million Palestinians in this besieged tiny strip of arid land are refugees. When Obama visited Sderot in the Negev, he should have also visited Gaza where he would have met with the original residents of Najd which was renamed Sderot after its destruction and settlement by European Jews. In Gaza he could have met with refugees from many of the 530 villages and towns ethnically cleansed. To aid the exodus, in the six weeks that preceded declaring Israel a state, 33 massacres were committed by Jewish forces like the Haganah, Irgun, and Stern (forerunners of the Israeli army that is attacking Gaza today). Continued: http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14627 ----- MIDEAST: ISRAEL REJECTED HAMAS CEASEFIRE OFFER IN DECEMBER By Gareth Porter - WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (IPS) - Contrary to Israel's argument that it was forced to launch its air and ground offensive against Gaza in order to stop the firing of rockets into its territory, Hamas proposed in mid-December to return to the original Hamas-Israel ceasefire arrangement, according to a U.S.-based source who has been briefed on the proposal. The proposal to renew the ceasefire was presented by a high-level Hamas delegation to Egyptian Minister of Intelligence Omar Suleiman at a meeting in Cairo Dec. 14. The delegation, said to have included Moussa Abu Marzouk, the second-ranking official in the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, told Suleiman that Hamas was prepared to stop all rocket attacks against Israel if the Israelis would open up the Gaza border crossings and pledge not to launch attacks in Gaza. The Hamas officials insisted that Israel not be allowed to close or reduce commercial traffic through border crossings for political purposes, as it had done during the six-month lull, according to the source. They asked Suleiman, who had served as mediator between Israel and Hamas in negotiating the original six-month Gaza ceasefire last spring, to "put pressure" on Israel to take that the ceasefire proposal seriously. Suleiman said he could not pressure Israel but could only make the suggestion to Israeli officials. It could not be learned, however, whether Israel explicitly rejected the Hamas proposal or simply refused to respond to Egypt. The readiness of Hamas to return to the ceasefire conditionally in mid-December was confirmed by Dr. Robert Pastor, a professor at American University and senior adviser to the Carter Centre, who met with Khaled Meshal, chairman of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus on Dec. 14, along with former President Jimmy Carter. Pastor told IPS that Meshal indicated Hamas was willing to go back to the ceasefire that had been in effect up to early November "if there was a sign that Israel would lift the siege on Gaza". Continued: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45350 ----- PEACE PROCESS OR WAR PROCESS, POLITICS BY ATTRITION. Prof. Narrett’s site at http://israelendtimes.com 2009-01-15-Israel-Update-Dr-Eugene-Narrett-1.mp3 2009-01-15-Israel-Update-Dr-Eugene-Narrett-2.mp3 Hatikva Israel Update with Moshe Kempinski of Shorashim 2009-01-06-Israel-Update-1.mp3 2009-01-06-Israel-Update-2.mp3 Transcript: 2009-01-06-Israel-Update-transcript.pdf http://hatikva.arba4.net/israel-update/audio/2009-01-06-Israel-Update-transcript.pdf Source: http://arba4.com/category/israel-update ----- HELLO GAZA - WE'RE BACK by Barry Chamish America's Jews are doing nothing to stand up for Israel in its war in Gaza. While Hamas can gather crowds in the thousands worldwide to protest the invasion, American Jews do nothing to publicly stand with Israel. I mean nothing. Nada. Bubkis. Kloom. Gournischt. And I think I have a clue why. Let it be said that I accurately predicted this war in my book Bye Bye Gaza. http://www.lulu.com/content/575116 If anyone with power had ever been affected by the book, Israel would have nipped the Gazan killing machine in the bud years ago, Jews wouldn't have been removed from Gush Katif, Israelis could sleep at night without worrying that their family could be annihilated by missiles, and the Israeli army wouldn't have to kill by the bushel to legitimately secure their nation. And as this war continues and as hundreds of thousands of Israelis cower before rockets, without credit, my thoughts about this war, in two cases my writing word for word, are being published by the mainstream Israeli media. ie Who but me has been harping for years about Defence Minister Ehud Barak's deliberate murder of religious Jews during the Lebanon War of 1982? Now, with wartime journalism letting the anger of Israelis actually reveal itself, my oft-reviled thinking is rearing its accurate head: Tzvi ben Gedalyahu writes at Arutz Sheva On the way up, Barak was in command of soldiers fighting in Lebanon a quarter century ago. One group of soldiers he commanded was a unit of religiously observant Jews. He had them advance into the pass near Sultan Yukub, where Arab forces were waiting to ambush them, and where 23 of our kids died as a result. It is widely believed that he knew of the presence of the Arab soldiers and was willing to see religious Jews die - that way they could not father kids who would vote against someone like Barak - or vote against Barak themselves. Of American Jews One night a few weeks ago, I watched a tv game show called Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. That night, a kippa-wearing rabbi was a contestant, so I paid special attention to the game. I had previously seen numerous Christian clergy and lay people play for their causes and now it was the Jews' turn to play for our charities. But when the host asked Rabbi Rick Brody what he would do with his winnings, he answered, "I'm going to buy a hybrid car." The host was not expecting such a selfish wish, so he asked the same question again. This time the rabbi answered, "I'm going to take my family to Israel." The host did NOT like this egocentric answer and again asked, "What else will you do with your winnings?" Finally the rabbi replied that, with presumably the remaining cash, he'd use it for his synagogue." Continued: http://www.thebarrychamishwebsite.com/newsletters/hellogaza.pdf ----- CHRISTMAS PILGRIMS PUSH ISRAEL TO RECORD 3 MILLION TOURISTS IN 2008 EP News-- Despite the increased violence in the Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of visitors arrived for Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem in December, an influx that was expected to push tourism to Israel to a record high of three million visitors in 2008. The town of Christ’s birth spent months readying for a crush of Christian pilgrims in Manger Square, following years of dismal figures during the http://www.worldnewspaperpublishing.com/news/FullStory.asp?loc=TCW&id=1703 ----- THE NEW ANTI-SEMITISM January 22, 2009 - By: Claudia Rosett - Forbes.com - America has just thrown one of the world's biggest parties, rejoicing with good reason at the fall of the racial barrier to the White House. But bigotry ebbs and flows on many fronts, and a question for President Obama as he takes up his responsibilities as leader of the free world is whether he will now champion--or at least strive to protect--another minority whose members are today the targets of resurgent prejudice. I am speaking of a minority that even in the relatively enlightened 21st century is increasingly subject both worldwide, and to a disturbing extent even inside the U.S., to double standards, slurs, threats, arson, bombings, stabbings and other attacks on their persons, shops, homes and places of worship. It is not unusual in some parts of the world to hear them described, not least by official media outlets, as apes and pigs. In some prestigious quarters, notably the United Nations, it appears acceptable--in practice, if not as a matter of official policy--for member states to promote or even issue calls for their extermination. As you have probably guessed, I am speaking of the Jews. To many Americans, that may sound overwrought. American Jews are by and large a prosperous bunch, sending their children to good schools, filling some of the top ranks in publishing, finance, medicine, academia and government. One of their own, Rahm Emanuel, is currently serving as Obama's chief of staff. What's to worry about? Continued: http://support.tjci.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5519 ----- FLORDIA DEMONSTRATOR: 'JEWS - YOU NEED A BIG OVEN' By Stan Goodenough - January 04, 2009 - The ugly face of Israel and Jew hatred was revealed on the streets of Fort Lauderdale, Florida last week as hundreds gathered to demonstrate against Israel's self-defensive war against Gaza's Hamas terror group. Up to 300 men and women, white and black, Arab and Caucasian, teenagers and gray-haired, spewed their venom at the Jewish state. According to Tom Trento, a concerned American citizen who mingled among the demonstrators, filming them and then posting the video on YouTube, the gathering at a busy intersection of a main street boulevard, was protesting Israel and American support of Israel. "This was not Gaza, it was not Paris, it was not London, it was not even Detroit," the horrified Trento said on commentary following the video. "This was Fort Lauderdale, Florida!" Wearing trademark checkered PLO kaffiyeh head dresses, the anti-Israel demonstrators wore and waved banners sporting slogans ranging from "Stop US aid to Israel" to "Nuke Israel." It's "time to go!" yelled a man through a megaphone. "Occupation is a crime," bellowed another, apparently unaware that Israel three years ago ended completely its "occupation" in Gaza, and was only fighting the Arabs there today because they had turned the Strip into a mecca for terrorism. As the crowd grew more verbal, the language became uglier. "You are losers - losers," a young woman shouted, addressing a small group of about 18 Israel supporters standing outside the First baptist Church on the other side of the road. "Your mother is a whore," another screamed, then began to chant: "Nuke, nuke Israel. Nuke, nuke Israel," followed by "Go to hell; go to hell; go to hell!" Another woman, wearing a headscarf, shouted: "Go steal other lands. Go! Murderers! Go back to the oven! You need a big oven." Other signs accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing." "Israel is the terrorist," read a second, while a third wondered whether Israel had taken "notes during the Holocaust?" An imam led the crowd in prayer. "Allahu Akhbar," they chanted before prostrating themselves on their prayer mats. "We want to educate the people about what Islam really is so that they can appreciate the beauty of it," the imam told a reporter. "Once people understand the real beauty of Islam they will have no choice but to accept it because they will realize that it's part of their nature." Following their prayers, the crowd crossed the road and confronted the pro-Israel group. Only a cordon of police appeared to prevent them from assaulting the smaller gathering. "They're so violent" said a bewildered woman with an Israeli flag. Continued: http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2606 Trento's video can be viewed here. ----- ISRAEL'S ARAB CITIZENS OPENLY DECLARE REJECTION OF JEWISH STATE By Stan Goodenough - January 04, 2009 - In what organizers described as one of the largest demonstrations ever held by Arab Israelis, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the northern Israeli town of Sakhnin on Saturday to declare fealty with Gaza's Arabs and proclaim their support for the destruction of Israel. A number of Knesset members attended the rally, including Wassil Taha who hailed the event as "one of the greatest demonstrations we have seen because it affects each and every family. People seek to express their pain by showing solidarity with the members of our nation [sic]." Israel's Arabs are Palestinian Arabs who accepted Israeli citizenship and who enjoy all the benefits of that citizenship, including a higher standard of life than the citizens of any other Arab state in the Middle East. The hatred of the Jewish state is so strong among many of these Arabs, however, that despite all of this they openly embrace the Arab dream of Israel's demise. According to Ynetnews, rally leader Ibrahim Zabidat declared during his speech: "The Israeli killing machine must stop. I call from here to the people in Gaza and say: Don't be afraid, don't give up, block them with your blood in order to build the state of Palestine, whose capital is Jerusalem. We, the people of Palestine, will continue to defend it through battle with our soul and blood and in peace." And Sakhnin Mayor Mazen Ghnaim sent "a greeting to Gaza's residents, who are facing the Israeli occupation machine. Long live Palestine, whose capital is Jerusalem, and long live the shahids (martyrs)." Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Liberman denounced the treachery, saying that "just as the Israeli government knows the operation in Gaza can't be stopped until Hamas is defeated, so must we act against those citizens of Israel not are not loyal to the State." Israeli governments have long looked the other way, choosing to ignore treasonous statements and actions by Israeli Arabs - including parliamentarians. http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2605 ----- JERUSALEM WATCHMAN F-16s, solidarity and popcorn on the Gaza-Israel ‘border’ » « Israel’s painful dilemma: To win against Hamas is to lose. Bewildered Peres: ‘I don’t understand’ Posted on Monday 12 January 2009 More than any other Israeli, State President Shimon Peres has promoted – and cajoled and bullied his countrymen into following – what he insists is the route to peace: a “peace process” that has served only to dangerously weaken his country territorially and divide it internally in the face of its ever-stronger and more determined Muslim foe. Joint Nobel Peace Prize winner with the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the thankfully-now-dead PLO terror chieftain Yasser Arafat, Peres has doggedly refused ever to countenance the possibility that his pathway to peace is delusional. He has furiously, almost violently, brushed aside arguments and the reasoning of those of his countrymen who cannot support his approach to the conflict with the Arabs. Ever since “Oslo” in 1993 – the agreement spawned by illegal meetings held under Peres’ direction – the evidence of its weakness and failure has been glaringly and painfully evident: Israel has no partner for peace. Surrendering territory to the Arabs only leads to more terrorism and more violence. Islam is at the heart of the problem. Its adherents believe they are destined to eradicate the Jewish state and wipe out its people – once and for all. Dismissing all these concerns with a wave of his hand, Peres has plowed ahead and continues to pour his influence and his resources into trying to secure a lasting peace, against all the glaring evidence and proof. Over the years I have grown accustomed to seeing and hearing the arrogant self-assurance with which he routinely disparages his critics. He even told a Jewish woman who demonstrated against Oslo that she should leave Israel and “go back to where [she] came from.” But the Peres I watched give 17 minutes of his time for an interview on Sky News in the middle of last week was, by contrast, anything but his normally cocky self. Though he made some really strong and good points. Continued: http://www.stangoodenough.com/?p=187 ----- HOW MANY DIVISIONS? by Uri Avnery - January 10, 2009 - "War – every war – is the realm of lies. Whether called propaganda or psychological warfare, everybody accepts that it is right to lie for one’s country. Anyone who speaks the truth runs the risk of being branded a traitor." NEARLY SEVENTY YEARS ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called “the Red Army” held the millions of the town’s inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands. Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz. This is the description that would now appear in the history books – if the Germans had won the war. Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in our media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas terrorists use the inhabitants of Gaza as “hostages” and exploit the women and children as “human shields”, they leave us no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to our deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured. Continued: http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/58374 ----- WHY ISRAELITES AND JEWS ARE NOT THE SAME THING Many people believe based on a cursory reading of the Bible that the term "Israelites" and "Jews" are synonymous. We fell into this category until recently. A closer examination of the Bible reveals that these two groups are NOT the same. This article will provide evidence to explain why. First and foremost let's begin by checking out what the Bible has to say on the subject. The first stop should be the Book of Revelations 2:9: "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." [Rev. 2:9, Bible, KJV] Then we look at Revelations 3:9. "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." [Rev. 3:9, Bible, KJV] Now in my opinion, an alarm should be going off in any readers head. To put it more bluntly it appears that there is some sort of identity crisis happening amongst those who call themselves "Jews". Next we go to John 8:30-59. As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Continued: http://www.cephas-library.com/israel_why_israelites_and_jews_are_the_same_thing.html ----- WHO WILL SAVE ISRAEL FROM ITSELF? By Mark LeVine - One by one the justifications given by Israel for its latest war in Gaza are unravelling. The argument that this is a purely defensive war, launched only after Hamas broke a six-month ceasefire has been challenged, not just by observers in the know such as Jimmy Carter, the former US president who helped facilitate the truce, but by centre-right Israeli intelligence think tanks. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, whose December 31 report titled "Six Months of the Lull Arrangement Intelligence Report," confirmed that the June 19 truce was only "sporadically violated, and then not by Hamas but instead by ... "rogue terrorist organisations". Instead, "the escalation and erosion of the lull arrangement" occurred after Israel killed six Hamas members on November 4 without provocation and then placed the entire Strip under an even more intensive siege the next day. Continued: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/2009110112723260741.html ----- RON PAUL: ISRAEL CREATED HAMAS http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/528.html ----- HAMAS PROPAGANDA FILM FOR CHILDREN   By Palestinian Media Watch - On the first day of its ceasefire with Israel, Hamas added a new element to its propaganda campaign claiming that it won the war in Gaza. An animated film for children on Hamas TV depicts Israeli soldiers as cowards who are afraid to enter Gaza. They cry, "Mommy, Mommy," as they head into battle, where they are all killed by Hamas gunfire.           ----- ISRAEL LOSES AND HOW IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT By Barry Chamish - Januray 20, 2009 - Such a waste of lives, property and dignity, just to pave the way for the next and bigger waste of lives, property and dignity over Gaza. - Condeleeza Rice forced a ceasefire down Israel's throat, co-signed by Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Britain and the EU...the usual gang of warmongers. This, as the IDF was poised to rid the world of Hamas and bring in Fatah to rule Gaza. It's heads or tails anyway you look at it. But for this fight, Israel had the quiet, jubilant backing of Egypt, Fatah and the ruling establishment of much of the Arab world. It won't ever be this good diplomatically again. Continued: http://www.thebarrychamishwebsite.com/articles.htm http://arc.gcnlive.com/Archives2009/jan09/Power_qwup/0113092.mp3 ----- ISRAELI OFFICIAL OBAMA ENVOY COMING TO MIDEAST By STEVE WEIZMAN (AP Writer) - From Associated Press - January 24, 2009 - JERUSALEM - President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East will come to Israel Wednesday for talks on keeping alive a fragile Gaza cease-fire and reviving Mideast negotiations, an Israeli foreign ministry official said Saturday. It is the new administration's first direct move into Mideast peace efforts. George J. Mitchell will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and senior Israeli officials, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because Washington has not officially announced the trip. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton introduced Mitchell in his new role Thursday. His appointment is seen as signaling a renewed push under the Obama administration for a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Mitchell will also visit Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad at their headquarters in the West Bank, the official said. The official said Mitchell will discuss restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip, and ways to impose an effective arms blockade against the Hamas militants who rule Gaza and have been firing rockets into Israel for years. The arms embargo and the opening of the blockaded territory's borders are key to sustaining separate cease-fires by Israel and Hamas. In Washington, the White House and State Department declined to comment, but diplomats familiar with Mitchell's travel plans said he would visit Israel and the West Bank with possible stops in Egypt and Jordan on a tour that could last eight to 10 days. His exact itinerary is not yet settled, the diplomats said, but he will be working to secure an Israel-Hamas cease-fire, improve the humanitarian situation for Gazans and gauge prospects for continuing the peace process. http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20090124/497aae60_3ca6_1552620090124-1219661556 ----- 'BIBI' POSITIONS HIMSELF TO WIN By Stan Goodenough January 27, 2009 - Two weeks before Israelis got to the polls to elect a new government and political leader, Likud Party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is dancing around hot topics that, were he to take a solid stand on them, would scupper his chances of becoming prime minister. The former premier Tuesday refused to sign a pledge opposing the creation of a Palestinian state in the historical homeland of the Jews. Speaking to religious-Zionist supporters Monday Bibi, as he is popularly known, he ruled out future unilateral withdrawals and warned about the creation of a Palestinian state, even though he would not rule it out. "Any Palestinian state that would be formed under the current conditions would become an Iranian state as we saw happen in Gaza," Netanyahu said, according to The Jerusalem Post. "We all must work to advance peace while considering reality." Netanyahu also addressed the question of building new Jewish communities in Samaria and Judea. He said he maintained the position he had held as prime minister between 1996 and 1999, when he would not allow new "settlements" to be built but allowed natural growth in the already existing ones. In a meeting with the so-called Quartet's Middle East envoy Tony Blair Sunday, Netanyahu said he has "no intention of building new settlements" on the land the Bible calls the Mountains of Israel. "But like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements." It is believed that Netanyahu has gauged the extent to which his party's not very substantial lead over the currently ruling Kadima Party would be damaged were he to adopt a rigid stance on the question of "Palestine." Latest polls put the Likud just four points ahead. The Likud leader appears to be walking a tightrope in order to ensure his return to the Prime Minister's Office from where he will be in a position to retard international efforts to establish this Arab entity in Gaza, Samaria and Judea. According to its party platform , the Likud "flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river. "The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state," the platform continues. http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2611 -----  NEWSLETTERS  NEWS INDEX MAIN INDEX