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

ISRAEL    Visit 'Peace In Jerusalem' for more comprehensive ongoing reports by Retired Pastor/Teacher James McCutchan - Jmccutchan@aol.com ----- PEACE PROCESS: JERUSALEM POST: BIBI CONSIDERING LAND-FOR-IRAN By Stan Goodenough - May 01, 2009 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly contemplating making a deal with the Obama administration in an effort to encourage a more forceful American response to the Iranian regime. According to The Jerusalem Post Thursday, Netanyahu may agree to some form of implementation of the so-called Arab peace plan in exchange for an American pledge to more robustly oppose Tehran's nuclear program. This Arab plan calls for Israel to withdraw from all land it has controlled since the Six Day War - including Judea, Samaria, the Dead Sea/Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights - and the granting of blanket rights for all "Palestinian" "refugees" to "return home." In exchange for this abandonment of historical and biblical Jewish lands and the opening of the doors to an Arab deluge - acts which will mean national suicide - the Arab states say seductively, they will establish full, normal relations with what will be left of Israel. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has signaled Washington and Europe of the new Israeli government's intention to revise the repeatedly-failed land-for-peace approach to the Israeli-"Palestinian" conflict. Netanyahu is expected to face enormous pressure to change this stance when he visits Washington on May 18. It is already in play: President Barack Obama and his state department have repeatedly if diplomatically rejected any Israeli questioning of the viability of the "two-state-solution." Pundits expect that Netanyahu will be accorded a frosty reception at the White House and that Obama's gloves will come off. Administration officials answering journalists' questions in this way, "assured" them that the president was looking forward to hosting the Israeli. In part because of the widespread media speculation, Netanyahu's policy review team is understood to be brainstorming ways to avoid any form of clash that could harden Obama's heart towards Israel. But concerned critics warn that any indication by Netanyahu of a willingness to soften his stand on land-for-peace could backfire; Obama could wield it as proof that Israel is not really ready to reject this policy as bankrupt, and insist that Israel continue to embrace it whether or not the US change the way it deals with Iran. Continued: http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2641 ----- CHRISTIANS AGAINST ISRAEL May 01, 2009 - Pope urged to use visit to pressure Israel into false peace plan - By Stan Goodenough Hopes are soaring among Israel's enemies that Pope Benedict XVI will use his imminent visit to Israel to further pressure the Netanyahu government to surrender historical Jewish lands. The leader of the world's two billion Roman Catholics is scheduled to visit Israel and the "occupied territories" from May 8 to 15. Local Muslim, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish leaders Thursday met in the capital, according to The Jerusalem Post, to lay out their expectations of the pontiff. Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and "the Holy Land," Bishop Munib Younan, wants the pope to support a two-state solution and reject "occupation and settlements." While Israel's security "is important to us," Younan insisted, "it depends on a just treatment of the Palestinian people." This "just treatment" is universally held to be the surrender of Israel's biblical heartland for the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel's 3000-year-old capital, "Jerusalem, should be a city shared by all religions and serve as a model of peaceful religious coexistence," Younan continued. The founder of Wasatia a new organization claiming to "promote peace," said that "extremists have taken power on both [the Israeli and Palestinian] sides." Mohammed Dejani said that "religion should lead politics, not the other way around. "The pope should take the initiative in this endeavor," he said. Sponsors of this interfaith event were named by the Post as the US State Department; Mercy Corps, a nondenominational Portland, Oregon-based aid organization; and the Interreligious Coordination Council in Israel, a coalition of 70 Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups. http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2643 ----- UNITED NATIONS, WORLD BANK ATTACK ISRAEL NATIONS UNITED AGAINST ISRAEL May 01, 2009 - United Nations, World Bank attack Israel by Stan Goodenough - The United Nations - whose vehicles, frequently driven by Arabs, cruise arrogantly through the streets of Israel's capital in brazen assertion of their "right" to "decide" the city's future - has demanded that Israel freeze all pending demolition orders against illegally-built Arab homes in Jerusalem. Ha'aretz reported Friday that the world body has issued a new report justifying this "Palestinian" breaching of Israeli laws because, asserts the UN, those laws constitute "serious obstacles" that inhibit legal Arab building in the city. The UN claims that 35 percent of eastern Jerusalem has been zoned for Jewish neighborhoods (which it calls settlements) "in violation of international law" while only 13 percent is available to the Arabs. This is unacceptable to the UN, which rejects Israel's 3000-year-old claim to the city and insists that the Jews hand "back" to the "Palestinians" all the parts of Jerusalem that were under Jordanian occupation between 1949 and 1967. Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, Thursday called the organization "a world of double standards, doublespeak and hypocrisy." Shalev delivered her broadside after slamming the UN's recent conference on racism - referred to as Durban II - as a "farce." Meanwhile, in another report underscoring the international community's determination to behave prejudicially towards Israel, the World Bank has blamed the Jewish state for water shortages being experienced by the Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria. The World Bank alleges that Israel is taking three times more water from the aquifers under the Samarian and Judean hills than it agreed to in the long-ago disqualified Oslo II Accords. According to Israel, however, it has more than kept to its side of that agreement, while the Palestinian Arabs have flagrantly violated their commitments, drilling more than 250 wells to withdraw water from the delicately-balanced underground reservoirs, and allowing sewage to pour unchecked into streams, thereby polluting the groundwater. Israel's Foreign Ministry slammed the World Bank for blithely ignoring all the factual details and Israel's position on the situation which had been presented to the authors of the report. "The authors of the report met with Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) officials and were briefed on all the factual details. They were also presented with the Israeli position paper on the subject, which contained verifiable facts that contradict all the objections presented in the bank's report," stated the MFA, according to The Jerusalem Post. "Significantly, the authors chose to ignore the MFA position and declined to take the facts presented to them into consideration in the published report." Instead, the authors had chosen to rely "totally on unsubstantiated information" provided by the PLO, "which raises serious question marks over the credibility of the report and the intention of its authors." http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2644 ----- EU WARNS ISRAEL ON TWO-STATE ISSUE By JPOST.COM STAFF http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727560596&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFullNetanyahu's NETANYAHU FLEDGLING GOVERNMENT The European Union once again sent strong warning messages to Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday, cautioning him that EU ties with Israel could take a turn for the worse if he rejects a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Karel Schwarzenberg, foreign minister of the Czech Republic which currently holds the EU presidency, said that if the new Israeli government does not commit itself to establishing a Palestinian state, "relations would become very difficult indeed." "At one of our next ministerial meetings we would have to discuss what consequences the EU would draw from that," he added after chairing the opening day of a two-day EU foreign ministers meeting. "Both parties must stick to their commitments from the past: A two-state solution and all agreements reached over the past few years," Schwarzenberg said. ----- EU's SOLANO: DON'T DROP TWO-STATE SOLUTION JPost.com » International - March 17, 2009 By TOVAH LAZAROFF - European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned on Monday that the bloc may reevaluate its ties with Israel. European Union foreign policy chief is Javier Solana. The warning came even as a top diplomatic adviser to Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu predicted Israel and the EU would continue to enjoy a good relationship. Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Monday, Solana said the EU may reconsider its links with Israel if the country's incoming government wasn't committed to establishing a Palestinian state. The bloc "will be ready to do business as usual, normally, with a government in Israel that will continue talking for a two-state solution," Solana told reporters in Brussels before a meeting of EU foreign ministers. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237114845400&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074434.html http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3693269,00.html ----- ISRAEL'S LEGAL SYSTEM IS ACTING ILLEGALLY? Dr. Yoram Shifftan - ISRAEL COMPLICIT IN DELEGITIMIZATION OF THE SETTLEMENTS A judge who applies an irrelevant rule to a legal situation or who does not apply a relevant rule is acting illegally. The security fence illustrates a general situation in which Israel's current legal system gives preference to the irrelevant Fourth Geneva Convention at the expense of Jewish National Rights (JNR) according to the mandate of the League of Nations, rights which are still valid today. For brief summary of JNR see statements A and B in Israel’s Strangest Self-Defeating Paradox. The legality of a security fence anywhere in Western Palestine follows as a trivial by-product from JNR, see paradox 1 in that same article. Even on the basis of self-defense alone Israel is allowed to locate the security fence anywhere in the West Bank. Instead, Israel's Supreme Court has instructed the state to reroute the security fence closer to the 1949 armistice lines on the basis of the application of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the territories. And Israel's Attorney General and his specially appointed team, headed by Dr. Shavit Matias, Deputy Attorney General, propose to adopt de jure the Fourth Geneva Convention in the territories. According to some reports PM Sharon accepted Mazuz recommendations. Continued: http://middleeastfacts.com/guests/shifftan_17may05a.php ----- ISRAEL PLANNED TO ATTACK IRAN ON APRIL 17 Debka - 24 April 2009 Iranian fighter jets await take-off. The warplanes had prepped to take part in the country's largest air drill on April 17, which was canceled due to severe dust storms. Israel had planned to attack and "destroy" the bulk of the Iranian Air Force fleet during a maneuver on April 17, Israel's Debkafile claims. "Israel was planning to destroy all 140 fighter-bombers concentrated at the Mehr-Abad Air Force base for an air show over Tehran on Iran's Army Day the following day," read the Debka report. The air maneuver was cancelled due to severe and harsh weather conditions. "Due to poor visibility and the appearance of dust storms (over the city), we were forced to cancel the drill for an optimal output," said Air Force commander Brigadier General Hassan Shah-Safi. However, Debka, which has close links to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, quoted intelligence sources as saying that the cancellation was announced after a tip-off from the Russians. Continued: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=92425&ionid=351020104 ----- JERUSALEM REPORT FROM THE FOUNDER OF THE JERUSALEM PRAYER TEAM MIKE EVANS: Israel will be forced to launch a massive air strike lasting a few days at most against Iran’s nuclear sites “if President Obama decides on a policy of engagement that leaves the Iranians with a viable nuclear option.” The following nuclear reactors are likely targets: Arak – Iran’s heavy water plant; Bushehr – Iran’s nuclear reactor; Isfahan – Iran’s nuclear processing plant; Natanz – Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant; Saghand – Iran’s uranium mine. With Iran’s recent launch of the Omid communications satellite and its rhetoric about making Israel disappear off the map, it is not difficult to assume that Israel will be forced to take action. If the Russians step up the delivery date for large numbers of S-300 missiles, it could foment an earlier attack. The thought that Iran can effectively strike back against Israel through traditional warfare is more fiction than fact. Even without a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israel has the capability to completely disrupt the Iranian economy by targeting strategic oil production plants. This would severely hamper an Iranian counterstrike. Could this be why Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator called the EU’s foreign policy chief on Monday and indicated that Iran was open to such talks and that the discussions should be aimed at “construction cooperation” between Iran and the West. President Ahmadinejad has confirmed that he will attend the 2009 UN World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), also known as Durban II. The conference is scheduled for the 20th to 24th of April at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2001 just days before the 9/11 attack, world leaders gathered in Durban, South Africa, to denounce Zionism and the state of Israel. When my beloved wife, Carolyn was carrying our second child thirty-four years ago, her water broke unexpectedly six months into the pregnancy. We were thousands of miles from home. Our daughter, Shira, arrived three months prematurely. The doctors told us our baby would not survive. Shira Evans I fell on my face in prayer and God spoke to me: “She will live and not die; she will be strong and smart for I have a great plan for her life.” Shira survived the trauma of birth, but was weak. In elementary school, she was making poor grades, but I prayed the words God had spoken to me over her daily. By the time she entered high school, Shira was making straight “A’s.” During college, she had a 4.0 grade average. The daughter the doctor said wouldn’t survive is strong and smart and doing a wonderful work for God. This year the Lord spoke to her to go to the orphanages of the world and teach the homeless children. Shira is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, and her passion is to provide tools for forgotten children to learn by giving them a computer and training them how to use it. http://jerusalemprayerteam.org/ ----- NEARLY 30 HURT AS ISRAEL EXTREMISTS MARCH IN ARAB TOWN March 24, 2009 - Clashes took place in Umm al-Fahm, a predominantly Arab Muslim town Right-wing activists carried the Israeli flag through the streets of the city Protesters threw stones at the marchers and at the police forces Three police officers were also wounded, including deputy police chief JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Arab protesters threw rocks and hurled insults at flag-waving Jewish marchers in Israel's largest Arab city on Tuesday, an event that reflected fresh hostilities between Israel's Arab citizenry and rightist sectors of the Jewish state. The march by Israeli extremists turned into violence on the streets of Umm al-Fahm. About 100 far-rightists marched in the predominantly Muslim town of Umm al-Fahm, and the angry Arab demonstrations that erupted after the march took place left more than nearly 30 people injured and at least 10 people detained, police said. Deputy Israeli police commissioner Shahar Ayalon and 15 other policemen were wounded by stone throwing demonstrators, 12 Umm al-Fahm residents were hurt in scuffles with police. Police also said Israeli leftist lawmaker Ilan Ghilon, a member of the Meretz Party, was lightly injured by a tear gas grenade. The Jewish group, led by Hebron activist Baruch Marzel, petitioned the Supreme Court for permission to stage the march, with the rightists arguing that they were exercising their right to march under Israeli law as Arabs and Muslims have in Israeli towns like Tel Aviv. Continued: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/24/israel.protests/index.html ----- WARNING ISSUED NOT TO SIGN WITH VATICAN by Hillel Fendel - (IsraelNN.com) Pope Benedictus XVI is scheduled to arrive in Israel six weeks from now, and concern is growing over possibly irreversible Israeli concessions to the Church. For more than ten years, Israel and the Vatican have been negotiating a diplomatic agreement regarding their tax dispute over Catholic Church properties in Israel, as well as other issues over which they disagree. Though public details are sparse to nil, Foreign Ministry officials say major progress has been made – leading many to fear that the Church will be granted a political and religious foothold in the Holy Land. Though Church officials hope the agreement will be completed before the Pope’s arrival in May, this is not certain. Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Bahij Mansour, who heads its religious affairs section, said two weeks ago, "We are 85-90% there.” Mansour also said that most issues still in dispute would be resolved in a meeting in April. Dr. Daisy Stern, who has researched and publicized the entire topic extensively, says that varying Italian reports say the meeting will take place either April 7 or April 23 - before and after Passover, respectively - and is to involve relatively high-level officials from both the Vatican and Israel’s Foreign Ministry. The Sanhedrin, a body of 71 rabbis that is attempting to renew the ancient tradition of Judaism’s most authoritative court, has written a public letter to Israel’s leading officials, warning that any agreement regarding the transfer of national, historic, and/or religious Jewish assets to the Catholic Church will be null and void and will not be recognized by Jewish authorities. Striving for Internationalized Jerusalem - In February 2000, the Vatican and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement calling for an internationally guaranteed special status for Jerusalem. During his visit that year, Pope John Paul II announced in Bethlehem that the Vatican had always recognized “Palestinian national rights to a homeland.” Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Dean of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim, said at the time that the Pope's goal was simply to obtain a foothold in Jerusalem for the Church. The Sanhedrin, which sees itself as a “vehicle to bring about Jewish unity and civil justice, to help repair some of the deepest rifts in our society, and to provide an active, exemplary and unified Torah leadership,” warns President Shimon Peres and incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against the Church’s religious agenda hiding behind diplomatic agreements. Continued: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130676 ----- THAT HIS NAME MAY BE DECLARED IN ALL THE EARTH By Stan Goodenough - Jews prepared this week to celebrate their forefathers’ escape from forced submission to an ancient superpower that was once their friend and ally. As they did, reports from Washington warned of the imminent mounting of an extraordinary effort to coerce Israel into compliance with the dictate of the modern superpower the Jewish state has long regarded as its friend and ally. US officials say President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are determined to fight any effort by the new Netanyahu government to back away from the process that demands the surrender of the historic heartland of the Jewish people for the creation of an Arab state. “In an unprecedented move,” Ha’aretz reported Tuesday, “the Obama administration is readying for a possible confrontation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by briefing Democratic congressmen on the peace process and the positions of the new government in Israel regarding a two-state solution. Solution: http://support.tjci.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5587 ----- US: PALESTINIANS DON'T HAVE TO RECOGNIZE 'JEWISH STATE' The US State Department has now shown their true colors. No longer are the Palestinians required to recognize Israel’s statehood in order for a peace agreement to be pushed through. The new Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made a sensible demand that this recognition must happen in order to renew any peace talks. Israel is being pressured to make peace without the Palestinians bringing anything to the table by America and Europe. Now I ask your who would make peace with anyone who won’t recognize your right to exist? Netanyahu presented the demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel’s rights when he met last Thursday with US envoy George Mitchell. Mitchell rejected the idea that the Palestinians owe Israel even the precursory nod in that direction. It does not bode well for the OB administration having any desire to see Israel be able to stand as a nation in the Middle East seeing as the leader of the Palestinians, Mahmoud Abbas, along with all of the other Arabs have become accustomed to thinking they can extract concessions from Israel with offering nothing in return. When did the concept of reciprocity bite the dust?. Your News Lady, Hollis Caravetta E-mail: Holliscar@aol.com ----- ISRAEL WORRIED OVER U.S. MOVE ON P.A. GOVERNMENT By HAVIV RETTIG GUR AND HILARY LEILA KRIEGER - April 28, 2009 - Senior Israeli officials said Monday they were "concerned" at the prospect that the US may approve funding for a Palestinian Authority government that includes Hamas. The concern arose after it became known that the Obama administration had asked Congress for minor changes in US law that would allow the continued provision of funds to the PA even if Hamas officials became part of a Palestinian unity government. The Jerusalem Post has learned from a highly placed source that Israeli officials are very troubled by the possibility of US funds going to a government that includes Hamas. "Israel would be very concerned about any international funding that reaches Hamas," a senior government official said on condition of anonymity. Israel believes that a Fatah-Hamas unity government would be harmful first and foremost to the PA's current leadership. Officials also believe that Egypt, which is hosting unity talks between the two Palestinian factions, is making a mistake in trying to achieve a unity government. Such a government won't bring the Fatah-controlled PA to Gaza, but rather Hamas rule to the West Bank, officials say. Continued: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710798021&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull ----- CHRISTAIN ZIONISTS SNAP AT THE HEELS OF A MAN FROM GALILEE Charles E. Carlson May 06, 2009 - Bishop Elias Chacour’s life seems to demonstrate peace, love and sacrifice. But he also challenges Israel’s right to take life and property from his Christian and Muslim Arab friends. Some Christian Zionists find this objectionable and we need to know why. --- Strangely, We Hold These Truths has found it entirely normal for Christian Zionists to believe that the “Israel” of today inherited the right to kill Philistines from the “Israel” of three or four thousand years ago.Click title for the full story.Chacour link: Continued: http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=3053 ----- NETANYAHU HEADS FOR COLLISION WITH OBAMA ADMINISTRATION http://www.debka.com/ Israeli president Shimon Peres' task in Washington on May 4-5 is to blunt the sharp edge the White House is honing to force Israel to toe the new Washington line on the Palestinians, Syria and Iran. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu can expect the full force of a bludgeon to be wielded in his White House talks on May 18. DEBKAfile's Washington sources report that their host is fired up to be the first US president in decades of close friendship and cooperation to clash openly with Israel and the bulk of US Jewry. Oblivious to Israel's claim of US support for its security in a hostile regional environment, Barack Obama is expected to squeeze the Netanyahu government hard for immediate engagement on the Middle East conflict without further delay. According to our sources, the White House staff is working at top speed on options for imposing its will. Peres and Netanyahu will be informed that Washington is setting up two trilateral peace commissions to hammer out peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel with the Syrians. US officials in both chairs will intercede with their own ideas to prevent them running into deadlock on disputed issues. DEBKAfile's sources confirm that the Obama administration will not spare the whip to force the parties into line. The US president and his top advisers are convinced that the Palestinian problem is the main obstacle to accommodations for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. Defense secretary Robert Gates and national security adviser Gen. James Jones are the leading advocates of this proposition, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton more skeptical but ready to back the president's Middle East determination to place Israel in the first line of fire. Some of DEBKAfile's US sources admit that President Obama is himself under pressure because, despite the high approval rating he gained for his first 100 days in office, his myriad policy initiatives have yet to show results. Continued: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/May06/0614.html ----- ISRAEL TO GIVE PART OF MT. ZION? http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131032 ----- U.S. SENDING MISSILES TO ARAB STATES - CONCERN OVER POTENTIAL ISRAEL - IRAN CONFLICT - May 6, 2009 - http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ - The United States quietly is providing advanced Patriot missile systems and other defensive technologies to Arab countries in the Persian Gulf in anticipation of any retaliatory response from Iran should Israel launch a military strike against its nuclear facilities, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The U.S. is in the process now of either providing or upgrading existing Patriot missile defense systems in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. For that matter, it also is assisting Israel in upgrading its existing Patriot batteries and providing technology to assist in the Arrow Two, an indigenous Israeli anti-missile system. The assistance continues despite the Obama administration's opposition to any such Israeli attack on Iran. Israel has let it be known that it intends to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if the U.S. doesn't, or if ongoing negotiations targeting Iran's nuclear program fail. Israel had also made it clear that such negotiations should "quickly" achieve results to avoid Israeli action. Continued: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/May06/0642.html ----- THE U.S. IS DANGEROUS OBSTACLE FOR ISRAEL . According to a report in World Tribune, an Israeli source familiar with the US' intelligence assessment said that "Obama wants to make friends with our worst enemies and until now the worst enemies of the United States. Under this policy," the source added, "we are more than irrelevant. We have become an obstacle." The U.S. Administration would reject Israel's intelligence opinions on Iran and Syria while advancing the Obama plan to reconcile with the two states, although both were listed as state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. State Department. Obama's administration is planing to ask Tehran to permit the passage to Afghanistan of fresh US troops, weapons and supplies across Iranian territory. DEBKA-Net-Weekly Joseph Tomb Vandalized. Swastikas and other anti-Semitic vandalism were found with a boot stamping on one wall, as the ultimate insult in the Arab world. The tomb, which according to the Oslo Accords is under Israeli control, is surrounded by territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority. On Wednesday night, over 500 visitors were transported into the area in bullet-proof vehicles and under heavy IDF protection. (This is result of 'the Peace process' in action. Theoretically, Joseph's Tomb is also a Muslim holy place. But Arabs do not care about Jewish Bible heritage and systematically desecrate Jewish and Christian places of worship!) Spiritual or Political Bigot, or Both? Plans for the Pope's visit are becoming more political. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem said he will preach to Arabs claiming "right of return." http://www.shamrak.com/index.php ----- ROME: JEWS SUE LEFTIST UNION Boycott of Israeli goods seen as instigating racial hatred (ANSA) - Rome - May 05, 2009 - The Rome Jewish Community announced on Friday that it intended to sue a far left trade union over its call for a boycott of Israeli goods. The president of the capital's Jewish community, Renzo Pacifici, said the Flaica CUB union would be cited for violation of the so-called Mancino Law against instigation of racial hatred. Pacifici made his announcement after a meeting with Piero Marrazzo, president of the region of Lazio of which Rome is capital; the head of the union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), Renzo Gattegna; and Rome's chief rabbi Riccardo Di Segni. Marrazzo, a member of the center-left Democratic party, agreed that action should be taken against the union while Gattegna branded the boycott initiative as ''a mad attempt at discrimination'' and stressed that even Italy's leading trade unions - CGIL, CISL and UIL - had condemned the move. The leftist union, which represents workers in Rome's retail services and food sector, has denied that it called for a boycott of Jewish retailers and claims that it's initiative was only aimed at products made in Israel. The union justified the boycott by saying it was a means to deny Israel funds to buy more weapons to be used against the Palestinians. According to the union, it has become the target of a media lynching campaign in order to draw attention away from the plight of Palestinians in Gaza. The boycott has also been criticised by the daily of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), Avvenire, which wrote on Friday that ''while one can be critical of a military action, one cannot penalise someone just because they adhere to a certain faith or community''. Defining the boycott as a protest against Israel, the bishops' daily observed, ''reflects a grave prejudice which is the basis of all anti-Semitic actions''. The proposed consumer boycott for the beginning sparked outrage among politicians on both the right and left in the Italian capital who saw it as targeting the city's Jewish community. The boycott proposal has already been firmly condemned by Rome's right-wing Mayor Gianni Alemanno who said that ''the people who came up with this horrible idea are not new to such initiatives, which are a throwback to similar ones in the mid-1930s which set the stage for (Fascist) Italy's (anti-Jewish) racial laws''. Alemanno underscored his backing for the Jewish community on Thursday when went with Pacifici to shop at Jewish stores in central Rome. The mayor's support of the city's Jewish community sparked protests by elements on the far right which on Friday hung several makeshift banners in Rome which called the one-time Neo-Fascist youth leader as a ''Zionist Butcher''. The banners also attacked Pacifici and called for ''victory for Hamas,'' the Islamist movement Israel has mounted an offensive against in the Gaza Strip, which has now entered its third week. (1.link gone) http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-01-09_109312061.html http://www.evvidia.com/news/world.php?subaction=showcomments&id= 1231532518&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2& ----- ON TOP Of MOUNT ZION, ALL COVETED BY ROME http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2005/12dec/vaticanmtzion.html ----- ISRAEL-VATICAN MEETING. NO MT. ZION DEAL by Hillel Fendel - (IsraelNN.com) Representatives of the State of Israel and the Vatican who have been negotiating fiscal and property matters for over ten years met today for their semi-annual high-level meeting, and once again reported “significant progress.” Nothing was signed, and another meeting was scheduled for Dec. 10 at the Vatican. The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Monsignor Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Undersecretary of State for Relations with States. The negotiators, who comprise a council called the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission, have been meeting since 1999 to try to resolve fiscal matters concerning taxation of Church property in Israel. The Fundamental Agreement between the Vatican and Israel, signed in 1993, stipulates that a consensus on these matters must be reached within two years. Continued: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131124 ----- ABBAS TO TELL OBAMA: NO PEACE TALKS UNTIL ISRAEL BACKS TWO STATES By DPA Tags: Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday he will tell U.S. President Barack Obama at an upcoming meeting that Middle East peace talks hinge on Israel's support for a two-state solution. "Our conditions and vision are part of the two-state solution, which also involves halting settlement building and the policy of house demolitions. Our demands are also shared by the Americans as a pre-requisite for resuming dialogue with the Israelis," Abbas told reporters after a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II. He also announced the date that had been set for the meeting. "We plan to visit Cairo and other Arab countries before our May 28 visit to Washington, where we are going to have talks with the U.S. administration on all political issues and set forth conditions for future negotiations," Abbas said. The Palestinian leader said his talks with King Abdullah focused on the outcome of the monarch's talks with Obama at the White House on April 21. The talks between the king and Obama sought to convince the U.S. administration to play "a leading role in re-launching serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of the two-state solution and within a regional perspective," a royal court statement said. King Abdullah and Abbas underscored the importance of "coordinating the Arab stance with a view to carrying out an effective move to ensure tangible progress is made towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," the statement added. Scroll down to this article: http://peace-in-jerusalem.cephasministry.com/monitoring_the_ongoing_peace_process_3.html ----- WILL THE US PUNISH ISRAEL IF IT ATTACKS IRAN? SPECTATOR.ORG "... The Obama administration has made it clear that it will punish Israel if it decides to attack Iran unilaterally. Having failed to contain Iran, the United States is concentrating on restraining Israel. Administration contingency plans include a formal condemnation of Israel, support for a United Nations Security Council resolution that could include sanctions against Israel and suspending military aid to the Jewish state. The big question is what the Obama administration will do if Israel, determining that Iran with the capacity to build nuclear weapons, is an existential threat and despite, U.S. disapproval, attacks Iran in any case. Moreover, how will President Obama react if Iran retaliates against Israel as well as shutting down the 29 mile wide Strait of Hormuz, through which twenty percent of the world's crude oil is transported? Would the U.S. fight back, would it blame Israel for the preemptive attack on Iran appealing to the "Muslim world" for understanding? Iran, which has vowed "to wipe Israel off the map," and its Hezbollah and Hamas proxies would retaliate with missile launches on Tel Aviv and Haifa should any attack on Iran occur. For Israel to be even marginally successful, it must eliminate missile installations in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran -- a truly formidable military objective....." Continued: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/May22/2211.html ----- OBAMA MIDDLE EAST PEACE PLAN DETAILS REVEALED JPOST.COM - The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi has published what it claims are key details of the new Middle East peace plan to be presented by President Obama in his speech in Cairo on June 4. Details of the plan made the front page of two leading Israeli newspapers. If the revelations prove accurate, they reveal a US administration as yet unacquainted with several basic facts of life concerning politics and strategy in the Middle East. There were those in Israel who suspected Obama of being a kind of wolf in sheep's clothing, preparing with a friendly smile to offer up Israel as a sacrifice to its regional enemies. The picture emerging from the alleged details of his plan suggest a different, though not necessarily more comforting characterization: When it comes to the Middle East, Obama is an innocent abroad. Observe: We are told that the new plan represents a revised version of the 2002 Arab peace plan and is to offer the following: a demilitarized Palestinian state approximating the armistice lines of June 5, 1967. Territorial exchanges may take place on the West Bank. This state will be established within four years of the commencement of negotiations. On Palestinian refugees: The refugees and their descendants will be naturalized in their countries of current residence, or will have the right to move to the new Palestinian state. In parallel to the negotiations with the Palestinians, separate negotiating tracks with the Syrians and Lebanese will be established. Continued: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/May22/2214.html ----- NETANYAHU’S SPEECH IN ANSWER TO OBAMA’S SPEECH FROM CAIRO! NETANYAHU ADVOCATES “PALESTINIAN STATE”‘ PLUS CONDITIONS! by Gil Ronen - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu uttered the words “Palestinian state” in his speech Sunday evening, in a 45-minute speech that mixed tough Zionist statements with talk of peace and conciliation. “I turn to you, our Palestinian neighbors,” he said, “let us start negotiations for peace immediately. I say to you – we want to live with you in peace and good neighborly relations. I want our children to dream of a better future and realize it. That we will put our energy into plowshares and pruning shears, not swords… I do not want war. No one in Israel wants war. Let us join hands and work at peace. There is no end to the flourishing growth we can bring to our two nations. “The simple truth,” he said, however, “is that the root of the conflict is the refusal to accept the Jewish people’s right to exist in its historic homeland. Whoever thinks that the enmity against Israel is the result of our occupying Judea and Samaria, is confusing cause and effect.” He then enumerated instances of Arab belligerence against the Jews in the Land of Israel before 1967. “The closer we come to a peace the more the Palestinians move away,” he said. “Every retreat by us was met with thousands of suicide terror bombings and rockets.” “We vacated the Gaza Strip to the last centimeter and received a downpour of missiles on our communities and our children. Hamas and Hizbullah keep saying that their aim is to free Akko, Be’er Sheva and Haifa. Even the moderate Palestinians, even now, are unwilling to say the simplest thing: Israel is the State of the Jewish People and it will stay that way.” He added: “In order to achieve peace one needs courage and honesty on both sides – not just the Israeli side. The Palestinian leadership must recognize Israel as the State of the Jewish people.” Continued: (dead link) http://hftm.org/blog/?p=691 Another report on this story: http://globalcomment.com/2009/netanyahus-speech-a-tepid-answer-to-obama/ http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/ml_israel_palestinians/2009/06/07/222381.html THE ZIONIST ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM http://www.rense.com/general86/zelephant.htm