INTERNATIONAL PULSE Period: November 2003 6666666 End-Time Church / Pluralism Global Politics Israel

ISRAEL CABINET APPROVED, ARAFAT CALLS FOR PEACE TALKS The New York Times - Published: November 13, 2003 by Greg Myre - RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov. 12 — The Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, and his prime minister called Wednesday for reconciliation with Israel and delivered strong pleas to restart the troubled Middle East peace plan in speeches to the Palestinian parliament, which approved a new government. "We do not deny the right of the Israeli people to live in security side by side with the Palestinian people also living in their own independent state," Mr. Arafat told the parliamentary session, which was held at his badly damaged compound in Ramallah. After more than two months with virtually no contact between the two sides, Israel is also signaling its willingness to talk to the new Palestinian government led by Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, though its boycott of Mr. Arafat remains in force. "It is high time for us and you, Israel, to come out of this destructive war that will never provide either of us with security," he said. Israel quickly dismissed Mr. Arafat's remarks. "You cannot hold an olive branch in one hand and a ticking bomb in the other," said Dore Gold, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Speaking immediately after Mr. Arafat, Mr. Qurei, 65, commonly known as Abu Ala, said his top priorities were to "attain a complete and mutual cease-fire with the Israeli government" and to restart the Mideast peace plan, known as the road map. He also called for an end to the "chaos of weapons" in the Palestinian areas, and said the Palestinian Authority needed to impose "law and order" in areas it controls. Later, Palestinian lawmakers voted 48 to 13 to confirm Mr. Qurei's government, ending two months of political uncertainty that followed the resignation of the previous prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. In the improved political climate, Palestinian and Israeli cabinet ministers are likely to meet in coming days. If those sessions go well, they will try to arrange a meeting between Mr. Qurei and Mr. Sharon, both sides said. The previous Palestinian government assumed office in April on a similarly upbeat note, followed by several meetings between the prime ministers. But peace efforts collapsed in August amid Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli military crackdowns directed at militants. Israel says the Palestinian leadership must break up the violent factions and sees little hope of that with Mr. Arafat retaining his dominant political position, including the continued control of the security forces. While Mr. Arafat struck a conciliatory note, he has made similar remarks in the past, and much of his speech covered the more familiar terrain of sharp criticism directed at Israel. "This is a criminal Israeli war that is an attempt to uproot the Palestinian people and impose settlers on our land, and prevent us from establishing a Palestinian state," he said. Mr. Arafat reluctantly agreed to establish a prime minister's post this year after demands by Palestinian reformers as well as Israel and the United States. The intent was to reduce the power concentrated in his hands, but Mr. Arafat has consistently resisted efforts to weaken his authority. Most of the 24-member cabinet is loyal to Mr. Arafat, and Mr. Qurei is seen as having little room to act without Mr. Arafat's consent. ----- TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com - October 7, 2003 - Arafat in his final days? 'He can hardly speak. Something bad is happening to him'. Amid reports of rapidly deteriorating health, four ambulances were seen this afternoon entering the compound of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. A spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, dismissed reports Arafat, 74, had been taken to a hospital, but another senior official said he has seen the Palestinian leader's health slide over the past two weeks, according to the Jerusalem Post. "I don't think it's the flu as some people say," the senior official said. "The president hasn't been feeling well for some time, and his health seems to be worsening." Abu Rudeineh insisted Arafat merely was exhausted and was recovering, and the senior official said he possibly could have picked up viruses from all the people with whom he has shaken hands and exchanged kisses lately. Thousands have come to his compound since Israel announced its decision to "remove" him. But Palestinians say they never have seen Arafat look as ill as he did Sunday when he met with new PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia. "You can see that he's very ill," said someone who attended the meeting, according to the Post. "He can hardly speak. Something bad is happening to him." The decision to bar reporters and visitors from Arafat's compound this evening added fuel to the speculation, the Jerusalem paper said. Last week, after a team of doctors was summoned from Jordan to examine him, a journalist in Ramallah quoted a senior PA official as saying that "Arafat's days are numbered," the Post reported. The doctors were called in after Arafat complained of severe abdominal pain and had been vomiting for several days. Aides suspected he had been poisoned. The Jordanian medical team concluded he was only mildly ill and needed rest. Citing a close aide to the Palestinian leader, the Guardian reports Arafat suffered a mild heart attack last week, but the news was not made public for fear it would "create panic." "Although he has had a slight heart attack, the doctors say he will make a full recovery. He is in full control. There is nothing to worry about," the aide, who did not wish to be named, told the London-based paper. Asked why it had not been made public at the time, the official said that the news would "have created panic at a critical time when the Israelis are threatening Arafat's life." The Jerusalem daily, citing PA officials, said Arafat's illness could be linked to his decision to declare a state of emergency in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "It's possible that he doesn't want to leave a vacuum behind," said one PA official, the Post reported. "He must have discussed the issue with Abu Ala [Qureia]." http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34976 ----- STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE ON TEMPLE MOUNT © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com - Posted: September 24, 2003 - Muslims blame Israel for failure of interior wall in Al-Aqsa Mosque. An interior wall has collapsed at a hotly contested Jerusalem holy site, setting off fears of religious violence between Muslims and Jews. The Islamic Waqf, which administers the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock shrines atop the Temple Mount, accused Israeli authorities of instigating the failure of the wall by preventing engineers from maintaining it. The collapsed wall is situated near the Islamic Museum. Diagram of Temple Mount area. Adnan al-Husseini of the Waqf said the failure was the result of "the Israeli intervention in our work and preventing us from maintaining it after we stated it was in urgent need for a rapid action to prevent its collapse," according to multiple news reports from Israel. "It looks terrible," said Eliat Mazar, an Israeli archaeologist and Temple Mount expert and a leader of the committee for preventing the destruction of antiquities at the site. "This collapse might cause a terrific series of collapses." She charged the Waqf with directing "unsupervised" work in and around the Temple Mount resulting in the loss of archaeological treasures. http://wordofmessiah.org/wall_collapse.htm ----- WE HAVE LEARNED OF ZIONIST AMBITION Mr. Lilienthal: …Your Majesty a few months ago… said that the Arabs do not care if they sacrifice a few million persons in order to put an end to the Zionists in Palestine. His Majesty then said: Frankly what I said is what I urge and preach. It is the only answer to what has been published by the responsible persons of Israel about the necessity that Israel should expand to comprise the beds of the Tigris and Euphrates, the Sinai Peninsula and the northern part of Saudi Arabia, including Medina, which is one of the two Holy Towns and the Burial place of the Moslems’ Prophet, and which is after all my own land and the land of every Arab and Moslem. We have learned of this Zionist ambition from the statements of Israeli leaders and its creators who pleaded the course yesterday, and are still pleading it today. They are making no secret of this scheme, and they have made its study part of the school curriculum in Israel, where they cram the students’ heads with these fanciful schemes. There is no answer to what they are after except this antidote, and the preparation of what we can in field of might and force. To read this quote in context and the entire 1954 interview http://www.alfredlilienthal.com/greaterisrael.htm ----- PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS STILL SPEAKING IN A WHISPER JERUSALEM, Nov. 3 2003 - New York Times, Greg Myre — More than two months after Israel broke off contacts with the Palestinians, senior leaders from the two sides have quietly resumed behind-the-scenes discussions in an effort to revive the stalled Middle East peace plan. But violence persists. Acting on a tip, Israeli troops raided Azun, in the West Bank, and a 16-year-old Palestinian bomber, Sabih Abu Saud, blew himself up as soldiers were closing in, the military said. One soldier was slightly wounded. Palestinians traditionally praise family members who carry out attacks against Israel. But the bomber's father, Kamal Abu Saud, was critical of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which recruited the youth. "He was just a little boy, and those who sent him should have left him alone," Mr. Saud was quoted as saying in a report by The Associated Press. In another case, a Palestinian, Tariq Hussein, 25, who was wanted in the shooting death of an Israeli girl, turned himself in at a checkpoint in Qalqilya, on the West Bank, the military said. It was not immediately clear why the suspect turned himself in — an extremely rare occurrence. But the military had recently searched his home, and family members may have pressured him. Regarding peace talks, Shaul Mofaz, the defense minister, acknowledged that he had been meeting Palestinians. He declined to identify them, but Palestinian and Israeli officials identified Mr. Mofaz's negotiating partner as Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian finance minister. In another development on Monday, the National Labor Court temporarily barred a nationwide strike called by the country's large labor federation, the Histadrut. The court permitted a four-hour labor protest, which was staged by some workers. But it also directed the Finance Ministry and the federation to resume talks and report back on Thursday. The Histadrut, which represents hundreds of thousands of government and private-sector workers, called the strike to protest government plans to overhaul the pension system, which would raise the retirement age and reduce benefits. Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to reduce substantially the government's role in the economy, which has been in turmoil for the past three years. But Israeli labor groups have resisted the cutbacks, saying they fall disproportionately on poor and working-class Israelis. ----- DEAD SEA DRYING UP, ISRAELI STUDY WARNS JERUSALEM -- New York Times - By Peter Enav - November 3, 2003 - AP - The Dead Sea is dying, and only a major engineering effort can save it, Israel's Minister of the Environment said Monday. The Dead Sea gets its name from its heavy salt content, because no aquatic creatures can live in it. Now there's a new "death threat" -- the Dead Sea is drying up and disappearing. An Israeli TV reporter, illustrating the government report, stood on a spot where, just 20 years ago, water met land. Now that point is 2,000 feet of parched ground away, he said, as the sea gradually recedes. Because it is landlocked in a hot desert area, evaporation is high, accounting for the dense salt concentration that allows bathers to float above the water with no effort. The area is popular for spas and treatments, with luxury hotels on both sides. For millennia, the balance was maintained by the Dead Sea's only water source, the Jordan River, pouring in from the north. In recent decades, however, both Israel and Jordan have been tapping in to irrigate large swaths of agricultural land along the narrow river that divides the two countries, robbing the Dead Sea of its replacement water. A five-year drought has added to the woes of Dead Sea, which occupies the lowest point on Earth, 1,320 feet below sea level. The sea is about 38 miles long and about 11 miles wide. The Israeli study said that without an intensive engineering effort, the sea's water level will continue to recede by as much as three feet per year, adjacent ground water will disappear, surrounding land will buckle and collapse, and nearby wildlife and vegetation will be lost. Environment Minister Yehudit Neot said she would ask the Israeli Cabinet to hold a detailed discussion on the study's conclusions. "If the conclusions are not implemented, there is a real danger to the future of the Dead Sea as a world class natural resource," Neot said. The Environment Ministry study said that to secure the sea's future, engineers would have to develop a new infrastructure of bridges and roads leading to its shores. It recommended that resources be applied only in places where remedial engineering efforts would be successful, suggesting that many areas are already beyond repair. Plans to use the difference in elevation between the Dead Sea and other bodies of water might also help solve the problem. The latest idea is to build a channel between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea, with waters rushing downhill driving electricity power stations. The water pouring into the Dead Sea from the south would counter the deterioration, but environmentalists warn that water from the Red Sea is salty, while the Jordan River supplies fresh water, and this could have adverse consequences. However, the Red Sea-Dead Sea channel project is still in planning stages, and experts say it might be prohibitively expensive. ----- FUNDING ARMAGEDDON? ISRAELI AID ADJUSTMENT PROPOSED WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (Reuters) — New York Times - The Bush administration will ask Congress to give Israel $2.22 billion in military assistance in fiscal year 2005, $60 million more than in 2004, the State Department announced Monday. The increase is in line with a 1990's agreement that reduces economic assistance to Israel by $120 million a year while adding $60 million a year to the military component of the package, the largest Washington gives to any country. ----- GENEVA ACCORDS GET POWERFUL BACKING Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press - II. "Geneva Accords" gain powerful Illuminist backing this past week! In prior NEWS1864, we demonstrated that this surrender of territory poses such a grave threat to Israel's security that her mighty military edge could be significantly blunted. We encourage you to read our article so you can understand the terrible threat this Accord would pose to Israel. One IDF officer tells Cutting Edge how dangerous the implementation of this Accord would be to Israel. "If implemented, the Swiss Accord can be compared to icing on a cake. Oslo and The Road Map have crippled the tiny State of Israel, while the Swiss Accord would incapacitate Israel, making them unable to defend the land. If they stretch out the Gaza Strip as planned, this will enable Egypt to cut off the lower half of Israel, causing troops in the south to fight one battle, while Jerusalem fights another separate battle and the north again another battle. Take a map and lay it side-by-side to the Swiss Accord and draw lines where they say the Palestinians get total control. You will see how the different areas become literally cut off from each other. And with no Jewish entity directly in front of the Gaza Strip, Ashkelon will become an easy target. This area is where much of the food is grown. I know this area well, since I did my IDF training in a military base outside Ashkelon. At night, we could hear the gunfire. Without the buffer zone, this military installation could be in grave danger, since it is a surface base, without any jets for air cover." This past week, we saw that several high-ranking Illuminists threw their support behind this plan: 1. United Nations backed this plan - NEWS BRIEF: "UN: Geneva Accord consistent to Road Map to Peace", Scoop News, New Zealand, 6 November 2003 "United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed the "Geneva Accord" drafted by prominent Israelis and Palestinians and giving detailed steps to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... The Accord was consistent and compatible with the Road Map to peace drawn up and supported by the diplomatic Quartet - the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and the Russian Federation. 2. US Secretary of State, Colin Powell -- NEWS BRIEF: "Powell sends letter of support to initiators of Geneva Accord", By The Associated Press, 11/8/03. "The Geneva Accord peace plan got a significant boost Friday, with a letter of support from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, organizers said. The U.S. administration's initial reaction to the initiative was dismissive. Washington's recent endorsement of the Geneva Accord could be seen as a veiled rebuke to the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who has attacked the plan as subversive." 3. Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz applauded a private peace plan very similar to the Geneva Accord and the original Road Map plan. Then, British Prime Minister Blair applauded the Geneva Accord ["Wolfowitz supports Ayalon-Nussiebeh peace plan", Ha'aretz News, 10/31/03.] Thus, enormous Illuminist pressure is now coming upon Israel to cave in to the demands of the Geneva Accord. In NEWS1864, we noted that, even though Sharon was initially "firmly" against the Geneva Accord, he is known to suddenly reverse his policy. Read this portion of our article carefully, for we may be seeing an unfolding scenario whereby Sharon might suddenly reverse his position again. Listen: NEWS BRIEF: "Kissinger: Sharon could make 'astonishing' concessions", By Haaretz Service, 11/5/2003 "Former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger said ... that he was quite optimistic that the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock can be broken, and that despite Israel's "tactical stiffness," past experience has shown that even Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would make "astonishing" concessions ..." Get ready, Israel, you may be quite surprised at what Sharon is capable of doing! http://www.cuttingedge.org/newsletters/  -----  NEWSLETTERS  NEWS INDEX  MAIN INDEX