-
ISRAEL
- WAR SIGNALS?
- The Nation by DAVE LINDORFF - As reports circulate of a sharp
debate within the White House over possible US military action
against Iran and its nuclear enrichment facilities, The Nation
has learned that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have
issued orders for a major "strike group" of ships,
including the nuclear aircraft carrier Eisenhower as well as
a cruiser, destroyer, frigate, submarine escort and supply ship,
to head for the Persian Gulf, just off Iran's western coast.
This information follows a report in the current issue of Time
magazine, both online and in print, that a group of ships capable
of mining harbors has received orders to be ready to sail for
the Persian Gulf by October 1. As Time writes in its cover story,
"What Would War Look Like?," evidence of the forward
deployment of minesweepers and word that the chief of naval operations
had asked for a reworking of old plans for mining Iranian harbors
"suggest that a much discussed--but until now largely theoretical--prospect
has become real: that the U.S. may be preparing for war with
Iran."
- According to Lieut. Mike Kafka, a spokesman at the headquarters
of the Second Fleet, based in Norfolk, Virginia, the Eisenhower
Strike Group, bristling with Tomahawk cruise missiles, has received
recent orders to depart the United States in a little over a
week. Other official sources in the public affairs office of
the Navy Department at the Pentagon confirm that this powerful
armada is scheduled to arrive off the coast of Iran on or around
October 21. The Eisenhower had been in port at the Naval Station
Norfolk for several years for refurbishing and refueling of its
nuclear reactor; it had not been scheduled to depart for a new
duty station until at least a month later, and possibly not till
next spring. Family members, before the orders, had moved into
the area and had until then expected to be with their sailor-spouses
and parents in Virginia for some time yet. First word of the
early dispatch of the "Ike Strike" group to the Persian
Gulf region came from several angry officers on the ships involved,
who contacted antiwar critics like retired Air Force Col. Sam
Gardiner and complained that they were being sent to attack Iran
without any order from the Congress.
- http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061009/lindorff
- http://www.cephas-library.com/israel_war_signals.html
- -----
- THE NEW CHURCH 'THE WOMAN ON THE BEAST'
- AvenueOfLight - 9.23.2006 -
- Matthew 24:15-31 When ye therefore shall see the abomination
of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand
in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then
let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let
him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing
out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return
back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child,
and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your
flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For
then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except
those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then
if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there;
believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false
prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that,
if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold,
I have told you before.
- Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in
the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers;
believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east,
and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the
eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation
of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall
all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son
of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other."
-
- The Bible distinguishes between the chosen and the called.
The elect would be the chosen of which the remnant will be saved.
God elected them to begin with and made a covenent with Abraham.
The church, the Body of Christ, are the called. They are gone
by the time the Tribulation begins. The Bible states that the
Bible (Word of God) will not be available during those days and
that the Bride and Bridegroom have left. That is why the Tribulation
happens. The Restrainer has been removed.
-
- Daniel 11:39-45 [The Antichrist] Thus shall he do in the
most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge
and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over
many, and shall divide the land for gain. And at the time
of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king
of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots,
and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter
into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall
enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be
overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom,
and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch
forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt
shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures
of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of
Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble
him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy,
and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles
of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain;
yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
-
- That this "is" exactly what the Holy Word Of
God teaches? (Matthew 24:15 ....and Daniel 11:45).......
 "Islam was created... by
the Vatican just as Israel was made a nation in 1948 for the
VERY purpose of destroying the 'Dome of the Rock', rebuilding
Solomon's Temple and it's REAL intended purpose behind it all
- (setting up the NEXT and FINAL pope (in JERUSALEM) God's
Holy City; as the world's Vicar..
Jerusalem was given to the Vatican in 1994 under the pretext
of the Oslo Accords..... All things are in place ..
In time all shall be brought to light. May we endure till the
end and not cave in by fear.... For they "CANNOT" kill
the soul! Let us break EVERY stronghold the enemy has on the
people which is possible with God while it is still Day; for
....... SOON...... the night cometh when no man shall be able
to work... (IF)...the people desire to be set free they shall......
Glory to God (The Father) and His Son Jesus Christ for the truth.
May you continue to grow in grace and understanding in Christ
Jesus... " Mike - AvenueOfLight
- Full story on the New Church in Rome: http://www.cephas-library.com/catholic_antonism_and_christianity.html
- [Ednote: In Matthew 24:15-31 we read about riches,
gold, treasures, etc.. , speaking of riches and why the Vatican
fits this description: "Lords of the New Church ... she
has more dollar assets than the most powerful corporations in
the U.S.A, larger monetary reserves than France, Belgium, Italy
and Great Britain put together... by the end of the present century
(20th), she will control at least one-third of the total
wealth of Europe and America - Avro Manhattan (Vatican Billions).
The reason it is called a 'New Church' is Islam. The Pope wants
to dialogue with Islam and bring them into the fold by allowing
them to keep practicing their religion. The
Black Pope runs the Jesuits and he said that we need to allow
them their culture and not try to convert them to Christianity.
That is the 'New Church' run by the Black Pope of the Jesuits
(Jesuits seem to be a Masonic Order. That is what the Masons
practice. You can swear on the Koran instead of the Bible. Pope
JPII kissed the Koran at one point). President Bush echos the
Black Pope's remarks every time he gets the opportunity to speak
to Muslims directly over the airwaves. "We respect your
faith!!! In America we worship side by side with Muslims."
end of note]
- -----
- ENFORCING THE WORLD COURT'S ADVISORY OPINION
- By Arab Media Watch director Victor Kattan - The International
Court of Justice did not directly call upon the international
community to impose sanctions against Israel for building the
Wall, because sanctions (also known as reprisals and countermeasures
in international law) are political acts that can only be executed
by States and international organizations. It is not usually
the role for a court of law to impose sanctions on states to
ensure compliance with the law. This is usually done by the executive
or in the case of international law by the Security Council.
However, a court of law can provide a legal basis for imposing
sanctions against a rogue State or a group of States if there
are valid reasons for doing so.
- The ICJ did find that the construction of the wall was a
valid reason for imposing positive obligations on third states.
At paragraph 159, the ICJ called upon the international community:
- (1) Not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from
the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
including in and around East Jerusalem;
- (2) Not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation
brought about by such construction;
- (3) To see to it that any impediment, resulting from the
construction of the wall, to the exercise by the Palestinian
people of its right to self-determination is brought to an end
(while respecting the United Nations Charter and international
law); and
- (4) To ensure Israel’s compliance with international
humanitarian law as embodied in the Fourth Geneva Convention
relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
- Paragraphs (1) and (2) impose negative obligations on states
and international organizations, whereas paragraphs (3) and (4)
impose positive obligations. The latter two obligations on self-determination
and international humanitarian law have an erga omnes character.*
- It will be recalled that UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/L.18/Rev.1
"[d]emands that Israel, the Occupying Power, comply with
its legal obligations as mentioned in the advisory opinion".
According to the International Court of Justice's dispositif:
- "Israel is under an obligation to terminate its breaches
of international law; it is under an obligation to cease forthwith
the works of construction of the Wall being built in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem,
to dismantle forthwith the structure therein situated, and to
repeal or render ineffective forthwith all legislative and regulatory
acts relating thereto, in accordance with paragraph 151 of this
Opinion. Israel is also under an obligation to make reparation
for all damage caused by the construction of the Wall in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East
Jerusalem".
- According to paragraph 153 (which para. 151 specifically
refers to):
- "Israel is accordingly under an obligation to return
the land, orchards, olive groves and other immovable property
seized from any natural or legal person for purposes of construction
of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In the event
that such restitution should prove to be materially impossible,
Israel has an obligation to compensate the persons in question
for the damage suffered. The Court considers that Israel also
has an obligation to compensate, in accordance with the applicable
rules of international law, all natural or legal persons having
suffered any form of material damage as a result of the Wall’s
construction".
- To date, Israel has failed to comply with its legal obligations,
as mentioned in the advisory opinion, by going ahead with the
construction of the Wall. Third States have also done very little
to bring to an end the illegal situation resulting from its construction.
As John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the
OPTs, highlighted in his December 2004 report to the UN Commission
on Human Rights:
- "In its advisory opinion, which has been approved by
the General Assembly, the International Court of Justice indicated
that there are consequences of the Wall for States other than
Israel. States are reminded of their obligation not to recognize
the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the
Wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation
created by the construction of the Wall. Israel’s defiance
of international law poses a threat not only to the international
legal order but to the international order itself. This is no
time for appeasement on the part of the international community".
- As long as Israel is waging war on international law, all
States and international organisations should consider acting
individually, and collectively, to bring to an end Israel’s
violations of international law, in conformity with the UN Charter.
- Israel’s violations of international humanitarian and
human rights law, and its interference with the Palestinian people’s
right of self-determination (held to be of such importance as
to qualify as obligations erga omnes), provide a legal basis
for those who want to lobby for the imposition of boycotts, divestment,
disinvestment and sanctions against the State of Israel - while
it remains in breach of international law.
- For further reading:
- See Victor Kattan, “The Wall, Obligations Erga Omnes
and Human Rights: The Case for Withdrawing the European Community’s
Terms of Preferential Trade with Israel”, in volume 13 of
the Palestine Yearbook of International Law. See Victor Kattan,
“The EU’s Pivotal Role in Middle East Peace”,
in the Review of International Social Questions (RISQ) at the
following link: http://www.risq.org/article394.html
- http://www.arabmediawatch.com/amw/CountryBackgrounds/Palestine/IsraelsWall/
- EnforcingtheWorldCourtsAdvisoryOpinion/tabid/310/Default.aspx
- -----
- EUROPE WANTS TO KEEP OLMERT IN, BIBI OUT
- The Jerusalem Post September 17, 2006 - Fearful that pressuring
the Olmert government will help bring a right-wing Israeli leadership
to power, thereby backfiring on plans to impose peace on the
Middle East, Europe has agreed to lay off for a bit.
- The EU's envoy to the region told The Jerusalem Post no demands
will be made on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert just now to come up
with a new diplomatic plan for pushing forward the land-for-peace
process.
- Olmert's political future remains rocky, as recriminations
for his disastrous handling of the war against Lebanon's Hizb'allah
continue to hit him and other senior government officials.
- Public polls held in Israel since the end of this summer's
war indicate that a majority of Israelis want an independent
inquiry into the government's handling of the conflict.
- Other surveys show that, were elections to be held in Israel
today, a government strongly opposed to perpetuating the land-for-peace
process in its current form would sweep to power, headed by Likud
Party leader Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. http://www.jnewswire.com
- -----
- FIRST JOINT DRILLING OPERATION AT VENEZUELA IRAN VENEZUELAN
OIL INDUSTRY
- Tehran, Sept 18, IRNA - Iran-Venezuela-Oil Industry - The
first joint drilling operation opened on Monday at 'Orinoco Oil
Field' in Venezuelan province of Anzoategui, in presence of presidents
of Iran and Venezuela. The operation is jointly being carried
by Iran's ' Petropars' and Venezuelan Oil Company. After the
opening ceremony, the presidents flew to Bolivar city to see
another joint plant 'Veniran Company' manufacturing tractors
for the Venezuelan farmers.
- President Ahmadinejad arrived in Caracas on Sunday night.
Source Islamic Republic News Agency.
- http://www.irna.ir/index2.php?option=com_news&task=print&code=0609198238004327&Itemid=&lang=en
- -----
- DEATH TO ISRAEL RALLY IN SALT LAKE CITY!
- Salt Lake City granted a permit to Defense attorney, Robert
Breeze, for holding a "Death to Israel" demonstration.
He is protesting the treatment of Muslims and has hired paid
demonstrators called “vicarious protesters." He wants
Israel moved to Virginia and put all the current Virginians in
a concentration camp. “Then we'll see how popular Israel
is in the United States," he said. Open Seal Prophecy 8.18.2006
by email
- -----
- QUARTET WELCOMES PALESTINIAN UNITY GOVERNMENT
Reuters - September 20, 2006 - The Quartet welcomes the efforts
of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to form a government of
national unity, in the hope that the platform of such a government
would reflect Quartet principles and allow for early engagement
By Paul Taylor and Sue Pleming
- UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Quartet of Middle East peace
mediators on Wednesday endorsed Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas' effort to establish a national unity government with Hamas,
which is still officially committed to the destruction of Israel.
- "The Quartet welcomes the efforts of Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas to form a government of national unity, in the
hope that the platform of such a government would reflect Quartet
principles and allow for early engagement," U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and foreign ministers of the United States, European
Union and Russia said in a statement.
- Abbas is trying to build a coalition of his moderate Fatah
party and the Islamist Hamas movement which defeated it in elections
in January. The West has boycotted the Hamas-led government formed
in March because it refused to recognize Israel and renounce
violence.
- The use of the term "reflect" allows Abbas some
leeway for what may be an oblique formula for recognizing past
Palestine Liberation Organization agreements.
- The statement, endorsed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, represented a significant easing of the United States'
stance toward the Palestinian Authority since Hamas took it over
this year, European diplomats said.
- Rice played down talk of a U.S. shift, telling reporters:
"If indeed there is going to be a government which is able
to govern, it is going to need the support of the international
community and it needs to be committed to peace."
- The statement also called for a three-month extension and
expansion of a temporary mechanism that channels aid to the Palestinians
bypassing the existing Hamas-led government.
- The Quartet also encouraged Israel to transfer some $500
million in Palestinian tax and customs revenue that it is withholding
to keep the money out of Hamas hands.
- CONFUSING SIGNALS
- The Quartet indirectly criticized Israel for maintaining
its closure of the Gaza Strip and restrictions on Palestinians'
freedom of movement in the occupied West Bank. On the terms of
a possible Palestinian unity government, British Foreign Secretary
Margaret Beckett said Hamas was sending mixed signals and it
was unclear where it stood.
- "Everybody thought that when we got here, it would become
clearer, but at the moment it's not really becoming clearer,"
Becket told reporters before the meeting. The U.S.-led aid embargo
and a ban on contacts with the Hamas-led government has contributed
to worsening poverty and lawlessness in the Palestinian territories.
European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner
said she wanted to see the temporary aid mechanism expanded "as
much as we can" to ease the economic hardship among Palestinians.
The Quartet also endorsed a move by Annan to revive the role
of former World Bank president James Wolfensohn to report on
the economic and humanitarian situation on the ground. Wolfensohn
quit in April in disagreement with the decision to cut all but
humanitarian aid to the Hamas-led government. Abbas met President
Bush earlier on Wednesday. Aides said he told Bush he was trying
to form a government that respected past Palestinian-Israeli
agreements.
- He also urged Bush to reactivate the road map peace plan,
envisioning a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
- U.S. officials had previously said Washington was skeptical
about the proposed unity government, reflecting Israeli concerns
that the platform must contain real recognition of Israel's right
to exist and a commitment to end all violence.
- http://www.topix.net/content/reuters/1158715761117025067220501083800089041643?threadid=OF7SQLJFBDOJ8NG4
- -----
- FATAH-HAMAS VIOLENCE ERUPTS IN GAZA AFTER PALESTINIAN NATIONAL
UNITY GOVERNMENT IS SCUTTLED
- DEBKA - September 19, 2006 - Unidentified gunmen smashed
the offices of the Palestinian news agency WAFA which is controlled
by Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday and manhandled a reporter.
Saturday, a senior intelligence official loyal to Abbas was gunned
down. Fatah has deployed hundreds of armed men in the southern
Gaza town of Khan Younes to guard public institutions and officials.
http://www.debka.com/
- -----
- AL QAEDA URGES AMERICANS TO CONVERT TO ISLAM
WorldNetDaily - September 03, 2006 - A new Al Qaeda videotape
featuring an American Muslim convert urges all Americans to join
Mohammed's "religion of peace."
- In the 48-minute production, Adam Gadahn, a former resident
of California, says that no Muslim must shed tears over the thousands
of victims of Al Qaeda terror. He also justifies attacks on American
soldiers anywhere because of the military's involvement in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
- http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1039
- -----
- ALLAH IMPOSES ON JERUSALEM'S JEWS
Fearing violence by Muslim mobs fired-up by the Ramadan sermons
now being delivered daily atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount, Israeli
authorities have instructed Jewish residents of parts of the
capital's Old City to remain indoors during the evening hours.
JERUSALEM - Jewish residents of the so-called "Muslim Quarter"
of Jerusalem's Old City have been instructed by Israeli authorities
to remain indoors during the evening hours throughout the Islamic
month of Ramadan. Police fear Muslim mobs returning from worshipping
Allah atop the Temple Mount could lynch Jews in their path. The
Al Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop Judaism's holiest site, is a
venue for frequent diatribes against Israel and the Jews by revered
Muslim clerics. Local Muslim Arabs typically leave Al Aqsa fired
up for confrontation with the Jews they view as de-humanized
occupiers. Clashes between Israeli police and Muslim worshippers
following Friday Islamic prayers at Al Aqsa are not uncommon.
The danger to the nearly 800 Jews who have reclaimed houses in
this part of the Old City is even more pronounced during Ramadan,
when vitriolic sermons are delivered on a daily basis. One local
Jew who spoke to the nationalist Arutz 7 news service decried
the police decision to restrict the movement of his community
rather than impose the rule of law on their often hostile Arab
neighbors: "It is not acceptable to us that the police simply
decides that it cannot protect us and enforce the law and that
therefore we must be restricted." Full story: http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1189
- -----
- TERRORISTS ASSAULTED THE US EMBASSY IN DAMASCUS
- Terrorists assaulted the US embassy in Damascus Tuesday morning
with a car bomb, machine guns and grenades. Four of the attackers
were killed, as was a Syrian security official.
- Ha'aretz - September 12, 2006 http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1111
- -----
- BETRAYAL ! – WASHINGTON WILL WORK WITH HAMAS
- Jerusalem News by Stan Goodenough - September 21, 2006 -
The United States has once more done an about-face and is now
willing to work with a Palestinian Authority containing a strong
Hamas component – members of the terror group responsible
for the murders of hundreds of Israelis, and deeply devoted to
the total destruction of the Jewish state.
- Israeli officials went into shock Wednesday, after the Bush
administration announced that it will, after all, go along with
the other three members of the self-styled Quartet and support
the establishment of a “national unity government”
in the PA.
- Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom said the American decision,
which spelled the end of Hamas’ isolation by the international
community, had been made behind Israel’s back and amounted
to a “political collapse.” Other government leaders
were said to be “surprised and worried” by the news.
- Nearly half of the lawmakers in the new “national unity”
PA would be Hamas members. Most of the others would be representatives
of the Fatah wing of the PLO – another major terrorist organization
whose crimes against the Jewish people have been swept under
the carpet by a world increasingly determined to ensure that
its vision for peace takes root in the Middle East – whatever
the cost.
- The effort to conceive a PA unity government has been recognized
almost universally as a ploy providing pro-Palestinian nations
with the pretext they are looking for to resume funding the Palestinian
Arabs.
- International financial support was restricted last January
after those “Palestinians” voted overwhelmingly for
a Hamas-led government.
- When a beleaguered PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently revealed
his plan to dissolve and restructure the PA with fewer Hamas
individuals, the rest of the Quartet – the United Nations,
the European Union and Russia – eagerly embraced the idea.
- But Washington, the primary sponsor of the “peace process,”
initially refused to go along with the charade, bringing some
relief to an increasingly dismayed Israel.
- Now, however, the US appears to have stabbed its Middle East
ally in the back, and in the process dealt a blow to its own
war on terror by extending political recognition to the very
type of organization responsible for the 9-11 attack on America.
Fully story: http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1156
-----
- US TO ARM, TRAIN LEBANESE ARMY
- Ynetnews - September 11, 2006 - Washington plans to arm and
train Lebanon's army to the tune of $30 million in an effort
to bolster the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and
counter Hizb'allah.
- That decision ignores the fact that Hizb'allah is a part
of Siniora's government, is lauded by the nation's president,
and seen by the army as a "strategic asset." Siniora's
government has publicly stated that it will not forcibly disarm
Hizb'allah. http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1105
- -----
- Al-QAEDA ISRAEL'S 9-11 LIES AHEAD
- Jerusalem News - by Stan Goodenough -September 11, 2006 -
The global war to bring all nations into submission to Allah
will continue, and Israel is now at the top of the list of Al
Qaeda’s jihad targets.
- This is according to the Islamic organization’s second-in-command,
Ayman al-Zawahri, who left his chilling message on a short film
released Monday to coincide with the fifth anniversary of their
attack on the mainland United States.
- As relatives of the victims of 9-11 gathered at Ground Zero
in New York to, in trembling voices, read out and remember the
names of their loved ones, the message broadcast over Al Qaeda’s
website was that that horrific event was only a precursor to
what lay ahead, and that Israel was next in line.
- According to Israeli intelligence organizations, Al Qaeda
has been working to set up cells in Gaza, the strip of land abandoned
to Palestinian terror groups Fatah, Hamas and Palestine Islamic
Jihad by Israel a year ago. Osama Bin Laden’s group is also
believed to have plans to spread its terror tentacles into Palestinian
Authority areas in Samaria and Judea. Analysts predict that,
should Israel also “disengage” from those areas known
to the world as the “West Bank,” Al Qaeda and the Iranian-supported
Hamas and Hizb’allah organizations will quickly set up shop
in “Palestine,” just minutes from Israel’s cities
and towns.
- Although much – often bloody – enmity rages between
Shi’a and Sunni Muslims, both streams converge when it comes
to their hatred of Israel and their belief that the Jewish state
should be wiped off the map of the Middle East. Neither is this
hatred restricted to the so-called fundamentalist members of
that religion. All devout Muslims are taught that Islam will
ultimately dominate the world, and that Christians and Jews must
be forced to submit to Allah, or die. http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1101
- -----
- DOWNSIDE OF US POLICY SHIFT IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIAN UNITY
IS THE DOWNGRADING OF BUSH'S STRATEGIC RELATIONS WITH OLMERT
GOVERNMENT
- September 21, 2006 DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report
that the Middle East Quartet’s support for a Palestinian
unity government is just the first step in a new, not fully-consolidated
Bush administration initiative on the Palestinian-Israeli dispute.
The steps to come will exact from Israel the full price for losing
ground in the Lebanon War. Nonetheless, the three war leaders,
prime minister Ehud Olmert, defense minister Amir Peretz and
chief of staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, continue to evade the sorry
consequences of that war and play down the resulting rift with
the Bush administration. Indeed the trio shouts down voices calling
for an accounting and declares no one can better correct their
mistakes and prepare the army and country for another conflict.
- In contrast, Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah is paying
for his blunders. Iran has confined his duties to domestic politics
and public appearances in which he excels, no longer empowering
him to decide when to fire rockets into northern Israel, order
deep cross-border incursions or abduct Israeli soldiers.
- President George W. Bush cannot demote the Israeli premier,
only their relations; and distance him from White House Middle
East decision-making.
- On Sept 13, Bush looked in on a discussion between visiting
foreign minister Tzipi LIvni and his National Security Adviser
Stephen Hadley on the Lebanon and Palestinian issues and the
Iranian nuclear threat.
- He exchanged a few words with her for the clear purpose of
sizing his visitor up. Jerusalem is playing down that seemingly
casual encounter like the many symptoms of the widening breach
with Washington for the following reasons:
- 1. The cracks were evident in the course of the 33-day Lebanon
War when the US president never once conversed with the PM Olmert.
- 2. The impression the US president gained of Livni at the
White House did not change his mind about not doing business
with the Olmert government or persuade him she was of a different
caliber.
- 3. Washington is not blind to the low esteem in which the
Israeli public holds the prime minister, his team and his party.
One of the opinion polls published Thursday, Sept. 21, on the
eve of the New Year festival, gives Olmert an approval rating
of 7%! Yet he continues to declare that no one is better qualified
to lead the country.
- This gap in the Israel government’s credibility at home
and abroad convinced Bush to launch a new Middle East initiative
headed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice without conferring
first with Jerusalem. The Quartet’s announcement at UN Headquarters
caught Livni by surprise Wednesday, Sept. 20, the day of her
address to the General Assembly.
- “The Quartet welcomes the efforts of Palestinian president
Mahmoud Abbas to form a government of national unity, in the
hope that the platform of such a government would reflect Quartet
principles and allow for early engagement.”
- This announcement not only opens the way for international
recognition of a Palestinian government led by Hamas, but is
also the first step towards engaging that government in peacemaking,
without requiring Hamas to recognize Israel’s existence
or forego terrorism.
- The US president has no guarantee that engaging the most
radical Palestinian elements in a fresh round of Middle East
diplomacy will be any more successful than his failed attempt
to pacify Iraq by dealing with its violent Sunni insurgents.
But whatever the outcome, Israel has taken a dive in Washington’s
strategic calculations. http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3291
- -----
 IRAN'S TERROR-CUM-INTELLIGENCE
NETWORKS THROWN ACROSS THREE CONTINENTS
- DEBKAfile September 20, 2006 - While the leaders of the Non-Aligned
Movement nations were making speeches at the 14th conference
of their movement in Havana in mid-September, three groups of
intelligence experts were off in a well-guarded corner next door
to talk about matters far from the conference’s main theme
of how to develop backward economies and societies.
- Iranian, Cuban and Venezuelan teams were putting their heads
together on ways of translating their leaders' hostile rhetoric
and slogans into effective war action against the United States.
- DEBKAfile’s Exclusive intelligence and counter-terror
sources disclose that the three teams were made up of intelligence
officers and civilian officials on the staffs of the three rulers;
their job is maintaining clandestine ties with underground and
terrorist organizations.
- After the NAM conference ended, the Iranian and Venezuelan
teams moved their talks to Caracas where Ahmadinejad continued
his talks with Chavez on Sept 17 and 18. Interestingly, Iran’s
Islamic revolutionary leaders have maintained warm ties of cooperation
and mutual assistance with Castro’s Cuba since they came
to power in Tehran in 1979. They admired his revolutionary zeal
and consistent anti-US policies. Tehran also exploited Cuba’s
economic straits to deepen its penetration of the country with
a view to setting up an Iranian base in Cuba for its continental
operations.
 But the relationship suffered
ups and downs, especially when Castro declined to give Iranian
agents a free hand for subversion and espionage against the United
States. In 2003, the Cuban ruler was furious when Iranian diplomats,
without asking for permission, installed in their homes in a
farm on the outskirts of Havana jamming equipment against television
programs bounced from the United States through satellite to
Iran. They were trying to stop Iranian opposition-backed television
broadcasters in Los Angeles calling on Iranians to rise up against
the Islamic regime. Castro made the Iranian diplomats evacuate
the farm and remove their gear.
- Castro is too old a hand to be manipulated in matters of
subversion and terrorism. Chavez in contrast is just as anti-American
but also rated by Tehran an easier mark. Although he needs to
be handled with kid gloves as head of an oil-exporting country,
the Iranians have noted that the Venezuelan leader is also open
to cooperation in the politics of oil.
- On Sept. 18, he insisted that Ahmadinejad attend a ceremony
celebrating the gushing of the 7th Aya Well of the Kuchouy Oil
Field developed by a Venezuelan-Iranian partnership. This was
to be a landmark on the road to a merger between the two oil
industries. Tehran is not too happy about this partnership but
is going along with small, symbolic steps while extracting from
Caracas – and eventually it hopes from Havana – forward
facilities for running Iranian clandestine agents in North and
South America.
- DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report that Ahmadinejad
also talked persuasively to Chavez about making a show of deploying
a few Iranian-made 2,000-km range Shahab-3 missiles – first
in Venezuela then in Cuba – as a menace to the United States.
- Chavez has not given Tehran his answer. But both he and Castro
will think twice about granting this request, for fear of crossing
one line too many for the Bush administration to swallow. However,
Iranian ambitions to harm American know no limits.
- The three-cornered meeting in Havana between the Ahmadinejad,
Chavez and Raoul Castro at the beginning of the week reached
a number of decisions in principle although they remain to be
fleshed out with operational details. Castro was reluctant to
make final decisions because he said his brother would soon be
back at the helm.
- They did agree that anything decided during the Iranian and
Venezuelan presidents’ Caracas talks would be put before
the Cuban ruler. They also decided that their intelligence teams
would meet again during the UN General Assembly session in New
York later this week. After discovering this plan, Washington
refused the Iranian president’s “aides” –
presented as journalists - entry visas to New York on Tuesday,
Sept. 19.
- The three-way talks have thus far yielded a solid decision
for Iranian intelligence agents, some of them sabotage specialists,
to be sent soon to Cuba and Venezuela. They will operate in the
guise of road network and industrial development experts. Their
real mission will be to conduct surveys on the practicability
of using Cuba and Venezuela as bases for subversive activities
against the United States and other parts of Latin America.
- Iran is also busy creating similar bases in E. Africa, favoring
Sudan and Somalia. At the Havana NAM conference the Iranian president
and Sudan’s Omar Bashir were seen deep in conversation.
Tehran believes that the Sudanese ruler will come round now to
accepting expanded military and intelligence collaboration between
the two countries, whereas in 2003, he threw Iranian agents out
of Sudan together with all their development specialists. Bashir
is now seeking support for his Darfur policy which aims to remove
pro-Western military elements from Sudan.
- Iran is on the way to harnessing two more countries to its
clandestine anti-US campaign: Somalia and Yemen. In Mogadishu,
the Islamic Courts movement headed by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys
is strengthening its grip on Somalia. Like Iran’s Islamic
rulers, this group also preaches jihad and martyrdom (suicide
attacks) for the sake of Islam.
- The Somali movement therefore provides fertile ground for
recruiting terrorists for suicide missions on behalf of Iran
and al Qaeda alike as part of their subversion and terror campaigns
across the African continent.
- Mogadishu’s new rulers, whose number includes a group
of middle-ranking al Qaeda commanders, are busy training an army
to support their regime. Al Qaeda and Iranian Revolutionary Guards
instructors are building up a corps of suiciders to attacks US
embassies and Israeli targets across the continent.
- The Yemeni ruler, Abdallah Salah, and his army chiefs are
opposed to giving Iranian agents free rein in their country,
but in the last two years, Tehran is paying Shiite extremist
groups in Yemen to bring the regime under increasing pressure
by acts of murder and sabotage.
- Iran’s Islamic rulers believe they are in real danger
of an American air attack on their nuclear installations some
time in November or December this year. They are therefore pushing
hard for new allies in Latin America, Africa and Arabia and points
of vantage for hitting back at the United States and its centers
of influence on three continents as an effective deterrent to
an American attack. http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1213
- -----
 ISRAELI FM TZIPI LIVNI TOLD U.N.
ASSEMBLY THERE IS NO GOING BACK TO THE PRE-1967 LINES
- September 21, 2006 - While advocating two states, Israel
and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, Livni
stressed that before the 1967 war, there was no Palestinian state,
or a link between the West Bank and Gaza Strip or any commitment
to a lasting peace. Resolving the dispute calls, she said, for
a new reality that never existed before. To make it come true,
both sides will have to make concessions and believe in co-existence.
A return to the Middle East road map necessitates an end to terrorism
http://www.debka-net-weekly.com
- -----
- THE DAMASCUS TERROR ATTACK
Genuine or Fake, It Has Prompted Feelers for a US-Syrian Thaw.
Asad is hinting he is reconsidering his tight ties with Hizballah
and Iran. But Washington is leery of being led up the Syrian
garden path. His Palestinian unity government initiative looks
more serious.
The US Embassy Attackers Came from Lebanon. An al Qaeda-Hizballah
Commonality of Purpose
In an operation in Damascus that replicated the 2004 US Jeddah
Consulate attack, al Qaeda made its mark on the 5th anniversary
of 9/11 and also performed a service for Hizballah.
- Al Qaeda in Lebanon
Hizballah and al Qaeda – Brothers in Jihad. UNIFIL is in
peril of al Qaeda attack which also threatens northern Israel.
http://www.debka-net-weekly.com/?ref=001
- -----
- LIVNI BLASTS IRAN AT U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
- JERUSALEM POST By Herb Keinon September 21, 2006 - The world´s
"moment of truth" regarding Iran has arrived, Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni told the United Nations General Assembly
Wednesday night, adding that the international community knows
well the "lessons of the past" and the "consequences
of appeasement and indifference."
- Paragraph-1 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
Iran doesn´t deserve a seat in the United Nations or among
the family of nations, she said, telling the world leaders gathered
in New York that there was "no greater challenge" today
to the values of the democratic world "than that posed by
the leaders of Iran."
- Paragraph-2 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
"They deny and mock the Holocaust," she said. "They
speak proudly and openly of their desire to wipe Israel off the
map."
- Paragraph-3 Contains
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Chiding the UN, which has been dragging its feet for months on
whether to clamp sanctions on Teheran for not stopping its uranium
enrichment, Livni asked, "What more needs to happen for
the world to take this threat seriously? What more needs to happen
to end the hesitation and the excuses?" Paragraph-4 Contains
Paragraph-4 Contains
- NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
"The international community is faced with no greater responsibility
than to stand against this dark and growing danger - not for
Israel´s sake, but for its own; for the sake of the values
it claims to embrace; for the sake of the world we all wish our
children to inherit," she said.
- Paragraph-5 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
Livni´s blunt, harsh words against Iran were not universally
applauded in Jerusalem, with one diplomatic official saying that
Israel was making a mistake in becoming the spokesman for the
anti- Iranian coalition. Paragraph-6 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
"The Saudis are as afraid of Iranian getting the bomb as
we are," the Israeli official said. "But when we stand
there and shout from the rooftops, they don´t have to -
we are essentially doing their dirty work." Paragraph-7
Contains
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The official said Israel should discreetly provide the international
community with the relevant intelligence information regarding
Iran, but should not take the lead in attacking Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his regime.
- Paragraph-8 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
According to assessments in Israel, in addition to the Saudis,
the Egyptians, Jordanians and Gulf States are extremely concerned
about Iran´s nuclear march, and would like to see it stopped.
- Paragraph-9 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
"When Israel stands up and shouts against Iran, they can
all remain quiet," the official said, saying that these
countries might have taken a more public stand against Iranian
nuclear weapons were the issue not perceived to such a large
extent as an Iranian-Israeli one.
- Paragraph-10 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
Livni told the world body that the "recent conflict in Lebanon
should put to rest any lingering doubts about Iranian motives."
She said Hizbullah must never again be allowed to threaten the
future of the region, adding that the world faces a critical
test "to ensure the full implementation of [UN] Resolution
1701, and the immediate and safe release of the Israeli hostages."
- Paragraph-11 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
Regarding the Palestinians, Livni reiterated Israel´s commitment
to a two-state solution. She quoted from a speech former prime
minister Ariel Sharon gave a year ago at the UN General Assembly
- widely perceived as his "victory lap" following implementation
of the disengagement plan - in which he said the Palestinians
were "also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign
existence in a state of their own."
- Paragraph-12 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
This vision was not just Sharon´s, but the "vision
of a nation," Livni said, adding that two states meant just
that - two states, one for Jews, which ingathered its own exiles,
and one for Palestinians, with Palestinian refugees to be settled
there.
- Paragraph-13 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias - Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
"If Palestinian leaders are unwilling to say this, the world
should say it for them," she said. "This is the real
and only meaning of the two-state vision. It requires each people
to accept that their rights are realized through the establishment
of their own homeland, not in the homeland of others."
- Paragraph-14 Contains
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Livni seemed to address those in the international community
questioning the wisdom of demanding that the Palestinian Authority
renounce terrorism, recognize Israel´s right to exist and
accept existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements, saying that these
conditions "are not an obstacle to peace or to the establishment
of a responsible Palestinian state. They are a crucial ingredient
for their realization." Paragraph-15 Contains
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Livni said a two-state solution required the creation of a new
reality where "both sides will need to commit to compromise
and to believe in coexistence." Instead, she said, "the
Palestinian Authority is dominated today by a terrorist organization
that teaches children to hate and seeks to transform the conflict
from a resolvable political dispute into an endless religious
confrontation."
- Paragraph-16 Contains
NO PROBLEM - Bias Partiality - Inaccuracies - BOTH
Livni said being moderate in the Middle East is often perceived
as being weak, and "our challenge is to empower the peacemakers
and dis- empower their opponents."
- Paragraph-17 Contains
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Livni said to do this the world must show "determination,
not half- measures and vague formulations." If the world
hesitates, she said, "the extremists sense opportunity.
And if it appeases, they sense victory."
- (© 1995 - 2006 The Jerusalem Post. 09/21/06)
- Paragraph-18 Contains
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